Monday, June 9, 2014

The Milpitas Monster (1975)

How bad is it? It's a high school art project.
Should you see it? If you're familiar with Milpitas, CA, it has its moments of fun.

Between being the butt of jokes by Steve Allen and being the site of the murder that inspired "River's Edge," Milpitas was a sleepy community that made its own horror movie in 16mm. High school students wrote and filmed the story of a monster created by pollution, with a gas mask face and giant moth-like wings. There was one professional actor, playing the drunk who no one believes when he keeps seeing the monster. The rest of the film was shot with locals in businesses that wanted free advertising by taking part. Paul Frees narrates, like it's an episode of "Rocky and Bullwinkle;" his fee must've been most of the budget. There's a 120 minute print in existence, but the version I saw and which is readily available, runs 80 minutes.

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