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?

And that's not necessarily a good or bad thing.

Let's face it: The Milpitas Monster is a cheapie...in fact it's the kind of movie that Frank Zappa immortalized in the song "Cheepnis", only a couple of decades removed. This movie rode the tips of the coat tails of the brief monster movie revival of the seventies (Octaman, The Crater Lake Monster, APE) that occurred right before the advent of Star Wars and the plunge of science fiction into the mainstream.

But it has its points. I actually like some of the stop-motion animation in this one, primitive though it may be. There are a lot of interesting camera angles that one wouldn't normally see on such a film, and the lighting is for the most part adequate (the movie, especially during most of the special effects sequences, is kept rather dark).

I even enjoyed the story up until the introduction of the stupid "odorolla" tracking device, and the particularly stupid way that was used to lure the monster to its death. I don't mind a "bad" script, but I hate a stupid one.

The Milpitas Monster is worth a look if you are a fan of the giant monster genre, or if you just like cheap movies in general. A film that has Paul Frees do the narration can't be all bad.

B-movies, either you love them or you hate them. Right? I'm not so sure. I believe there are exceptions. I just cannot except how anyone in their right mind, could hate this movie. And by the way, this hilariously inept pile of garbage ain't no B-movie. I'm talking about genuine Z-grade. I'm talking about some of the worst acting you'll ever see, even if you happen to like this type of thing. I'm talking about an incoherent, pointless movie which drags the term "Z-grade" to new lows. This is The Milpitas Monster. This avenger was toxic before toxic was cool. Actually, this guy isn't much of an avenger, he sorta wants to kill everybody. Years and years of garbage build-up, and an accident, involving the town drunk has somehow created a giant, pollution monster, who, like I said, wants to kill everybody, or at least walk around and scare the hell out of everyone, and destroy stuff, and leave giant footprints everywhere. That's basically it. No character development, or anything like that. I don't think that anyone even says anything remotely clever. Not the brightest bunch, I guess. The phrase "so bad, it's good" never made so much sense. An enthusiastically produced, feel-good, schlock-fest, from a better time. I would say how they don't make them like this anymore, but the truth is, they didn't then either. The giant monster thing was done a million times over in the 50's and the early 60's. Just one more thing to add to the clueless oddity that is The Milpitas Monster. I suppose this movie could have used a little gore, like other stuff from this era, but it ain't about shock in Milpitas, California, it's all about the schlock... or at least that's how things ended up. For all I know, these people could have been going for a masterpiece, although, I sincerely doubt it. Just try to remember, The Milpitas Monster meant well. 8/10

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.

Made for $65,000, this one was the brainchild of a high school teacher who decided to make a monster movie in his small Californian town of Milpitas. And it seems like everyone in the town starred in this one! Is it any good? No! Its unsurprisingly strictly amateur hour all the way with ropey effects and a sound so muddy, you barely hear what anyone says but you never really feel like you're missing much. Its about a giant monster who feeds off the local rubbish dump. The inhabitants in the town take ages to spot it, which is somewhat hard to fathom seeing as it seems to be about ninety metres tall. It ultimately winds up with him grabbing a girl and climbing up the highest building in town. I wonder where they got that idea? Overall, this is likeable stuff, while simultaneously being utter, utter rubbish which is borderline unwatchable much of the time. It is nice to think that a small U. S. town got together and had a laugh back in 1976 and made a movie though. Bet they would never have believed that dumb-asses would still be watching it 45 years later.