I saw Monstroid yesterday, but now I can hardly remember it. That's rarely a good sign, especially since I wasn't even drunk while watching it. It seems that initial filming took place some time before the bulk of the film but was postponed by various problems before the producers decided to take another stab at it. They shouldn't really have bothered, because Monstroid pretty much stinks, its greatest achievement being that it just about manages to rise above totally tedious. The plot is a standard affair of pollution in a lake resulting in a monster that eats a couple of people, with added edge of corporate guilt and native superstition. It could have been an interesting culture clash, management fish out of water getting to grips with a populace ambivalent towards their work (in this case its a cement factory) and the possibility of being responsible for far worse things than they imagined but predictably enough no tension of this kind is present, nor indeed is any tension of any other kind. Characters drift across the screen like dead leaves in a dull draft, they talk and talk but nothing of interest comes out, they relate in uninteresting ways and advance the plot in uninteresting ways, and since the plot isn't interesting to begin with it makes the whole thing even more of a drag. Things aren't completely terrible though, the actors show a fair level of commitment and there's a nice amount of local colour as well as good scenery. John Carradine plays a local priest with a nice level of righteous fire, his scenes are all kinds of tacky fun, while Jim Mitchum and Anthony Eisley put in some effort as goodies, both are pretty colorless but there's at least the scent of effort there and they come across well enough. There are some fairly attractive women at times as well, though no nudity which totally sucks as an f bomb tirade by one of the characters shows that this clearly wasn't intended as a PG joint, and there isn't any gore so nudity was really the main thing that could have saved the film. I kinda liked the monster as well, it doesn't get a lot of screen time but its a fun Nessie style creation and in one scene it even has hands which gets a thumbs up from me. But on the whole this one is pretty gash and I wouldn't recommend it except to crap movie completists like myself.
36 Reviews
Check Cashing 101
Zeegrade7 June 2009
Monster is a mind numbingly awful movie about an evil American concrete factory (are there any else in Hollywood?) polluting the waters of the small Colombian town of Chimayo somehow creating a catfish-like beast with a predilection for lamb and loose women. James Mitchum is Bill Travis the man who is sent down to Chimayo by his foul-mouthed boss Barnes who himself can't keep his hands off of his secretary's rear to get to the bottom (pun intended) of the story. While in Chimayo Bill must contend with an annoying reporter who apparently broadcasts all of her stories in perfect English directly back to America. I guess in the seventies there was a market for news from small South American towns. There is also a radical named Sanchez that wishes to sabotage the factory for polluting the water which, by the way, also supplies the town with jobs for the locals, but why let cold hearted economics get in the way of touchy-feely enviro-marxism. Pete the factory boss is unwittingly aided by the monster when he has sex with his ex-girlfriend on the beach, tells her that he is seeing the mayor's daughter Juanita and it's over between them, then she is promptly eaten that night. A little side action without the evidence. My hat is off to you Sir. John Carradine rounds out the cast as a priest that believes the monster is sent by God to punish sinners. You can see the contempt he has for being in this movie in his face. Might as well filmed him running to the local currency exchange to see if his check didn't bounce.
Supposedly based on a true story, so much so they say it twice in the opening credits, this film is awful on all fronts. Filming began in 1971 and was abandoned until eight years later when Kenneth Hartford put his foot on the throat of Monster by adding his two annoying children as new characters, even putting his daughter, Andrea in top billing with Mitchum and Carradine. The sound quality is nonexistent and most of the scenes seem as if someone smeared tar over the camera before filming. This is made even more tedious during the many scenes done at night. The monster itself is laughable as it rears its ugly rubbery head for the anticlimactic ending. James Mitchum along with his brother Chris are proof that nepotism in the acting industry needs to be curtailed. Utterly unwatchable dreck. Shame on you John Carradine.
Supposedly based on a true story, so much so they say it twice in the opening credits, this film is awful on all fronts. Filming began in 1971 and was abandoned until eight years later when Kenneth Hartford put his foot on the throat of Monster by adding his two annoying children as new characters, even putting his daughter, Andrea in top billing with Mitchum and Carradine. The sound quality is nonexistent and most of the scenes seem as if someone smeared tar over the camera before filming. This is made even more tedious during the many scenes done at night. The monster itself is laughable as it rears its ugly rubbery head for the anticlimactic ending. James Mitchum along with his brother Chris are proof that nepotism in the acting industry needs to be curtailed. Utterly unwatchable dreck. Shame on you John Carradine.
Based on a true story of... incompetence and nepotism
wbswetnam23 March 2012
Here's a monster movie that truly belongs in the POS file. Sometimes even top-bill actors and actresses sometimes get rooked into doing POS movies (prime example: Halle Barry and 'Cat Woman') and for 'Monstroid', it was James Mitchum and John Carradine. The director, Kenneth Hartford, starred his own kids in the movie and gave them top billing with Mitchum and Carradine to add insult to injury.
