freakboy on film: MONSTROSITY

Take a huge glob of clay from The Golem.  Add some spare parts from Frankenstein.  Sprinkle in a bit of It’s a Wonderful Life guardian angel chimes.  Toss in a doomed Romeo and Juliet romance.  Then hit purée and you’ve got the bloody strange mess that is Andy Milligan’s MONSTROSITY!

written & directed by Andy Milligan (1987, according to IMDb)

According to the biography THE GHASTLY ONE by Jimmy McDonough, Andy Milligan fled New York City after seeing a man defecating in the street, so Hollywood must have been a breath of fresh air.  Maybe that’s why his three California films have an almost hopeful quality.  Well, as hopeful as Andy Milligan could get.  

Ronnie is a young woman with a bright future.  She is an artist with a show coming up and she has a loyal boyfriend.  How loyal is he?  After Ronnie is brutally raped and murdered, Mark makes it his mission to seek revenge  on Ronnie’s attacker. 

 

Mark asks his friends Scott, a medical student, and Carlos, a theological student, for help.  Carlos comes up with either a crazy or brilliant idea.  They will build a Golem from spare parts procured by Scott.  Then they can order the creature to kill the man responsible for Ronnie’s death.  Sounds reasonable enough. 

Like a surgeon

After some extremely unsanitary surgery in a garage, their Golem has been assembled and christened Frankie, of course.  The creature even has a leg and arm of a gorilla that Mark borrowed from his job at a veterinarian’s office.  Now there is only the simple matter of bringing life to dead flesh.  Electricity, prayer, black magic and devil worship all fail to work, so the guys decide to give up.  As the trio leave the garage to order a pizza before dismantling their scientific failure, Carlos places a huge teddy bear on Frankie.  The bear tips over, cue guardian angel chimes, and life happens, along with complications! 

 

Deep down, Frankie is full of child-like innocence, but he was built for the sole purpose of revenge.  Can Frankie reconcile his purpose with his true self?  Will a surprising love connection with Jamie, a lovably ditzy, druggy punk-chick, be Frankie’s salvation or downfall?  Will Mark, Scott and Carlos go mad with the destructive power at their disposal?  Can a guardian angel do his job with all the craziness going on?  Experiencing MONSTROSITY is the best way to answer these deeply profound questions.

Jamie & Frankie Forever!

However, experiencing MONSTROSITY is not for everyone.  You’ll be stepping into Andy Milligan’s reality, so leave your highbrow or sensible filmic taste at the door.  MONSTROSITY feels so different from his earlier work that I initially didn’t know if I liked it or not.  The plot is an unevenly paced mix of brutality and silliness.  The performances lack the intense NYC stage presence, but make sense for this California production.  The music score is a droning ‘80’s synth sound that would not be out of place on a VHS porno tape.  The script lacks constant corrosive cynicism, but is still unmistakably Andy.  The direction is somehow totally Milligan, even without the swirl camera or the uncomfortably intimate extreme close-ups from his 1960’s/early ‘70’s films.

The 1980’s were a very different time

After multiple viewings, I can honestly say, MONSTROSITYwill never be my favorite Andy Milligan film, but it has slowly risen up my admittedly fluctuating list.  I think the reason for this is the strangely sweet romance between Frankie and Jamie.  Hal Borske, a Milligan regular, and Carrie Anita are compulsively watchable in scenes together.  They have a weird sort of chemistry that makes you root for this reanimated corpse and junkie punk.  Just remember, you’re watching Milligan, so your rooting may be in vain.

Frankie leaks when he gets excited

 In conclusion…

I’m not sure if this filmic monstrosity will convert anyone into an Andy Milligan fanatic like Fleshpot on 42nd Street did to me.  Yet, MONSTROSITYshould be experienced if you are in the midst of a Milligan film frenzy, or if you enjoy 1980’s direct-to-video horror cheese from a very different angle.  Either way, don’t say I didn’t warn you! 

 

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words. 

Freak Out, 

JLH 

P.S.  Click the pic ⤵️ to learn how Andy Milligan changed my life! 

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HAUNTING STURGEONS, a tale of the DESIRE For connection, the DANGER of revenge and the DAMAGE from being haunted by the past, is available as an ebook from an Amazon near you!