Godmonster of Indian Flats 'Mutton' to Make Fun Of

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Submitted by Dennis Russo on Thu, 07/05/2018 - 07:57

You know, sometimes you can actually tell a book by its cover--or, in this case, a DVD by its jacket.

The GODMONSTER OF INDIAN FLATS is one of those movies that, if you pick it up to look at it, you’re already classified as one of those who likes weird and strange things...which kind of classifies you as weird and strange yourself. I freely admit I am one such person, drawn to this DVD by the sheer strangeness, nay goofiness, of its title, and upon reading the jacket I was compelled to to take it home to watch.

Believe me, I make no assumptions that I’m going to see something other than what I expect when I choose one of these movies, so I am rarely disappointed; and I’m not here. This movie was everything I thought it would be. Its everything you would think it would be. This movie, by great movie standards, is bad--but by bad movie standards, it's great!

The film takes place in the modern day town of Virginia City, Nevada (yes, the original town), resurrected from the past by Mayor Charles Silverdale (Stuart Lancaster) who is trying to bring the town back to life by investing the money he made writing books about the Comstock load, while fending off an East Coast syndicate trying to get them to sell and reopen the mine.

The mine emits a strange gas through the land, which is discovered by Professor Clemons (E. Kerrigan Prescott), who, with his trusty assistant Mariposa (Karen Ingenthron), discovers a mutated sheep embryo nearby and figures the gas is the cause of this mutation--and possibly the cause of the legend of a monster that terrorized the area long ago.

As fate would have it, the Prof and his assistant take the fetus back to his lab and put it in an incubator, which he just happens to have laying about. And lo and behold, it grows--only to get out and terrorize the town folk.

As monsters go this bipedal sheep monster with one short arm and one long dangly leg/hoof, ratty sheep wool covering, and a plastic-and-paper-mache head is not very scary. In fact, it's actually shake your head, "what am I watching?" kind of laughable.

As it is tormenting the locals, the Prof and his assistant try to capture it again. Meanwhile, the back story of the Mayor and the syndicate continues to play out. (I won’t tell you what happens here, there have to be some surprises.)

Both story lines come together, culminating in a finale of epic proportions! Okay, a finale of absurd confusion, complete with cheap explosions, mass hysteria and rioting that has to be seen to be believed.

The acting is…well… its better than the special effects, I’ll give them that.

Done is 1973 on a budget that I bet would equal a family of four’s weekly grocery budget, this movie was shot on site with actual townspeople of modern day (1973) Virginia City playing the townspeople. How's that for authenticity!

Written, produced and directed by Frederic C. Hobbs, this one is truly one from the vaults, and this DVD brought to us by AGFA + Something Weird is from the only surviving 35mm theatrical print. (There was probably only one made, in my opinion, as I cannot believe it was shown in more than one movie theater.) The blips and tape scratches only added to the aura of the film--and who knows, they may have intended them to be there all along. The sound is not too bad either; sometimes in old prints such as these the sound can degrade and be very echo-y, but not too much here.

The DVD has a bunch of extras, all cut from the same cloth if you will: Documentaries shot in such a way that that it brings to mind the “Mysteries in History” documentary that Newton (David Cross) shows Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) and Jay (Will Smith) in MIB II. Cheesy realism shot seriously is the best way I can describe them. They didn’t set out to come off so silly, but time and tide were not kind to them. But here they fit and are right at home, weird for the weirdly. There is even an old public service style short, the kind that you would see maybe in a classroom in the 50’s and 60’s, dealing with school bus fires, how they start and what to do if one happens. It's comical in the portrayal of the seriousness it's trying to convey.

The full length bonus movie, THE LEGEND OF BIGFOOT (1:15 minutes!) is a documentary style movie shot to look like an old Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom show.

All in all, this is a cheesy movie lover's treat, and one to get if you are like me and into these kind of movies.

I can’t rate it, becasue if I rate it compared to movies outside of its genre it wouldn’t fare well, and if I rate it for what it is within its genre, someone not knowing might think I don’t know what the heck I’m talking about giving it a good rating. So just think of it as a fun afternoon time-killer. Don’t expect much in the way of special effects, even for its genre (Sharknado it aint), nor of story and you won’t be disappointed. I look forward to more of their productions.

Bonus’ included on DVD: