Customer Reviews

Humongous [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Not all horror movies are classics, let's get that straight. But for those of you who appreciate monstrous killers, moody settings, and Janet Julian, Humongous is the flick for you. Yes it is typical of the genre. Idiot kids destroy thier boat, wash ashore on what they believe to be a deserted island, and run afoul of death. What seperates this movie from others of its ilk is the mood created by this film. Dark, well scored, and of decent acting, Humongous may be considered a hidden gem.

I'll keep this short. If you're a fan of this film and have been waiting for a decent copy of this film so you can actually see whats going on ....here it is. don't wait! it was like seeing the movie for the first time!

[brief plot synopsis]
In 1948 a teenage girl is raped by her boyfriend, and in revenge is killed for the act. Years later after she gave birth to his bastard retarded son, she secludes herself on a desolate island to raise him. After she died he is left to defend for himself, not knowing how to take care of himself he preys on the islands animals and his own guard dogs for food. Late one Summer evening, a group of teens out for a summer boating ride breaks down aside the island, looking for help they stumble onto his territory, and just in time-- he is hungry and hunts the teens like they were wild animals for food.


[good things]
First off, the movie's first kill was the bloodiest, a dog attack and pretty well done, in my opinion. I liked the setting. Of course, it being an 80's slasher flick it took a lot from movies like Friday The 13th. The movie was set in the middle of nowhere, it had a potentially menacing villain, beautiful heroine to be, a nice backstory, and a nice body count. I also liked the stalking nature of the killer, very similar to the P.O.V. shots in Friday The 13th. The movie was set over the course of a few days, and seemed to have nods to movies like Friday The 13th, Psycho and even Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The movie's killer was Garry Robbins, who played Saw Tooth on Wrong Turn.


[the bad]
The movie was old, and I had a DVDr sourced from VHS. The movie was too dark at times to see anything. The killer went unseen because of this, the lighting in the movie also sucked. Directing was lack lustre' and the movie in general was very anti-climatic. So much could have been done with the ending, and it completely fell limp. The movie I saw lacked blood, the kills seemed to be cut out all together. The teens would see the killer, and it would cut to another scene and later on they would be found mutilated. That was one of my biggest complaints with the movie.


[final thoughts]
In certain areas the movie was tense, it had a couple good scares, but all in all the movie was flat. The killer could have been so much meaner, and there could have been more blood. Some of the kills were pretty brutal, but let's thank the MPAA for the cuts. The movie seemed to have a lot taken from Friday The 13th Part 2. first off the concept for the killer; no father, retarded/deformed, killing people in mourning of his dead mother. Second, the killer had his dead mother displayed in his home for a memorial and third, in one scene one of the girls stumbles onto the memorial and acts like his mother to try and get away from him. There were a lot of other similarities, but these were the ones that seemed almost blatant to me.
Finally, this movie is a good addition to any slasher collection, the movie stands neck to neck with slasher movies like Madman and The Final Terror, but lacks blood and it lacks the scares that movies like Friday The 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Burning gave us.

If your a collector of rare movies get this one, it might even be in the places you might least expect, maybe even in a second-hand store. I had this title, the discontinued original copy but traded it for another movie. The acting is bad but it's alittle interesting to watch as are most B films, I can't give you much explanation except at the beggining a woman gets raped and the dogs of the island kill the man who raped her. Then some teenagers were stranded on the island and there is some sort of monster chasing them around and so on. Well like I said buy it for a cheap laugh!

The film "Humongous" has one strong point throughout the film, and that's its foreboding sense of doom for the characters involved. The monster is hidden throughout most of the movie, but you get a good look at him in the end. Okay, yes, the film is boring at stretches, the production values aren't great, but there's something about this film that's very distinct. Like I said, it's the atmosphere. The uncut version has a few slight extra bloody scenes, but nobody gets killed in ways that would make Tom Savini sweat his career. Overall, the movie is average with an extra edge of "they don't make them like they used to" working for it. I'm overjoyed to have this in my collection and will watch it again.

Warning: the rape scene at the beginning is very explicit. You've been warned.

'Humongous' is one of my favorite horror films. It's always been in my top ten. I am so glad to finally see it on dvd|! Long Overdue.

A woman is raped in 1946 by an ex-boyfriend; the guy is then mauled to death by her pet guard dogs. It then cuts to the 80s were a group of teenagers go on a boat trip with a lunatic called Nick who seems to hate his brother. They stop the boat at night but he gets annoyed by the sounds of howling dogs at a nearby island. He overtakes the boat and says stuff like "you're not the only one who can do things" and "I've got as much right as you." He crashes the boat and they wash ashore on the island with the dogs. The baby of the rapist is now a deformed super strong freak that's still on the island.
Some people will love this film and others won't. It depends on your taste but I've seen it numerous times. It also doesn't get into the background of what's going on with this Nick character. If you're a huge fan of 80s horror you'll probably like it because the entire thing has an 80s type feel to it.

lil' suspenseful, kindascary, dark, weird, kinda different, just barely ok show-its a deranged grown up human monsta! when i edit or update this site doesn't let you change the stars-drag.

Even for slasher fans, this flick may be a chore to sit through. Besides the fact you never get a half-decent chance to see the main monster/bad guy, all of the outdoor night scenes are so incredibly dark and muddy you're actually left to guess what's going on. (I'm not exaggerating, either.) Definitely a by-the-books slasher film in all other regards, but without the early-80's blood and gore. Only recommended for insomniacs.

Humongous is a likeable enough movie even with its flaws. For one; the actor playing Humongous is not that humongous, although this is not particularly noticeable except for one fight scene where the two guys fighting are not all that different in size, and one of them is supposed to be humongous. Let's not even talk about the obvious influence of 'Psycho' in this movie. Or even a scene right out of 'Friday the 13th, Part II'. I still found this to be an enjoyable romp when I saw it in the theatre when it was released. I wish I could say the same for the VHS tape, however, the transfer is horrible. Nighttime scenes are so dark that at times the screen is just black with only audio. Unfortunately, a lot of this movie takes place at night, making the tape unwatchable. It was not this way in the theatre. Some may like this movie; some may not; nobody will like this tape. Of note to those who care: the cute redhead sister in this movie is Janit Baldwin ('Ruby', 'Gator Bait').-Bob