Search - Hillbilly Monster/Grandparents From Outer Space on DVD

The son of Jan-Gel isn't really a chip off the old block

Daniel Jolley | Shelby, North Carolina USA | 06/04/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Sometimes referred to as Jan-Gel 3, Hillbilly Monster: Son of Jan-Gel is actually the story of the supposed son of the Beast from the East. If you've seen either of the first Jan-Gel movies, you don't even want to think about that 50,000-year-old caveman reproducing. At least it wasn't with a human female, since the Hillbilly Monster is half-ape and half-man. The unlucky ape must have been a gentle beast, as Jan-Gel's son is generally quite harmless (whereas Jan-Gel spent all of his time yelling and killing people). To the world, though, he's just a freak, an oddity of nature they pay good money to see at the local carnival. Having been raised by seemingly kind parents, the Hillbilly Monster doesn't take to being humiliated and caged like an animal. As soon as he gets the chance, he escapes and heads off into the wilderness. After he gets his foot caught in a bear trap, he finds himself taken in by Dr. Love (George Romley). At the good doctor's sanitarium, ape-boy finds a sense of peace and even friendship. The carnival owner wants his main attraction back, however. That means it's only a matter of time before the cops show up at Dr. Love's door with a search warrant. Can Dr. Love protect the harmless beast, or will he fall back into the greedy clutches of the freak show manager?

I got a huge kick out of the first two Jan-Gel movies, but Hillbilly Monster proved to be a bit of a disappointment. It runs a relatively lengthy 82 minutes, but the 20-25 extra minutes of film seems to come down to extended shots of the monster walking through the forest and Conrad Brooks walking around the carnival in search of him. That gets us to the biggest problem with the film. Although written, directed, and produced by the one and only Conrad Brooks, the man himself only appears for some 10 minutes or so early on. His absence is sorely felt the rest of the way. Let's face it; the whole point of watching a Conrad Brooks film is to watch Conrad Brooks showcase his unique version of bad acting (which goes back over 200 films to his early days alongside Ed Wood himself). I do appreciate him giving us an attractive actress for once, but this whole story really needed much more of Brooks' singular charisma to make it enjoyable. Since the Hillbilly Monster isn't killing people, there's just not a whole lot going on - that makes the film little more than a marathon of uninspired bad acting.

Out of This World, aka Grandparents from Outer Space, also can't be seen as a vintage Conrad Brooks film. For one thing, it's barely a half hour long. More importantly, though, it was written, produced, and directed (in 1996, several years before Jan-Gel woke up from his 50,000-year nap) by someone other than Conrad Brooks. Brooks truly is the star of the film, though, one-half of a pair of alien grandparents who come to Earth looking for their grandchildren. It has its funny moments - e.g., Conrad trying to communicate with a horse (the first life form he found), struggling to figure out what to do at an Earthling meal, and causing a huge blackout by feeding on electricity through a power outlet) - but it's not enough to make this DVD a must-have, even for Conrad Brooks fans like myself."

Redskin Hogette stars in Movie!

PC Hogette | Warrenton, Virginia | 03/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of the Redskin Hogettes, those cigar chewing, cross-dressing cheerleaders for the Washington Redskins starts as Zeke the father of the Hillbilly Monster....Porkchop"