Part Two Thousand Maniacs, part King Kong (ish) and part what the hell is going on, Godmonster of Indian Flats is a forgotten 1973 brain-melter that combines elements of classic creature features with well-meaning but ham-fisted social commentary to form one of the strangest films you’re likely to witness. Splitting its two central ideas across completely separate plots which only overlap towards the very end of the film, it’s quite a confusing watch but there’s rarely a dull moment – the eight-foot-tall mutant sheep monster is undeniably the main attraction, but with the wealthy black outsider’s storyline, the fake dog funeral, the pie-throwing contest and countless other scenes of madness and mayhem (especially in the closing moments), the whole thing is just absolutely riveting from beginning to end.
After the room stops spinning and your brain returns to normal (AKA “when Godmonster isn’t on the TV anymore”), there’s a hefty amount of extra features to wade through. The Legend of Bigfoot is a full-length pseudo-documentary from 1976 in which an animal tracker traipses through the wilderness in search of a genuine sasquatch. And do you know what? He actually finds and films one! Elsewhere, ‘Berserker shorts’ offers a schizophrenic collection of three short films from the vaults, including the 30-minute public information film Just In Case: Suppression of School Bus Fires (in case you ever need to know about dealing with a fire on a school bus), some very well-spoken people unconvincingly recounting implausible tales of UFO sightings and abductions, and a 10-minute edit of the 1945 creature feature White Gorilla in which some hunters encounter a man in a monkey suit in an African jungle.
Throw in a quick handful of trailers that will definitely pique your interest if you’re keen on this sort of thing, and you end up with a demented but completely enjoyable few hours’ worth of footage. The slightly gritty grindhouse vibe won’t be to everybody’s tastes, but there aren’t many discs out there that offer such a wild assortment of films. If you’re into weird but well-made obscurities, Godmonster of Indian Flats definitely deserves a place on your shelf.
Godmonster of Indian Flats is available on Blu-ray from April 25th as part of 101 Films’ AGFA collection.
