Cinematic Hell: The Giant Gila Monster (1959)

by Hal Astell

Director: Ray Kellogg

Stars: Don Sullivan, Fred Graham and Lisa Simone



One of two features produced back to back in 1959 by an independent production company in Texas called Hollywood Pictures Corporation, such a generic name that it was the second such company, this was the half that didn't even get the title right. At least The Killer Shrews starred a bunch of killer shrews, along with James Best from The Dukes of Hazzard, but this one just has a Mexican beaded lizard. Perhaps the filmmakers felt that The Giant Gila Monster made for a better title, even though most of the people watching couldn't pronounce it properly. It has two selling points today, beyond being a bad but fun film. Firstly, the font used on the promotional posters, though not on the title card, is the one memorably borrowed by Glenn Danzig for his bands The Misfits, Samhain and Danzig. Secondly, this is a monster movie with a real monster, because instead of putting a fake monster into real sets they put a real monster into fake sets.

Best MST3K Episodes to Fall Asleep To

by Andy Ladewski

Welcome o' Tims of the Internet! Many of you don't know this about me, but I have problems sleeping. Since the advent of the streaming TV service I have been experimenting with different television programs and movies to find the perfect ones to fall asleep to. First off let me introduce you to the sleep gradient.

As you can see the sleep gradient shows "Too interesting" on one side and "Too boring" on the other with the sweet spot just right of center. Here is my reasoning. If the program is too interesting you want to stay awake to watch it, completely defeating the purpose of watching to begin with. If the program is too boring you will tune it out and think about all the various things in the real world that keep you awake at night. So the sweet spot is just interesting enough to make you forget your problems, and just boring enough to slowly lull you into a comfortable sleep. Mystery Science Theater 3000 or MST3K was a show in the late 80s and most of the 90s where a guy (Joel or Mike) Watched bad movies with a couple of puppet robots making wiseass remarks all throughout. Because they got some of the worst films in cinema history, its a great program to probe for the perfect falling asleep program! One thing to note, I like the Mike Nelson episodes of MST3K better than the Joel episodes. I haven't watched all the Joel episodes yet and this will most likely be another list. I just watched "Manos: The Hands of Fate" yesterday, It will most likely make the top 5!  

Movie Review: Gamera: The Giant Monster (1965)

Everybody loves an underdog. Hell, an underdog story is one of the most used kinds of narratives in film. Being a lumpy fellow, I've always enjoyed following some of the other lumpy underdogs in entertainment history. Porn star Ron Jeremy and wrestling legend Mick Foley are perfect examples of guys with 40 plus inch waists and decent size guts that have transcended both of their forms of entertainment. One colossal heavyweight of the rubber-monster world that belongs in this company is Noriaki Yuasa's Gamera. He's not as fast as Mothra and he lacks Godzilla's abs and matinee good looks ; what he does have though is devastating fire-breathing skills. Shout! Factory obviously loves underdogs. They certainly showed it with their release of the iconic 80's television underdog, Webster. Gamera has now finally gotten some tender-loving care via the cult film and pop-culture DVD pros at Shout!.

Buy Gamera: The Giant Monster on DVD