This steaming pile of doo-doo is about a big, bad American company operating a chemical plant in Colombia. The plant has been dumping untreated chemical waste into the local lake for years and of course the company execs don't care. The chemical waste has somehow spawned a rubber monster to appear from its depths, whereupon it begins chomping down on bikini-clad harlots and drunken fishermen. The company execs devise a hare-brained plan to kill the creature with a lamb carcass stuffed full of dynamite pulled along by a helicopter. No, really... I kid you not...
This is a really awful film. It is tedious and ridiculous. The file I saw was pulled off of the public domain films section of http://www.archive.org so the quality was quite poor. Even if I could have seen the master copy, however, I'm sure the film would have sucked just as bad. Most likely, John Carradine and James Mitchum cashed their checks and got falling-down drunk after this POS finally wrapped.
This steaming pile of doo-doo is about a big, bad American company operating a chemical plant in Colombia. The plant has been dumping untreated chemical waste into the local lake for years and of course the company execs don't care. The chemical waste has somehow spawned a rubber monster to appear from its depths, whereupon it begins chomping down on bikini-clad harlots and drunken fishermen. The company execs devise a hare-brained plan to kill the creature with a lamb carcass stuffed full of dynamite pulled along by a helicopter. No, really... I kid you not...
This is a really awful film. It is tedious and ridiculous. The file I saw was pulled off of the public domain films section of http://www.archive.org so the quality was quite poor. Even if I could have seen the master copy, however, I'm sure the film would have sucked just as bad. Most likely, John Carradine and James Mitchum cashed their checks and got falling-down drunk after this POS finally wrapped.
...during production
thirdbid17 April 2005
This is a wonderfully goofy example of a self produced, written and directed vanity project ...while I was working as a crew member John Carradine commented to me (before the burning at the stake sequence): "This is the worst piece of sh*t I've ever worked on ...and I've worked on a lot of pieces of sh*t." Also An interesting moment earlier when Jim Mitchum was having trouble with his lines and started cursing in the courtyard location of the Santuario (a religious shrine in Chimayó) - at which point one of the local "vato loco" low-rider onlookers growled "...show some respect man", which apparently caused Jim to remember where he was, as he then made a very profound and heartfelt apology for his inappropriate behavior. In any case the crew did the job on deferment and were never fully paid - but came away with plenty of particularly bizarre stories - like the night we caught the producer/director's 10 year old son entertaining himself by constructing miniature Burmese tiger traps for us to break our legs in. Like they say: "Ya gotta' love the Biz..."
Thar she BLOWS!!!
PhilosophicZombi11 May 2004
Where can we begin... This film starts off in Colombia with a young couple dancing to festive music in the night. As is natural in this situation, their frolicking is interrupted as the man is attacked and killed by a shadowy fish/lizard creature. Que loud scream and..."MONSTER". While the begining is far from unique, the camera work gave me some nostalgic vibes from similar 70's films and I thought that maybe, just maybe there was hope for this diamond in the rough. Alas...I suppose when you buy a 30 year old video tape for a dollar at an antique store, you get what you pay for. After a brief intro telling us how this is all based on a "true" story, we are introduced to a group of business men discussing the state of their mine in Colombia. Apparently talk of lake monsters and witchcraft have disrupted the flow of cash and the board 'ain't' happy about it. SO add in some environmental issues, religious views and an annoying nerdy kid who believes in the lake monster and you've got yourself...well... a mess. "The monster manages to "get in touch" with three or four individuals. These scenes aren't too bad, but they are few and far between the hour of talking. Even a witch burning doesn't do much to speed this film up. First problem. If you're going to have a movie called "monster", please make said monster not laughable. It's early scenes were brief, actually managing to keep the tension up, but believe me, the big reveal is sort of a let down. Imagine the Lock Ness monster mixed with a lizard and a catfish and you'll have some idea. Now once the creature is revealed, certainly our "hero's" will face off with it personally right...RIGHT!!! Nope, the best way is to pump a lamb full of dynamite and go fishing. I do have a slight problem with this. Obviously, if a creature has been surviving for thousands of years without having been discovered, and it is capable of going for a little stroll on land, it must be somewhat intelligent. So why does the creature decide to go out for a bite to eat and reveal itself when it is surrounded and being followed by a helicopter? Perhaps he was a media whore... Of course our hero manages to accidentally drop detonator in the water, causing him to brave a swim. Personally this was just stupidity on his part, and I was rooting for the Monster. Alas this occasionally clever beast decides to play around with a guy in a boat rather than take care of the real threat. SO the beast goes Kaboom. There is much rejoicing...unfortunately they don't realize that Monsters like to lay hundreds of eggs in a clearly visible and poorly protected area which can hatch spontaneously releasing offspring which are actually too large to fit in the supposed eggs they came from. Everybody up to speed? Don't worry about it. Personally I didn't hate this film as much as I have others. In this case the makers were simply over enthusiastic with their budget constraints. The plot could have worked and the film could have been a little scary with more money and better casting. One little factoid I noticed, is that women have progressed considerably since the 70's. In this movie, secretaries are called darlin' and honey, and have their posteriors fondled in ways that would see a modern man carried off for a chat with a grand jury.
it's all TRUE after all!
