Gila! Review (2012) Worth Watching?

It's about a gigantic gila monster who goes out of its way to kill as many small town Texans as it can.

Gila! was directed by Jim Wynorski (who also directed Piranhaconda and The Thing Below) and stars Terence Knox (from Deadly Renovations, Distortions), Jesse Janzen (from Cry Wolf) and Christina Derosa (from 4Closed).

Hot cars, hot music, hot chicks... And one big monster!

Gila is a reboot of the drive-in classic The Giant Gila Monster from 1959. The original featured a real life lizard slowly walking around a cheesy set of miniature toys. This remake kept the cheese, but in modern fashion meaning ridiculous over the top CGI.

This lizard is a big, bad-ass and FAST creature that only CGI could create. And the green screen tricks are endless in this one. They don't even try to hide it, they make it comically obvious.

The original featured lots of custom hot rods for some reason, and this remake doubled down on this strange detail. There's even more roadsters and they're way nicer. Everyone street races it seems. There's even a scene where the town Mayor is racing through town in a muscle car. They also doubled down on the campiness from the original, the characters are over the top cliche.

I found the entertainment value to be way higher than the original, but I doubt that could have been the case if I didn't just watch the original. It's the direct comparison that makes it fun. On it's own it would probably just come off as cheap and bizarre. For example, a scene near the end shows a guy strumming a guitar and singing a campy Jesus song to a little girl. This is a play off the original and would probably come across as confusing out of context. In context, it's gold.

Worth Watching?

If you like cheesy over the top B-horror movies, and you've seen The Giant Gila Monster, than definitely yes. If you answered no to either, than probably best to skip it.