Rogue Cinema - Monster from Bikini Beach (2008)

Monster from Bikini Beach (2008) - By Duane L. Martin
Posted on Wednesday, October 01 @ Mountain Daylight Time by Duane

Remember those great old bikini / go-go / monster movies from the 60's? You know, the kind of stuff I review on my site B-Movie Central. Well, every now and then someone makes a retro style film that tries to re-create the fun of those old classics, and Monster from Bikini Beach is the latest one. But does it live up to what it's trying to do? Well, yes and no.

Monster from Bikini Beach is about a crooked cop out to score a big shipment of coke that was jacked from the guy who was delivering it to the local dealer. Now the cop is out to find it so he can skip town with it and get away from the big time mobsters in the next district that he's already had a bad run in with when he tried to make a deal with them. Meanwhile, the local dance club promoter is planning a big go-go dancing contest, which the older cop's young, bikini-clad, air-headed girlfriend desperately wants to dance in. Add to the mix a hot television reporter and her anti-establishment photographer friend, a couple of hardcore swamp rat types and a giant mutant catfish monster whose only two purposes in life are to kill and to find the right human female to spawn with, and you have Monster from Bikini Beach.

The film itself has its strengths and its weaknesses. As far as the technical aspects of the film go, everything was quite well done. The lighting, sound and camera work were all generally good, and the music was appropriate to the film. The catfish monster is really the shining star of this film though. It was really well done and a great flashback to those old classic monster movies. The costume looked great and the whole thing was just a lot of fun.

Another strength of this film was the gore, which was also done really well and just looked great. It kind of reminded me of the kind of gore you'd get in a Herschel Gordon Lewis movie. I was actually surprised it was as good as it was for the type of film this is. It was so good, it almost seemed out of place. Kudos to the effects and make-up crew for their fabulous work.

As for the weaknesses, there were too many long, drawn out go-go scenes, and one shower scene with the reporter girl that was needlessly long. The whole story with the crooked cop and the cocaine didn't fit all that well either, and that whole aspect of the film was lacking the right feel for the type of movie that this was supposed to be. Some of the line delivery was overly stiff or awkward as well, but it all depended on the person saying it and the scene. Again, at times it suffered from RRR (read, rehearsed and recited) line delivery. It suits this kind of a film, because that's sort of what you'd expect to see. There were times though where it was a little overly awkward though.

However, the reporter and her plucky photographer sidekick really worked well together, and the two swamp rats were just great. One of them was a big guy that reminded me of a cross between Robert Englund and one of the old wrestling tag team, The Bushwhackers (for those who were into wrestling back in the 80's or 90's and remember them.) The other was a really cute and sexy girl, but cute and sexy in a Crocodile Hunter kind of a way. The two of them were probably the coolest characters in the whole film.

While the film is a mixed bag, overall it is a fun film. The long, drawn out go-go scenes can be fast forwarded through if you want, so you can skip over them and get right to the good parts, of which there are many. The monster is seriously cool, and the gore is wonderful. There's a lot to enjoy here, and it's definitely worth your time to check it out.

If you'd like to find out more about this film, you can check out the Trash Film Orgy website at http://www.trashfilmorgy.com.