Quinoa198418 August 2008
I could barely keep myself from either nodding off or just turning off this turd, but I decided to stick it out if only for the reasoning that maybe *something* would happen. This is the work of a writer/producer/director/special fx, Kenneth Herts, who wants to make a statement on ecological damage while making a monster movie. That's what he wanted, anyway. What it turns out to be is a lot of acting, either slightly hammy or just mundane and without much merit, and scenes that seem to repeat themselves as the monster ATTACKS in the river waters (oh, and what luck, a woman just happens to be naked in it... even though there have already been DISAPPEARANCES!)
This is just nonsensical stuff, but I suppose it's not too harmful; it's not very obnoxious at the least and once or twice we get a semi-interesting peek at Brazilian "culture" (which is the father walking through town with his flock or other pieces of a semblance of 'hey, this is NOT America!'). But whatever hope the director had in casting Mitchum or Carradine is squandered on at best pedestrian and at worst excruciatingly banal and dumb dialog. It doesn't help that when we finally get something of a good look at the monster and the "action" happens, it too is stupidly staged and with only sleazy appeal. Usually I would feel sorry for a filmmaker who had a lot of problems getting a particular picture finished- in this case it took the better part of the mid 70s- but with Monstroid or Monster or whatever it's called... nah.
If you happen to get the Elvira DVD double-feature of this (bad print with bad transfer quality) with Blue Sunshine, make sure to skip this one. Unless, of course, you're an Elvira die-hard and can't help yourself to hear her luscious commentary; personally, I'd rather get Joel or Mike Nelson with the robots from Mystery Science Theater on this roast turkey.
This is just nonsensical stuff, but I suppose it's not too harmful; it's not very obnoxious at the least and once or twice we get a semi-interesting peek at Brazilian "culture" (which is the father walking through town with his flock or other pieces of a semblance of 'hey, this is NOT America!'). But whatever hope the director had in casting Mitchum or Carradine is squandered on at best pedestrian and at worst excruciatingly banal and dumb dialog. It doesn't help that when we finally get something of a good look at the monster and the "action" happens, it too is stupidly staged and with only sleazy appeal. Usually I would feel sorry for a filmmaker who had a lot of problems getting a particular picture finished- in this case it took the better part of the mid 70s- but with Monstroid or Monster or whatever it's called... nah.
If you happen to get the Elvira DVD double-feature of this (bad print with bad transfer quality) with Blue Sunshine, make sure to skip this one. Unless, of course, you're an Elvira die-hard and can't help yourself to hear her luscious commentary; personally, I'd rather get Joel or Mike Nelson with the robots from Mystery Science Theater on this roast turkey.
It's all true. Honest.
BA_Harrison30 May 2016
Warning: Spoilers
According to this film, the events portrayed are based on fact, meaning that, in 1971, a really dumb looking monster, the result of industrial pollution, rose from a lake to terrorise the rural Colombian village of Chimayo, before eventually being blown to smithereens with dynamite, the creature's spectacular demise captured on camera by numerous onlookers, including a television crew. And yet no evidence of this remarkable event survives.
Even more unbelievable than writer/director Kenneth Hartford's claims of authenticity is the fact that he not only somehow scraped together a budget to film this hokey garbage, but also managed to get some semi-decent performers involved, including legendary horror actor John Carradine, Robert Mitchum's son James Mitchum, and Spanish character actor Aldo Sambrell. I can only guess that Hartford hid the film's incredibly pathetic looking monster from the cast until they signed on the dotted line.
Hartford also hides his creature from his audience for much of the running time, the large proportion of the film consisting of lots of dull dialogue and quite a lot of footage of helicopters taking off and landing. The monster is only seen clearly in the closing moments, when troubleshooter Travis (Mitchum) and cement-plant foreman Pete (Anthony Eisley) go fishing for the craptastic creature with a lamb stuffed full of explosives, at which point the film becomes a fully-fledged unintentional comedy.
2.5 out of 10, rounded up to 3 for the sheer chutzpah of player Pete, who dumps his beautiful blonde girlfriend Laura for equally attractive brunette Juanita, goes to meet Laura at the lake to explain his behaviour, has sex with her, and then immediately dumps her again, leaving her to get eaten by the monster! And he's one of the film's heroes!
Even more unbelievable than writer/director Kenneth Hartford's claims of authenticity is the fact that he not only somehow scraped together a budget to film this hokey garbage, but also managed to get some semi-decent performers involved, including legendary horror actor John Carradine, Robert Mitchum's son James Mitchum, and Spanish character actor Aldo Sambrell. I can only guess that Hartford hid the film's incredibly pathetic looking monster from the cast until they signed on the dotted line.
