Jim Wynorski is a hack. No one can deny this. He's talentless for the most part, but must work cheap since he makes crap like this. Gila! with it's horrible effects (the CGI makes the original, which used a real Gila Monster, look good). Barely competent acting (it was nice to see Night of the Comets Kelli Maroney), and lets just get the shot directing, help make this the crapfest it is. How can anyone make a remake of a film that was already bad and make it worse? I give you Exhibit A.

I'm going to agree with what another user said and say, yes! The original was a million times better. When I first picked up this film, I didn't even know it was a remake, I thought it was one of those Syfy originals, but no, even though it's virtually just as bad. They were on the right track with the creature design, but some of it, especially its back end, get all awkward and weird looking. Also, the truck the guy drives says the company he works for is in Indiana. It doesn't take a herpetologist to know that Gila monsters live in Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. Not the north. The acting is horrendous, and it's as if the characters are played by high school students instead of experienced and skilled actors. Along with the inaccurate distribution of Gila monsters, the movie supposedly takes place in the 1950's, which is when the original was made. The only thing making that obvious is the automobiles. The actors dress as if they are from the present time. They could have done a lot more with this movie. I fail to accept that a venomous lizard the size of a house doesn't cause people to look out their windows. It seemed as if no one knew the creature existed, except those who were hunting it. It was a pretty big disappointment, but I feel like it could have been molded into a really good one. Too bad it didn't happen.Also, Gila monsters don't use their tongues to capture prey. Just sayin!

The acting was horrible, the special effects were horrible, the plagiarism of the original was horrible. Only good things about this film were seeing the old cars and finding out that Don Sullivan (Chase in the original) is still above-ground.Seriously, I love bad monster movies - things like Killer Shrews, the Giant Claw, and the Beast of Hollow Mountain. I love newer campy monster movies, too, but this was just a complete waste of time. If you want to watch a movie about a giant lizard and have seen Lake Placid too many times, then watch the original Giant Gila Monster from 1959. The acting (for the most part) is much better, they used a live lizard and miniatures (so there's no awful CGI), and hey, it's original, not plagiarized!

A choo choo train and a big lizard or two or three and an exclamation point in the title. Some 35 year old teenagers and some really good special effects make for a great movie. They could not get Matt Damon or Justin Bieber so they went with what's his name and the guy from the movie about the thing.The monster is well done with CGI or whatever. Some great old rock and roll fifties hit songs and lots of very nice vintage cars. The steam locomotive looks legit but I do not know.In one scene there is a map of where the monster might be. It has a golf club called The Legends marked on the map. If you search that it is in Indiana. The story is very lame but it remains fun until the end when a last laugh awaits the audience.Looks like the budget was under one million so they did a good job giving us a potential cult flick for pennies. It usually costs much more to make something like this.It has a jeep but it needs an airplane and maybe a military officer and a cat.