Experimental artist Fredric Hobbs final film (thank godmonster) gives us a "unique" spin on the "rampage of nature" sub genre made famous by such films as Night of the Lepus and Food of the Gods. Godmonster somehow has managed to surface on DVD despite its actual lack of theatrical exhibition in '73. That's right, this film was never released in theaters and it's not much of a surprise why. Despite the films actual lack of cinematic appeal, this nicely laid out special edition DVD (with over 3 hours of actual material) can certainly make for an interesting movie night (that is if your idea of "film fun" is cinematic dreg).

The actual Godmonster itself is a mysterious sheep embryo that miraculously grows into an 8-foot tall mutant killer sheep (AKA man in a sheep costume). Well, sort of. There are actually two stories here and unfortunately Hobbs decides to focus on the talkier of the two (damn you Hobbs!). What we're really left with is not much mutant sheep action at all in the long run (damn you Hobbs!).

Set in Silverdale Nevada; A town that really doesn't know what era it is it looks like everybody's dressed up for one of those novelty old-time photos. Our story has something to do with a guy who's trying to buy up the towns properties (or something like that). The poor feller's plans are thwarted by the corrupt mayor and his cohorts (or something like that). Did I mention that the aforementioned man is black and the mayor is a racist? Oh sweet delicious irony. In the mean time this mutant sheep is held up in a lab and eventually grows strong enough to break out and scare some of the townsfolk and children (but not before it has a quick tango with a hippie chick). The story keeps shifting from the corrupt town, to the rapidly growing mutant sheep. Back and forth and back and forth and eventually the credits roll. During this time, there's really no violence or nudity to speak of (PG material all the way) and by the time the sheep actually breaks free, well let's just say they must have ran out of film or something. The creature effects are laughable (aren't they supposed to be?) and the whole experience turns out to be fairly uneventful.

Picture and sound quality are pretty much just what you would expect. There is a fair amount of print damage and colors are over saturated so color bleeding is a problem. The mono audio sounds fine, for what it's worth. I can't imagine that anyone would expect the film itself to look much better than this godmonster knows I sure didn't. It's a B movie all the way folks, why stop here? It could have been worse...and considering the subject matter, i guess it could have also been a whole lot better.

Well, the feature itself may be a bit lackluster (what were you expecting?) but as with most SWV releases, the extras are the diamond in the rough. Let's start off with 4 short films / clips. First up are 2 B&W educational films entitled Rural Rat Control and Community Fly Control and each runs for about 15 minutes. Do I really need to tell you what they entail? They give you exactly what the title promises and they are great fun. Next up is a brief clip of a musical number from Hobbs' film Roseland (B&W as well), entitled "You Can't Fart Around With Love". What we have here is a really bizarre Busby Berkley type musical number inter-cut with scenes of businessmen smoking "the pot". Odd, to say the least. The musical number is followed by a 15-minute color short entitled The Geek. A group of hippie kids search out the elusive Sasquatch. Do they find him? Well, sort of, it's a guy in what I guess is s'posed to be a Sasquatch suit. Oh, did I mention that he bends one of the hippie chicks over and takes her doggie style? Oh yeah, fun for the whole family. Next up is my favorite of all the usual SWV extras, the gallery of exploitation film art set to rare radio spot promos. This runs for about 5 minutes and as always is a real hoot. As if all of this weren't enough, there's still more! What else could possibly be on this jam-packed dual layered disc you ask? Well, how about another feature length film! Do I dare?

Something Weird Video has taken the liberty of throwing in the 1964 (B&W) 70-minute crap-fest The Girl and the Geek AKA Passion in the Sun (split into 12 Chapters as well). In this lurid tale of non-excitement, a carnival geek (he's the guy who bites the heads off of chickens) escapes from his bondage at a run down amusement park. Somehow he winds up with a stripper who is either kidnapped or on the run herself
(it's hard to tell) and the two form an odd relationship (?). This film has plenty of badly dubbed dialogue, and lots 'o nudity. Now, before you go off in a fit of perversity and get the lotion and tissues ready, listen up. You've never seen so many strippers with potbellies in your life (unless you've been to strip clubs in West Philly that is). That's right, put the lotion back (unless them chicks with potbellies is your thing, right Sergio?). Not that there's anything wrong with that mind you. If you dig unattractive women (with potbellies) taking off their clothes and screaming a lot, then you've come to the right place. Not to mention that this film has an incredible(?) finale on a roller coaster that needs to be seen to be believed. No shit.

Needless to say but the quality of this side dish is even less stellar than that of the main course (shocking huh?). Plenty of scratches and film dirt abounds with little to no definition in the B&W photography. The second feature is essentially an extra after all, so there's really no room for complaint. All of the extras feature the SWV watermark in the bottom right hand corner the entire time as well (including the Girl and the Geek feature). It doesn't bother me, but it may bother some so I figured it was worth mentioning.

The whole package is rounded out with some interesting liner notes and some very creative menu design (the extras page is called "mutton") and when you highlight an option, it's an image of a sheep you actually click on. Kudos to Something Weird for really making this disc a fun experience as a whole, considering the source material.

Generally I enjoy these Something Weird Video concoctions, and this disc is really no exception. A lot of what we have here is really bad (but there's so much of it) that only connoisseurs of the truly bizarre need apply. Historically speaking, much of the content on this magic disc has gem written all over it. How many times you're gonna revisit this material is really up to your own tolerance level. Me...I just can't get enough of this stuff, so I'll prob be back for seconds the next time a friend comes over and says, "OK Lawrence, show me something weird!" And I sure will, show them Something Weird that is...