Hartford also hides his creature from his audience for much of the running time, the large proportion of the film consisting of lots of dull dialogue and quite a lot of footage of helicopters taking off and landing. The monster is only seen clearly in the closing moments, when troubleshooter Travis (Mitchum) and cement-plant foreman Pete (Anthony Eisley) go fishing for the craptastic creature with a lamb stuffed full of explosives, at which point the film becomes a fully-fledged unintentional comedy.
2.5 out of 10, rounded up to 3 for the sheer chutzpah of player Pete, who dumps his beautiful blonde girlfriend Laura for equally attractive brunette Juanita, goes to meet Laura at the lake to explain his behaviour, has sex with her, and then immediately dumps her again, leaving her to get eaten by the monster! And he's one of the film's heroes!
A crappy and stupid monster terrorizes...ah, who cares?!
planktonrules30 July 2014
"Monster" is a terrible film that sat uncompleted for nearly a decade. Eventually, the movie was slapped together and released--which would explain why some of the actors look so young for 1979-80 when it finally hit theaters.
The story is about a village in Columbia that really sucks. On one hand, they have a cement factory that has provided jobs BUT which poisons the water. And, on the other, they've now got a monster in the lake and it likes killing folks. Naturally, the evil corporate types only care about profits and wait an awful long time to try to take on the monster. As for the monster, it's one of the cheapest and lousiest looking ones I've ever seen--and every bit as bad as ones you'd see in schlock films like "The Curse of the Swamp Creature", "The Horror of Party Beach" or "The Creeping Terror". The film isn't particularly interesting, though catching occasional glimpses of the ludicrous monster is good for a few laughs.
The story is about a village in Columbia that really sucks. On one hand, they have a cement factory that has provided jobs BUT which poisons the water. And, on the other, they've now got a monster in the lake and it likes killing folks. Naturally, the evil corporate types only care about profits and wait an awful long time to try to take on the monster. As for the monster, it's one of the cheapest and lousiest looking ones I've ever seen--and every bit as bad as ones you'd see in schlock films like "The Curse of the Swamp Creature", "The Horror of Party Beach" or "The Creeping Terror". The film isn't particularly interesting, though catching occasional glimpses of the ludicrous monster is good for a few laughs.
If you want to see it
kempever28 August 2008
Hey HULU.com is playing the Elvira late night horror show on their site and this movie is their under the Name Monsteroid, good fun to watch Elvira comment on this Crappy movie ....Have Fun with bad movies. Anyways this movie really has very little value other than to see how bad the 70's were for horror flicks Bad Effects, Bad Dialog, just bad movie making. Avoid this unless you want to laugh at it. While you are at HULU check out the other movies that are their right now there is 10 episodes and some are pretty decent movies with good plots and production and you can watch a lot of them in 480p as long as you have a decent speed connection.
This ain't no Scottish myth.
mark.waltz31 March 2016
Warning: Spoilers
A South American town finds horror in their formerly beautiful lake where an American cement plant has helped to destroy the environment and allegedly create a man-eating monster. "One Life to Live's" own Asa Buchanan, the J.R. Ewing of daytime, is the J R. Ewing of the low budget horror movie, showing little empathy to the people of this once quaint fishing village, caring more about profits than people. James Mitchum is the plant manager who comes to believe in the monster legend, and along with American reporter Andrea Harford, tries to solve the mystery before the entire village becomes a midnight snack for this allegedly hideous creature. Anthony Eisley adds sleaze as a womanizing American factory worker.
Deliciously bad, this poorly photographed horror/science fiction film is watchable, yet at times you find yourself either rolling your eyes to the point where you are seeing out your ears, or yelling at the screen for its obvious stupidity. Add in horror film veteran John Carradine as a sin obsessed priest, and you've got a candidate for the Golden Raspberry for worst horror film of the past 50 years. In his two scenes, Carey's obnoxious character either makes you want to see more of him (he is delightfully over the top) or see him as one of the creature's most pain-stakingly slow eaten meals.
You can see how the North Americans become so hated by the South Americans because practically everything they say is insulting to all Hispanic cultures. There is no hesitation in referring to the Spanish speaking people as all backwards even though it is obvious that they were fine until the Gringos showed up. A subplot concerning the wife of the first victim being called a witch is disturbing. While the ending is left open for a possible sequel (which never happened), the fact is that a sequel might even have been better with the way that the plot was left open. You can also refer to this as probably the most racist (and sexist) horror film ever made.
Deliciously bad, this poorly photographed horror/science fiction film is watchable, yet at times you find yourself either rolling your eyes to the point where you are seeing out your ears, or yelling at the screen for its obvious stupidity. Add in horror film veteran John Carradine as a sin obsessed priest, and you've got a candidate for the Golden Raspberry for worst horror film of the past 50 years. In his two scenes, Carey's obnoxious character either makes you want to see more of him (he is delightfully over the top) or see him as one of the creature's most pain-stakingly slow eaten meals.
