Monstrosity

Monstrosity (1987)

1/2 (out of 4)

A man's girlfriend is brutally murdered by thugs so his friends talk him into building a golem. They end up naming the golem Frankie (after Frankenstein) and soon they have him killing some bad guys but not long into his mission he falls in love with a woman who also loves him.

This here turned out to be one of Andy Milligan's final pictures and it's clear that the director was turning out awful movies in this late period just like he was in his early days. MONTROSITY is thankfully so awful that you can actually get some mild entertainment out of it. With that said, that incredibly horrid Milligan pacing is on hand and keeps it from being better.

The film is only going to appeal to fans of Milligan or those who enjoy awful movies. On a technical level this film is pretty awful with some of the worst editing that you're ever going to see. Even worse is some of the performances, which are just downright embarrassing. This here is especially true during the scenes where the three friends are slap-happy when they decide to make this golem. The way they carry on is just stupid and what's even worse is the "It's Alive!!!" yet, which is of course paying homage to James Whale's FRANKENSTEIN.

The love story involving the woman is just strange to say the least. There are some incredible campy moments throughout the picture including the actual look of the monster. He really looks like Ronald McDonald gone really bad with the red hair and the really bad looking fake eyeball hanging out. The dialogue is also extremely awful but leads to a few laughs. This Milligan picture also offers up some gore, which is something we didn't normally get.

MONSTROSITY actually lives up to its title. At 93 minutes the film drags really bad and this here keeps the film from being more entertaining.

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)

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.

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.

'Monstrosity' is the only Andy Milligan's film I have seen and I have to admit it's not so terrible like some people are saying. The plot is extremely simple to follow : Gang of thugs rules the streets of Hollywood and when the innocent girl is raped and later killed by the gang leader, her boyfriend with a help of his two pals creates golem like creature who will be killing all sort of criminals, drug dealers and other 'trash'... The movie itself is very cheesy and amateurish, but certainly it has some good moments. First 15 minutes are very promising, there is a big amount of violence and some bad (in a good way)nasty looking gore effects. Unfortunately after these 15 minutes 'Monstrosity' changes in something more like a black comedy than truly horror movie and sometimes it's very boring. If you have a chance to get copy of this rare flick give it a chance, but don't expect solid B class horror flick. 4 out of 10 for this little trash.