***SPOILERS*** Grossed out horror movie involving world renowned, but somewhat deranged, Geneticist Dr. Phillip Llyod, Rod Steiger, who's into creating clones of human beings who despite having the exact genetic material in their DNA don't look anything like each other.It was Dr. Llyod's assistant Dr. Amanda Hollins, Kim Hunter, who in fact discovered the metamorphosis like operation but unlike the totally crazed Dr. Llyod knew just how dangerous it was for all humanity and tried to stop it by destroying all the papers she had written on it over the years. Recovering for a massive heart-attack, which she later died from, Dr. Hollins begs her son John, David Allen Brooks, to burn the notes and papers on her secret experiment before it's too late. Too late in stopping John's genetic twin Anthony, who in fact looks nothing like him, coming out into the open and killing everything, human and animal life, that he or it comes in contact with!It's at Dr. Hollins country home where she conducted her experiment in human genetics that her Son John and his friends planned to spend the weekend not realizing the dangers they they were soon to be facing. Anthony makes his long awaited and grand appearance hiding inside a watermelon that he uses as cover in attacking and devouring one of John's friends Neil, Burki Z, while she was driving home to celebrate her parents 35th wedding anniversary! It takes a lot of convincing but by the time that Anthony finally reveals himself it's almost too late to stop him or it. The both mad and cagey Dr. Llyod had secretly planted among John's friends a spy, who's dependent on Dr. Llyod's medication, who does everything to stymie John in finally bringing an end to his genetic brother Anthony. The sad part is that he or she in doing Dr. Llyod's bidding becomes Anthony 1st victim!Despite being on the screen for less then ten minutes Academy Award Winner actor Rod Steiger steals the acting honors as the totally out of his head Dr. Phillip Llyod. Dr. Llyod in trying to keep his and the late Dr. Hollis invention from being cooked down to a blob of Vaseline tried desperately to stop John & Co. from liquefying it only to end up joining the "Thing" in the very depths of hell from where it came from! :The by then totally destroyed Dr. Hollis secret laboratory. But it's in fact Anthony, who looks like a combination of a deep sea squid and cicada beetle, who's the real star of the movie. This yucky and gooey monstrosity is about the grosses thing even seen in a horror movie and makes every minute of its on screen appearances count! To the point where in the end you actually end up feeling sorry for it despite all the death and destruction it caused!

One of the secrets is that the film does not have all that much of a plot to it. So do not try to analyze it, or figure out what is wrong with the picture. It is a "b" movie to be sure, but a somewhat good "b" movie as it were. The story has a son trying to fulfill his mother's wish of destroying her life's work at the home she used to live with, she had just woken from a coma. So the son is off along with some science type friends to look into the mystery's surrounding his mother's request. Surprisingly when you write it out it does sound like a good plot and maybe it is not all that bad, but for the most part once they arrive at the house the film becomes your typical horror movie about monsters. Though I do love the setting of the old house and the basement stuff, the movie kind of reminds me of a combination of two Stuart Gordon movies "Re-animator" and "From Beyond" without being as good as either of them. Still the monsters look pretty good and there are some rather good kills, the plot is rather ignored after a certain point, but with death and mayhem I can live without plot. I would like to see this movie again someday as it has been awhile since I last saw it, but from what I remember not the best movie in the world, but it kept me entertained.

This film is not the best around but is certainly worth a watch. The monster itself is very cool, it is like a hybrid of Alien and the monster from The Suckling. In fact the reason I got this film is because it looked similar to The Suckling. The story and characters take a while to develop which does get a bit boring, and it takes a while before the monster arrives on the scene. But it's worth the wait. The bit where the monster pokes a claw through the floorboards and the dog starts barking at it had me in hysterics. Rod Steiger, who was another reason I got this film (I thought he was amazing in American Gothic) was OK but not up to his usual standards. There's some cool special effects like when the monster pokes one of its tentacles through the skin of a woman, but they are used very little.

This one was a real surprise. I expected it to be a tedious and clichéd film but it was so so much more.The acting was simply magnificent and for an 80's movie, the special effects were some of the best i have seen. The story line was also very solid and i found myself wanting to the movie not to end as i was so into it.One of the very best horror films you are likely to see.10\10.A A A A