You can see how the North Americans become so hated by the South Americans because practically everything they say is insulting to all Hispanic cultures. There is no hesitation in referring to the Spanish speaking people as all backwards even though it is obvious that they were fine until the Gringos showed up. A subplot concerning the wife of the first victim being called a witch is disturbing. While the ending is left open for a possible sequel (which never happened), the fact is that a sequel might even have been better with the way that the plot was left open. You can also refer to this as probably the most racist (and sexist) horror film ever made.
Awful Movie. Just Awful.
Rainey-Dawn22 April 2015
Monster (1980) is aka Monstroid and aka The Toxic Horror. Whatever title you give it - it's still an awful movie.
OK. I'll admit it... I watched maybe the first 15 or 20 minutes then I did my fast-forward and watch a bit, fast-forward again then watch a bit until the end of the film.... yes every thing I saw was just awful.
So what part of this film is supposed to be a "true story"? I know, people lie make up bull-poop - that much is true and I guess that is the only "true story" part of the film. OK -- factories putting waste into rivers/streams and messing up the things is true too - but they don't create stupid looking monsters - just dead wildlife mainly. But that is about the only true thing I find in this film besides the fact people get drunk. Basically, factories pumping junk into good waters and messing them up, drunks and liars -- all true. Monsters, such as in this film, are false - NOT a "true story".
The ONLY reason I'm giving this film a 1 is for John Carradine (He gets a point)... that's it!! The rest of the film is not even worth crumbling up to throw away.
1/10
OK. I'll admit it... I watched maybe the first 15 or 20 minutes then I did my fast-forward and watch a bit, fast-forward again then watch a bit until the end of the film.... yes every thing I saw was just awful.
So what part of this film is supposed to be a "true story"? I know, people lie make up bull-poop - that much is true and I guess that is the only "true story" part of the film. OK -- factories putting waste into rivers/streams and messing up the things is true too - but they don't create stupid looking monsters - just dead wildlife mainly. But that is about the only true thing I find in this film besides the fact people get drunk. Basically, factories pumping junk into good waters and messing them up, drunks and liars -- all true. Monsters, such as in this film, are false - NOT a "true story".
The ONLY reason I'm giving this film a 1 is for John Carradine (He gets a point)... that's it!! The rest of the film is not even worth crumbling up to throw away.
1/10
Monster? Monstroid? Make your mind up
Bezenby15 September 2014
Sure, this is one of them bad movies, but on the other hand, it's yet another good bad movies! The sexual politics of this one alone are hilarious, but wait till you get a load of the monster.
A woman is having a bit of a dance for her boyfriend while he lounges in a hammock ignoring her next to a lake and the next thing you know he's being grabbed by a huge slimy claw and killed. The lake is in Colombia, but the cement factory next to the lake is US owned. Back in the US, the boss of the factory explains to troubleshooter Jim Mitchum (in between groping his secretary) that Jim's go to go down there and sort things out, as a local revolutionary called Sanchez is causing trouble by claiming pollution from the factory has caused some sort of monster to go on the rampage. There's also a news reporter there also reporting on the pollution.
Jim's got to go down there and clean up the whole mess. In the town by the lake, the factory boss is having trouble dumping his girlfriend for the mayor's daughter and gets confused doing so and then they end up having sex by the lake, followed by a classic dumping by the factory boss, resulting in the creature chewing the girlfriend's legs off (one of the few gore pieces of the film).
Naturally, Jim's put out by this, and a confrontation with Sanchez, and as Sanchez says: "We'll see who kicks who's arse". He's also having run ins with the reporter (seemingly being paid to hang about one place reporting on every single thing that happens there), as this is the seventies, Jim gets her in the sack pretty shortly. Add to this two nosey kids, John Carridine as a priest, and the first victim's missus being called a witch and being harassed by locals (ala Don't Torture a Duckling) and you've got a rather large cast to deal with. Also, Aldo Sambrell's in the cast too.
Apart from Sanchez (who these days would probably be the hero, what with his pro-environmental/revolutionary stance, here he's made out to be a fanatic), everyone gets it together to rid the lake of the creature once and for all, and we get to see the creature in full. Try not to laugh too much! I've got to give to the makers of the film – they aren't shy in showing the creature, no matter how crap it looks.
I love films with giant monsters in them, so I was fairly happy with this one. Maybe a wee bit too much interpersonal drama by a too large cast, but the creature itself is worth seeking this one out. That, and the way that woman are portrayed in this one (either sexual objects or witches), I guess there was one strong female character (the mayor's daughter/helicopter pilot), but big Jim gets confused by a female being a pilot. There's also a nice sting in the tale and for some reason, the film is called Monstroid at the start of the film but Monster at the end? There's no way this film was made in 1980 (I see now it was mostly made in 1971).
