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Category:    Home > Reviews > Horror > Giant Monster > Remake > GILA (2012/Polyscope/MVD DVD)

GILA (2012/Polyscope/MVD DVD)


Picture: C Sound: C Extras: C- Main Program: D



On the surface, the current 2012 remake based on the 1959 drive-in movie classic The Giant Gila Monster seemed like a good idea for a low budget film. They even got the original star of the film Don Sullivan to do a cameo. But sadly, this new remake, Gila, fails on every virtual level. The first mistake (and probably the biggest) mistake the filmmakers made was to make the Gila monster a horrible, cheesy, below SyFy channel quality digital creature. Bad move. Unless you have a big Hollywood budget, don't rely on poor CGI to save your film. Why didn't they just use stop motion animation and keep the special effects close in tone to the original? As soon as I took sight of this terrible re-imagining of Gila, I lost all respect for what was to come.


Obviously shot on low quality digital video, this has no trademarks in terms of cinematic technique and no actors good enough to carry the film to boot. The opening scene could have been a fun campy throwback to 50s horror with a young couple parked in a bleak, rural locale when big bad Gila comes and messes up their make-out session. Then we go into a tired drag race storyline with our main character Chase and Waco Bob which results in a car crashing and their introduction to the giant lizard. Yawn.


What they should have done in my opinion was stay true to the tone of the drive-in movie - shoot the film in black and white 16mm (or even cheaper digitally and used filter effects if they couldn't afford film) and make a re-make that matches the original in terms of looks and feel. The transfer on the disc is passable for DVD and captured in 16 X 9/1.78 X 1 standard definition. The audio is typical, lossy Dolby 2.0 Stereo and nothing special.


Extras on the disc include a slideshow and A Tribute to The Giant Gila Monster.



- James Harland Lockhart V

www.vimeo.com/jamielockhart



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