The Milpitas Monster

Of course both of the previous reviews are absolutely correct on this film. It is pretty bad. But let me fill you in on some details - you might appreciate it a bit more then. Or at least have more compassion.

This movie was created by High School students in the city of Milpitas (where's Milpitas? It's in Silicon Valley, California - next door to San Jose and and a little over an hour from San Francisco). it started off as a fake movie poster for an art class assignment and grew from there. The high school photo teacher got involved and kinda spearheaded it - turning it into a feature length film. Eventually the whole high school and then the community got involved.

You have to understand that although the movie came out in 1976 the actual filming as I understand it was done in 1974. This is waaaaay before the digital age of what we have today. So while the special effects are very crude for today's standards and they were pretty crude even back then, they are pretty good for a 1974 era community made movie.

There's a great scene in the film where there is an overhead shot of city hall - showing endless open fields surrounding it. Not so today! Shopping centers and industrial complexes now surround the building. At a benefit showing a few years ago - in a packed local theater, the audience spntaneously clapped and cheered when this scene came on.

The Washington D.C. Special Contact with the "odorolla" is none other than Bob Wilkins (I think I got his name right) who was a local host of a late night monster/sci-fi show called "Creature features" and also hosted a kids Sci-Fi show called Captain Cosmic.

Yeah - the movie's gots its flaws - but I think it's good for a low key evening of fun. Heck - it even has a good environmental message! Not to mention the fact that it came out on video in the 80's on "Le Bad films." Also, I also know a police officer and the then mayer who are featured in the film playing themselves. Now how many people can say they personally know people who have starred in a feature length movie?

But then again - maybe to really appreciate the film you just have to have lived in the city of Milpitas in the 70's.

PS - they tried to make a sequel a few years ago - but it failed to capture the community's interest like the first time. I also still have my Milpitas Monster coloring book - wonder what it will fetch on Ebay?

The movie it's self is cheaply made and the editing is horrid. The whole mess sounds as if it was dubbed and badly i might add. From reading other review I believe that this movie was a local project and that would explain why it looks so bad. But that would also explain the heart that you can feel from the film. Even though it sucks and is muddled you can tell the project meant something to the people involved and that is why I will give the film a 6. I hate watching it but the effort is a all that matters. If Hollywood films would put forth half the love into their films we might not have crap like Miami Vice or Halloween H-2-O ruining the cineplex experience and driving the box office takes down. In Conjunction with this I will say that the drunk guy who runs around through the movie is hilarious and the only saving grace of the films story. he is worth two stars all by himself So keep on destructing Milpitas Monster.

My review was written in March 1985 after watching the movie on VCI video cassette.

Reviewed for the record, "The Milpitas Monster" is an amatuer horror film completed in 1976, theatrically unreleased and now available via home video (presented by "Le Bad Cinema"). Distrib VCI includes a disclaimer that pic "may insult your intelligence", but as usual, caveat emptor.

Premise is a huge monster (portrayed alternately by stop-motion animation and a guy in a felt suit) spawned by limitless garbage dumped in the little town of Milpitas, 40 miles from San Francisco. Between scenes of failed comedy relief concerning the town drunk George Keister, monster attacks a dance at the local high school and is finally fried when it climbs up the town's transformer tower in emulation of "King Kong".

Non-actors and incompetent film technique reduce this one to the unwatchable category. Sole point of interest is credit for (much-needed in view of the shoddy sound recording) sound effects by young wiz Ben Burtt, late an Oscar-winner for "Star Wars" and key contributor to many other recent fantasy films.

It is real easy to toast, roast, flay, and otherwise burn this film for all of its abundant flaws. It was made by high school students and faculty and a whole community; it shows! Sure, I could examine the script which is just ridiculous. A monster created from the garbage of a growing Californian city starts eating garbage and taking garbage cans all over the city. Soon this huge beast with wings no less begins to destroy buildings and even plays the "beauty and the beast" act with a young high school girl. Fortunately for her there is a gang of guys, her former boyfriend nicknamed "The Penguin," and the town drunk out to help her. The direction is awful, the production values just dreadful, the acting non-existent, and the pace sluggish. The movie is hard to sit through - period. However, that being said, it is also a miracle of a film when you consider that this thing was crafted by an entire community. You can see all the collective effort from the actors, the actual mayor and actual firemen and policemen, to the area location shots used. I also was really amazed at all the local businesses credited at the film's end with helping to finance or contribute in some way to the film. When you look at the film from that perspective, it is indeed quite an achievement. I didn't know anything about it before I sat down and watched it. Now that I have found out something about it, I am impressed. But make no mistake - I have no...NO...desire to sit through it again.

This movie was made by a high school, and not a rich one at that. Ayer High School in Milpitas, CA made this movie. At that time, Milpitas was a small suburb of San Jose. The movie was actually a big deal for the town and many had a blast making it, being extras and then watching it in our little theater.

Sure, as a movie, it's nothing great. But it was made for practically nothing by high school kids equipment that was not very modern at the time.

Ecology as it was known was just becoming a big thing back then, and this movie is about a monster spawned from pollution.