A woman is having a bit of a dance for her boyfriend while he lounges in a hammock ignoring her next to a lake and the next thing you know he's being grabbed by a huge slimy claw and killed. The lake is in Colombia, but the cement factory next to the lake is US owned. Back in the US, the boss of the factory explains to troubleshooter Jim Mitchum (in between groping his secretary) that Jim's go to go down there and sort things out, as a local revolutionary called Sanchez is causing trouble by claiming pollution from the factory has caused some sort of monster to go on the rampage. There's also a news reporter there also reporting on the pollution.
Jim's got to go down there and clean up the whole mess. In the town by the lake, the factory boss is having trouble dumping his girlfriend for the mayor's daughter and gets confused doing so and then they end up having sex by the lake, followed by a classic dumping by the factory boss, resulting in the creature chewing the girlfriend's legs off (one of the few gore pieces of the film).
Naturally, Jim's put out by this, and a confrontation with Sanchez, and as Sanchez says: "We'll see who kicks who's arse". He's also having run ins with the reporter (seemingly being paid to hang about one place reporting on every single thing that happens there), as this is the seventies, Jim gets her in the sack pretty shortly. Add to this two nosey kids, John Carridine as a priest, and the first victim's missus being called a witch and being harassed by locals (ala Don't Torture a Duckling) and you've got a rather large cast to deal with. Also, Aldo Sambrell's in the cast too.
Apart from Sanchez (who these days would probably be the hero, what with his pro-environmental/revolutionary stance, here he's made out to be a fanatic), everyone gets it together to rid the lake of the creature once and for all, and we get to see the creature in full. Try not to laugh too much! I've got to give to the makers of the film – they aren't shy in showing the creature, no matter how crap it looks.
I love films with giant monsters in them, so I was fairly happy with this one. Maybe a wee bit too much interpersonal drama by a too large cast, but the creature itself is worth seeking this one out. That, and the way that woman are portrayed in this one (either sexual objects or witches), I guess there was one strong female character (the mayor's daughter/helicopter pilot), but big Jim gets confused by a female being a pilot. There's also a nice sting in the tale and for some reason, the film is called Monstroid at the start of the film but Monster at the end? There's no way this film was made in 1980 (I see now it was mostly made in 1971).
Pretty bad...but oddly comforting, if you remember the '70s
InjunNose28 February 2009
Tough guys, sexy women, lots of swearing, and a most unconvincing monster that rises from the depths of a polluted lake. You'd think "Monster" would be fun...but it isn't, really. It does star Tony Eisley and John Carradine, however, and in my book that makes it worth viewing at least once. In an interview with "Fangoria" in 1987, Eisley recalled that Herbert Strock had directed the bulk of the film, but somehow Kenneth Hartford--who only directed the footage featuring his children Andrea and Glenn (portraying characters named Andrea and Glenn, in a particularly inventive turn)--received full credit. Considering how awful the end result was, Strock was probably glad that he hadn't been credited! "Monster" has the look and feel of a mid-to-late-'70s TV movie, which is why I like to leave it on in the background every so often. As entertainment it falls flat on its face, but as a reminder of another age and a vanished type of film-making, it's very effective. The only thing that's missing is a car chase.
At least worth a look for bad movie buffs
phantasm123418 July 2001
It's sad to see former stars reduced to "acting" in films like this. Well let's see here, we've got James Mitchum, and John Carradine in a movie about a Colombian lake monster. Sounds interesting, huh, wrong, the stars play second banana to a monster clearly made for less than the budget of your average candy bar. What's worse is that the film is so dark, half of the time you can't see what little action there is. For unintentional yuks this is one of those movies that can't be beat, but if your in the mood for a surreal horror thriller look elsewhere.
Amusing in an awful sort of way
dbborroughs13 August 2008
Warning: Spoilers
"True" story of a late monster that appears when an American industrial plant begins polluting the waters. Amusing, though not really good, monster film has lots of people trying to get the monster and find out whats going on but not in a completely involving way. Give it points for giving us a giant monster that they clearly built to scale for some scenes but take some away in that it looks like a non threatening puppy. An amusing exploitation film thats enjoyably silly in the right frame of mind. (My one complaint is that the print used on the Elvira release is so poor that it looks like a well worn video tape copy that was past its prime 20 years ago.)
I love monster movies, I love '80s movies, but I hated this
Leofwine_draca25 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
MONSTER is very much a terrible picture, an extremely low rent monster movie from 1980. I love the genre and I love the era, but this indie was shot out in the desert in New Mexico and is of such a poor quality in every respect that it's difficult to sit through. A bunch of stale and ageing cast members do battle with a barely-seen creature that rises from the depth to take victims, but this sub-CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON has absolutely nothing to recommend it, even for B-movie lovers. John Carradine pops up as a priest, James Mitchum is the wooden, square-jawed hero, and Anthony Eisley must be wondering why his career never progressed beyond Z-grade features.
