2001 / ? Minutes / G
Reviewed by Dale Nauertz

You know how they sometimes discover those lost films and make a big to-do about them?

Well, what if they discovered a lost, old movie…and it wasn’t that good. What if, in fact, it was downright horrible.

Such is the premise of “Lizard of Death”. “Lizard of Death” is the story of a large, radioactive lizard who rises from the sea to wreak havoc on a small town. Typical, Fifties-movie stuff.

The acting is horrible, the dialogue is horrible, the effects are horrible. There is no such thing as continuity, the premise is unextraordinary and the lizard alternates between cheesy and obvious models and shots of an iguana.

So why the high grade? Simple. It’s supposed to be this bad! No, you read that right. The dialogue is supposed to be high cheese, the acting is supposed to be this over-the-top and the effects are supposed to be this authentically awful. You see, this is a fictional tribute of sorts to all those cheesy old Fifties movies. And it is so well-done that you may actually find yourself convinced that this really is an authentic (and awful) Fifties monster movie. The director, Ben Heckendorn, has gone through great pains to make it look as much like a bad, old movie as possible. For example, the mayor says he is going to call the president, then dials three numbers and gets him. The president also knows this small-town mayor by his first name. Another nice touch? The president promises to send in the army. What do they get? A general and one troop. The general is constantly smoking and even shows up wearing his full uniform, complete with bars and stars. Heckendorn has done his homework here and it shows. He knows these type of movies inside and out. And, boy, is it fun.

It’s not perfect. Toward the end, it does seem a bit long. Gags like being able to see through the lizard because of the poor effects are done maybe once or twice too often. And the documentary at the beginning is funnier than the documentary footage at the end. But this is truly a labor of love and those who have ever seen a film like “Glen or Glenda” or “Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman” will find themselves smiling knowingly. Even those who aren’t familiar with such films will find much to enjoy.

Not to mention the fact that the premise is truly inspired. Heckendorn and Ben Koelsch (not to mention Paul Farrell, making the documentary feel utterly authentic at many times) have put a great deal of effort into this and it shows. The actors (especially Farrell, Koelsch, Jim Hoffman and Barbi Hilleshiem) all seem to be relishing the chance to fly in the face of convention and be as cheesy as they wanna be.

Bottom line: there is great fun to be had. And, unlike “Battlefield: Earth”, it’s supposed to be like this.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 15th, 2001 at 8:26 pm and is filed under Dale's Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.