The Naked Monster

NAKED MONSTER

Ted Newsom has been nursing a It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World homage to Sci-Fi and Horror called NAKED MONSTER . This script is right on,Very funny,Holds up well overtime and that's amazing with it's journey to DVD. 20 years in the making !(edited). There is some awesome scenes, Mostly involving Brinke Stevens. Brinke filmed some scenes 10 years apart,and it's uncanny how little she changed.We are even treated to a NUDE shower scene. Linnea Quigley steals the film playing a deaf girl in a make-out scene,and she throws in a boob flash. One disturbing scene being a huge "Monster of Piedras Blancas" fan,Newsom has Jeanne Carmen playing the wife of John Harmon,Who played her father in MPB. There are other movies like this with less dedication :Vampire Hunter's Club, and Double D Avenger. Imagine all the ways monsters were killed in all your favorite movies, and this film TRIES those methods one more time. NM is the last film of KENNETH (The Thing) TOBEY, JOHN (TARANTULA)AGAR, GLORIA (I Married A Monster) TALBOTT, John (Monster Of Piedras Blancas)Harmon, George (Groucho Marx ) Fenneman, Robert(Superman) Shayne, Les(Them) Tremaine and just a month ago Robert (Hideous Sun Demon) Clarke. There is amazing cameos by stars still with us,Imagine that : Brinke Stevens, Linnea Quigley, Jeanne Carmen, Lori Nelson, Ann Robinson, Forrest J.Ackerman, Paul Marco, Michelle Bauer and DANIEL ROEBUCK. To sum up,Kept on thinking,"Isn't this a fun movie ",and what heroes did they leave off no Hercules or Sindbads...Maybe saving for NAKED MONSTER 2 ,Brinke you up for it ???

A new lizard menace has arisen to terrify the world: the Monstersaurus Erectus. But a select few individuals have the courage and tenacity (if not the brains) to combat the monster: amiable Sheriff Boiler (R.G. Wilson), government agent Jeff Trouble Stewart (John Goodwin), take-charge scientist Nikki Carlton (Brinke Stevens), and the legendary monster killer Colonel Patrick Hendry (Kenneth Tobey, returning to one of his most famous roles in high style).

"The Naked Monster" is essentially both a loving tribute to, and sometimes downright hilarious spoof of, the memorable sci-fi / horror flicks of the 1950s and 1960s. And it name-drops a LOT. It may be a fan film (written with passion by producer Ted Newsom, who co-directed with Wayne Berwick), but it has a definite edge over a lot of fan films in that Newsom and Berwick were able to get a number of stars from those vintage genre films to make appearances. In addition to the great Tobey, the line-up consists of John Agar, Jeanne Carmen, Robert Clarke, Robert Cornthwaite, John Harmon, Paul Marco, Lori Nelson, Ann Robinson, Gloria Talbott, Robert Shayne, and Les Tremayne. If you adore those old genre pictures, it's a no-brainer to check this out just to see these familiar faces (even if some of their appearances are rather fleeting). It's especially fun for any Kenneth Tobey fan to see him once again in a top-billed role. And if you love the gorgeous Brinke, you'll delight in seeing her in a lead role. If you recognize Goodwin, it's because he had a small part in "Tremors", a modern classic also made in this vein.

"The Naked Monster" was largely shot in 1988, with reshoots done 16 years later; by that point, much of the veteran talent had all passed away. Brinke returned for the reshoots, and you'd hardly differentiate the new footage from the old. The whole movie is done in a cheap style that really attempts to emulate the feel of some of those old pictures. It comes complete with copious stock footage, and use of stock music cues.

The movie doesn't always have great gags, or great momentum, but when it DOES hit, it's a riot, and it keeps up the irreverence right through the closing credits. It's reminiscent of the kind of thing that the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker boys did so well (except, of course, those guys probably would have gotten more of a budget). The special effects are hilariously, memorably, endearingly tacky. And I do want to stress the word TACKY.

A must see for people looking for humour and nostalgia; if you only approach it on the basis of its technical merits, of COURSE it's going to come up short.

Seven out of 10.

I just happened to find out that most of all the secondary characters are veteran actors. They just had their old roles from others old-classic science-fiction movies back here for this one. Like the lady from War of the Worlds, who happens to be in both WOTW movies. Check them out and even if this is a bad movie, could be the greatest reunion of those science-fiction vets, making it a collectors item. You can see the relation with those movies on the "movie connections" section and try to find who's who from each movie. Could be a fun game in a boring afternoon. Remember, try to see it for fun and like a collection item, not for the special effects or the story.

A gargantuan beast attacks, resulting in a battle for the survival of mankind from land, sea, and air!

THE NAKED MONSTER is a gift beyond price for lovers of sci-fi / monster movies from the 1950's. Both homage and parody, stock footage and inside jokes are the order of the day. A cavalcade of our favorite -remaining- stars of yesteryear make copious cameos! John Agar! Les Tremayne! Gloria Talbott! To name a few. Hell, just seeing Kenneth Tobey back in his bomber jacket made me weepy! Intentionally cheeeze-tacular schlock with a side order of corn!

WARNING: Contains groan-inducing humor, gorillas with machine guns, and unnecessary nudity! Absurd, ridiculous, and possibly fattening!

Co-stars Brinke Stevens as Dr. Nikki Carlton and R.G. Wilson as Sheriff Lance Boiler. Watch for Linnea Quigley as an early victim!

I thank Ted Newsom for having finished this 12-year effort. Many of us are grateful to him.

I believe that one must be familiar with vintage horror movies to really appreciate the jokes. Thanks to my guy (known as Tim Sullivan (V) to the IMDb crowd), I've been learning about vintage horror films for a couple of years, so I was primed.

From the first moment I started laughing. Here is Ted Newsom, playing 'William Castle' (qv) to the hilt, with all the warnings about what audiences might find under their seats ... and yet parodying that old Castle-y buncum to the hilt! Yay, Ted! I laughed and laughed ... and when you came back to escort us away from the film, I cried.

The dialogue (which I blame on Ted Newsom, though I don't know whether he wrote it with friends) is absolutely delightful. If you enjoyed the puns in "Batman," then you will find this script to be many times more, er, egregious. Since I love bad puns, I laughed out loud even when the delivery was not perfect: because I could see what the actors were *supposed* to carry off, even if they didn't, quite.

Brinke Stevens, who has acted in nearly a hundred movies, is purely delightful (and sexy, for those of you who will enjoy the gratuitous sex; you might even enjoy the discussions among the characters about what constitutes gratuitousness). Ted, that was just plan brilliant.

So many parodistic effects that I admired ... Let me mention the sexy, nearly-terrifying tryst of the young, deaf couple (I wish *I* had thought that one up!); the hilarious discussion between Doctors Howard, Fine, and Howard (breathes there a man, with soul so dead / Who never to himself hath said, / This is the type of movie to throw the 3 Stooges into!); and, of course, all of the veteran scientists recommending what would be best to do, based upon their own past movies! Ted Newsom, you have made me laugh until I cried, and I have seen it only twice. I need several more times to identify Every Single Movie being homaged here.

I loved every pun, both verbal and visual. This is a brilliant movie. I congratulate you, Ted, and I hope that the eggs point toward a sequel!