As bad as it gets...
imbluzclooby14 December 2005
This has got to be the cheesiest, stupidest, most retarded monster film of all time. It's a complete joke that this even surfaced into theaters. This is sort of like watching the Loch Ness monster in rural America. This movie deserves to be thrown in a toilet and completely forgotten. John Carradine, shame on you. The people involved in this moronic pile of trash need to be lobotomized. Wait! Maybe I'm giving them too much credit. I'm sure they were lobotomized before the filming. How else can one explain the utter and sheer stupidity that this bucket of crap contains. Don't waste a minute of your life watching this. Don't even waste your time sending a review.
So Bad It Can't Begin to Redeem Itself
Hitchcoc30 October 2014
Bob Mitchum's kid (who looks just like the old man) and horror star John Carradine lead a group of the worst actors in this mess. It's about a concrete company that has set up shop somewhere in Columbia. There are several stupid subplots, but the principle one is that in a local lake, people are being eaten by a serpent of some kind. I'm not going to waste much time but to say that there is virtually no relationship among the characters. There is a conflict with a reporter who wants to get the story out, and concrete guy, Mitchum, who wants to stop her, but doesn't try very hard. For some reason, there is some poor unbalanced woman who is suspected of being a witch and the villagers throw rocks at her. Stupid people get eaten by the monster who is finally observed by a couple teenagers. Oh well, there's an hour and a half I'll never see again.
Mons turd.!
crazyferret-0342118 May 2023
Monster or monstroud 1980 ? Is a really bad movie that even John Carridine claims it's the worst movie he's ever been in . I originally saw this on Elvira's movie macabre , no good print available it's very bad quality. The creature effects are not too bad . Jim Mitchum and Anthony Eisley in wasted roles . It seems like they tried to remake the crater lake monster 1977. Which isn't that much better . Did MST3K ever riff this movie? I bet they did. Elvira sure riffed it on movie macabre. Wow what a stinker it's a public domain movie and it shows . It's on you tube in a very bad quality print. .
Super Boring
13Funbags8 May 2017
An American company has built a factory in Colombia and the pollution from the factory has possibly created a monster in the local lake.A TV station from New York has sent an investigative reporter to the scene and she is the lamest antagonist ever.You can tell she's a very serious journalist because she never wears a bra and leaves her shirt half buttoned.A guy gets a phone call asking for sonar equipment.He says he doesn't know what it is, then immediately says they have some at another site.Weak.So there's tons of tight shots, bad acting and even more music and dancing.Most of the Colombians are white with American accents, of course.Weirdly, Colombia seems to be full of extremely hot blonde women.I would have never guessed.Anyway, the monster looks really cool but he's extremely hard to see and is only on screen for thirty seconds.While this is a truly terrible movie, I gave it two stars because I have seen worse.Never see this.
Tedious creature feature clunker
Woodyanders29 March 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Industrial pollution from a cement plant awakens a vicious predatory prehistoric monster that proceeds to terrorize a small Columbian village. Man, does this lousy bilge strike out something fierce in practically every possible way: hopelessly all-thumbs (non)direction by Kenneth Hartford and Herbert L. Strock (who both also co-wrote the horrendously dull, talky, and uneventful script), a painfully plodding pace, infrequent and flatly staged monster attack set pieces, zero tension or momentum, mild gore, bland and murky cinematography, a laughably hokey and unconvincing googly-eyed rubbery beast with a silly Fu Mancho mustache (!), a generic hum'm'shiver score, a limp and markedly less-than-thrilling climax in which the creature blows up real good after eating a lamp stuffed with dynamite, and, worst of all, a simply pathetic "it ain't over yet!" sequel set-up ending. The slumming cast strictly go through the motions: James Mitchum projects all the charisma of a loaf of stale moldy bread as macho no-nonsense troubleshooter Travis, Anthony Eisley likewise contributes a seriously underwhelming performance as the drippy Pete, John Carradine scowls a lot and mostly just stands around as a stern priest, and Aldo Sambrell is wasted in a minor nothing part as a local police officer. Hartford's real-life son Glen and daughter Andrea are both supremely annoying as a couple of irritating teenagers. Only Philip Carey as a foul-mouthed CEO brings some much-needed fire-breathing life to this otherwise dreary wash-out. A total stinker.
E.T.'s watery brother from another mother!
