Runtime: 92 minutes
Directed by: Andy Milligan
Starring: Hal Borske, Carrie Anita, Michael Lunsford, Joe Balogh, David Homb
From: Filmworld International/Jaylo International Films
The most “demented genius” film I see this Spooky Season. Via request from a relatively recent mutual, this is my second Andy Milligan film. Clarification is in order: this person left a comment on my review from this past May of The Rats are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! It was a film selected due to my knowing its ludicrous title for literal years; big mistake. In my eyes it was an insufferable bore w/ acres of dialogue that ceaselessly droned on. It also was said to be not among his best according to that Milligan fan. Alternatives were listed instead. It necessitated visiting The Bowels of the Internet to track down a copy but that journey was successful.
It was more polished than Rats-a relative term-and avoided many of its demerits. In Los Angeles, a trio of street thugs are on a reign of terror. After a sexual assault (and worse) to lead guy Mark's girl, the movie makes a HARD pivot around 20 minutes in. You see, it becomes a comedy; Mark... creates a GOLEM along with two of his buddies after one of his pals casually mentions this idea & the trio celebrates this genius plan! No lie, the trio looked to be So Cal surfer dudes in their 20's, only one of whom "is in medical school," yet they sewed together “Frankie” and after much experimentation, he comes alive. In fact, he's more Frankenstein's Monster than an actual Golem.
I have no idea what genre fans in the late 80's thought of this patently bizarre picture. One of the trio shows posters of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Commando as a way to convince Frankie to kill the thugs. He saves a girl and while he is incredibly grotesque, she doesn't care that “he's no Bruce Springsteen”! Then the final twenty minutes become even stranger! I had zero expectation that this would be one of the strangest pictures ever viewed by me, but it was. To be Frank(ie), the script is a total mess, the editing was apparently done w/ Frankie's hatchet, and there are day/night continuity issues as frequent as Plan 9 from Other Space.
Yet, this was perversely entertaining. The score was omnipresent but still interesting; no spoilers on what orchestral music randomly gets used in a few scenes. Now, this doesn't mean that I'll plow through the rest of Milligan's filmography; after all, hearsay tells me that most of his movies were like Rats in the constant presence of yelling & arguing—thankfully Monstrosity featured it less frequently. However, this vulgar auteur is now looked at a little more favorably by me. It likely will be months before I see something else from him—with any luck it'll be as unforgettable as Monstrosity.
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