Monstrosity

I have seen a lot of film and honestly I have never seen anything quite like this (it is my first Milligan film). The film starts with a serious tone of rape and murder. The production level being pretty minimal. Then the film turns wierdly slapstick, it's like watching an 80s version of Laurel and Hardy. Then you get gore that would be pretty grim if it was done at any level of realism. This gore is so inept you would think that Milligan went out of his way to make it look so bad! Women get brutalized, a smidgen of bare breast, then back to slapstick. The camera work is professional at times and then you yet shots and editing that are again almost purposely bad. The dialogue is pretty much all bad.

I enjoyed it very much. I will learn more about Milligan as I watch more of his films but it appears to me that he has more purpose and style than any lack of talent. Oh, and almost everyone who sees this will hate it. Those that will enjoy it... well, you know who you are!

Monstrosity is a terrible film. Every aspect of it is poorly executed. But the real problem with Monstrosity is that about 20 minutes into the film, it becomes a self-aware, over-the-top comedy. It's much more entertaining to watch a film genuinely attempt something that is so absurd and awful than watching one that is aware of it's shortcomings and essentially gives up. Monstrosity concerns a group of young men, one of whom's girlfriend has been brutally raped and beaten and THEN killed by the same assailant in her hospital room (making for a crazy, distasteful, ultra-violent first 20 minutes). The young men (mulletts and 80's getup included) decide to make a golem/frankensteinesque avenger. When the avenger finally comes to life, it's a ridiculous giant retard with a gorilla's arm and red afro who murders bad guys with an ax. There are some funny jokes in the film, along with the occasional bad taste moment making the film feel sort of like a cross between Blood Sucking Freaks and a poorer man's Toxic Avenger. The film does offer a glimpse of 80's Hollywood, funny hair, and almost non-stop repetition of one of the most annoying music cues in history (listen closely, there's a metal guitar solo going nuts underneath that music cue). All in all a worthwhile watch as you aren't going to find many films like MONSTROSITY.

After his girlfriend is murdered by some punks, Mark (David Homb) does the only natural thing to do - he and his two friends play Dr. Frankenstein and construct a monster to get revenge. They end up with Frankie (Hal Borske), a mixture of man and gorilla (!) who they give punk clothes and a red afro wig. Frankie does their bidding rather easily and offs the punks before the 1 hour mark. The rest has Frankie falling for punk rockette Jaimie (Carrie Anita) and the guys getting power hungry with their new creation. So how does Milligan fare in the 1980s? Well, his film definitely looks better than the 1970s efforts I've seen (THE GHASTLY ONES, BLOODTHIRSTY BUTCHERS), but it still has the same flat direction. It wasn't until about a half hour into this that I realized it was supposed to be a comedy, a fact cleverly hidden by the awful acting on display. The special effects are a slight notch above Milligan's earlier efforts. Look for the same severed hand to be used twice. Also look for a police suspect photo book that shows the pages are empty with every turn and a crew member reflected in a mirror in the guys' garage/lab.

Effectively combining comedy and horror is a skill, one that Staten Island auteur Andy Milligan clearly never mastered. Monstrosity, one of the director's last movies, starts life as a straight-up exploitation flick, with a trio of thugs terrorising a Los Angeles neighbourhood, slashing the neck of an old man, hijacking a car, and beating and raping a young woman named Ronnie (Audra Marie Ribeiro). Then, to ensure that Ronnie doesn't identify them to the police, the gang's leader pays the girl a visit in hospital, cutting open her belly and yanking out her intestines (a messy moment guaranteed to please gore-hounds). Understandably, Ronnie's boyfriend Mark is a little upset and wants revenge.

At this point, Milligan abruptly changes tack, having Mark and his friends Scott and Carlos come up with a preposterous plot to even the score: build a 'golem' from human and animal body parts stolen from med school, and send him to kill the baddies. As the pals clumsily stitch together their creation, who they call Frankie, it quickly becomes apparent that Monstrosity is actually a horror comedy - a really inept one. As matters progress, Milligan proves time and time again that he is one of the worst film-makers ever, with scene after cringeworthy scene of utter drivel that is neither scary nor funny. Just when you think it can't get any worse, Milligan proves that it can. Building a monster for revenge is dumb; making him wear a bright orange afro wig and sweatband is dumber. Having Frankie (Hal Borske) fall in love with a mentally challenged punk called Jamie (Carrie Anita) is ridiculous; their marriage conducted by a guardian angel called Angelo (Joel Weiss) is even more so.

As with the other Milligan movies it has been my misfortune to see, the direction is terrible, the editing clumsy and the performances amateurish. According to Wikipedia, Milligan didn't drink and was anti-drugs, but its hard to believe that this is the work of someone not 'under the influence' - it's that bat-s**t crazy and so utterly dreadful. The aforementioned disembowellment is definitely the film's highlight, and there are a couple of other cheap but enjoyable gore effects, but none of that counts for much when the rest of the film is so bloody awful.

1.5/10, rounded up to 2 for IMDb.

Can the cast act? Is it supposed to be day or night? Is there any continuity at all? Come on. Give it a rest.It's a Milligan film. It's not perfect,but that's kinda the point. Turn off your mind,relax,and enjoy.The Andy Milligan films I've seen have this strange almost out of this world quality to them that I really like,and this one is one of the strangest.Hal Borske is at it again with yet another set of goofy fake dime-store teeth.This time he's "Frankie" a lovable meat cleaver wielding maniac who chops the bad guys into little bits.Who couldn't love a child like creature who was built in a garage with spare parts from the morgue and animal vet with a red clown wig on? Sounds like fun to me.

What we have in store here is lots of cheezy gore ,violence,and downright hilarity.It's all done with a budget of about $37.62 not including the price of some of the local butcher's left-over guts.I just love stuff like this. Chances are you will too.This one is a real treat for lovers of drive-in cheeze.

8.75/10 on the drive-in-freak-o-meter...a must see 8)