Coventry7 July 2007
I don't care how inept and foolish "Monstroid" is, because this film's leading male character is my new personal here and role model from this moment on! It's fairly irrelevant to the story, but dig this: the manager of a gigantic construction company in Bolivia dumps his gorgeous blond girlfriend because he started a new relationship with another gorgeous woman; a brunette this time, who also happens to be the local mayor's daughter. Yet, the exact same evening, the guy meets up again with the blond girl by the side of a lake, has sex with her and then dumps her again! And she doesn't even seem to complain! I worship this guy! How does he do it? Then of course, the titular monster emerges from the lake and kills the blond girl, so that the actual movie can finally start. Please, don't pay too much to the incredibly low (1,9 ?!?) rating here on IMDb, as "Monstroid" is a tremendously fun and undemanding trash-effort of the late 1970's. The make-up effects and the creature's design are delightfully cheesy (it actually looks like a watery version of ET, with a long neck and totally UN-menacing puppy-eyes) and the script is full of holes and unintentionally comical situations. Supposedly based on true facts (yeah, sure
), the film claims that industrial waste and constant pollution of the water caused an ordinary inhabitant of the lake to mutate into a bloodthirsty creature that feeds on human flesh. Locals as well as company employees and opponents of the factory eventually have to combine forces to defeat the cute-looking critter, but nobody knows how. Perhaps I was just in a very relaxed mood hen I saw it, but "Monstroid" is a lot more charming and amusing than the other reviews suggest. It certainly isn't the worst film in its type and at least it's 100% unpretentious and traditionally accomplished, with a lot of spirit and goodwill from everyone involved in the production. The setting is even rather original and the bright and enchanting photography make it easy to watch. I might be making dangerous recommendations here, but surely admirers of old-fashioned B-monster movies won't regret seeing this film.
"Now you and I don't believe in that monster crap."
classicsoncall9 April 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This movie has got to be a contender for having the single dumbest move by a character of all time. James Mitchum portrays a troubleshooter named Bill Travis, who jumps out of a helicopter into a lake to retrieve a bomb detonator, right after he's seen with his own eyes a giant monster in that lake, which has already gone for the bait provided by the helicopter's crew, and is dragging along that same detonator. Go ahead, you can reread that if you haven't seen the movie, and marvel at how genuinely stupid that sounds.
This really is a terribly goofy monster flick released in 1980, although filming started about a decade earlier and ran into the type of problems these kind of films do, namely they're so bad they virtually never get completed. I saw this one under the title "Monstroid: It Came From the Lake", and it makes pains at the opening to state that the story is based on a real event that happened in Colombia in 1971. However if you take the minute or so to research that, you'll learn that the Colombian village of Chimayo is entirely fictional, but the one in New Mexico where they filmed this actually exists. Go figure.
As if to add insult to injury, the close of the picture teases what could have been a sequel when a nest of eggs is revealed, owing to the lake monster that was just destroyed. I would love to have been there when Robert Mitchum got a chance to see his son star in this thing, wondering how in hell he could trample on the family name in such a manner. One saving grace for all who appeared here is that the closing credits only listed the players, but without the characters they portrayed, so as not to harm their chances of landing another acting gig. But if you were Mitchum or John Carradine (the priest), you were pretty much screwed, as most anyone watching would have known who you were.
This really is a terribly goofy monster flick released in 1980, although filming started about a decade earlier and ran into the type of problems these kind of films do, namely they're so bad they virtually never get completed. I saw this one under the title "Monstroid: It Came From the Lake", and it makes pains at the opening to state that the story is based on a real event that happened in Colombia in 1971. However if you take the minute or so to research that, you'll learn that the Colombian village of Chimayo is entirely fictional, but the one in New Mexico where they filmed this actually exists. Go figure.
As if to add insult to injury, the close of the picture teases what could have been a sequel when a nest of eggs is revealed, owing to the lake monster that was just destroyed. I would love to have been there when Robert Mitchum got a chance to see his son star in this thing, wondering how in hell he could trample on the family name in such a manner. One saving grace for all who appeared here is that the closing credits only listed the players, but without the characters they portrayed, so as not to harm their chances of landing another acting gig. But if you were Mitchum or John Carradine (the priest), you were pretty much screwed, as most anyone watching would have known who you were.
TERRIBLE!!!!
lthseldy126 June 2000
This movie is one of the WORST films I have EVER seen!!! While I was watching it... I wanted so bad to turn it off and throw it away but I wanted to watch the rest of it so that I could tell off of you folks just how bad it is. It all starts out with it being described as being a TRUE story!!! Give me a break!!! I rubber monster swimming in a lake grabbing people like in "Jaws" and where did he get the feet or the fin's to come up on shore in the jungle and do the same thing!!! Other than that.... it had fake acting, fake props and a large amount of no-name actors that we have never heard of or that we never will in the future. This film is so bad, it deserves a 0!!!
Based on true events...
Red-Barracuda4 November 2021
A Colombian village is menaced by a sea monster revived by pollution...blah de blah de blah. Hold on though....it states on screen that this was based on true events! Seriously, but you can get yourself to hell with that! Anyway, this is 90% a chat-heavy bore-fest which almost redeems itself with some action at the end. It also stars the undisputed king of crap himself, John Carradine, as a priest. I can only assume he was paid for his appearance in this one, like most of his latter movies, with a case of ripple.
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