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I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Blistering performances.

When John Carradine is in a film, it's either going to be very good or very bad. With a title like MONSTROID "It Came From the Lake," you can well imagine which side of the equation this thing falls on.During its first four minutes, the film tells us twice that it is based on actual events. If that's true, then in June 1971, the Colombian village of Chimayo was terrorized by a huge, ridiculous- looking lake monster ostensibly created by industrial pollution from a nearby cement plant. Since the film's heroes kill the monster in broad daylight—by blowing it to bits using a dead lamb they filled with dynamite—as numerous people watch (and take pictures) from the shore, and with a TV news crew filming every moment, it's odd that no record of these "real-life events" exists anywhere. I suspect "Monstroid" was fact-based in the same way that "Fargo" was."Monstroid" contains many classic elements of grindhouse fare: bad acting, tons of padding (mostly in the form of helicopter footage), macho one-dimensional heroes, female characters who are little more than eye candy, racist stereotypes (in this case, of the Colombian people as ignorant, gullible peasants), numerous screenwriters credited, and the overall look of a home movie shot in someone's back yard.During filming, John Carradine told a crew member, "This is the worst piece of s**t I've ever worked on, and I've worked on a lot of pieces of s**t." I can attest to the second part.

A South American town finds horror in their formerly beautiful lake where an American cement plant has helped to destroy the environment and allegedly create a man-eating monster. "One Life to Live's" own Asa Buchanan, the J.R. Ewing of daytime, is the J R. Ewing of the low budget horror movie, showing little empathy to the people of this once quaint fishing village, caring more about profits than people. James Mitchum is the plant manager who comes to believe in the monster legend, and along with American reporter Andrea Harford, tries to solve the mystery before the entire village becomes a midnight snack for this allegedly hideous creature. Anthony Eisley adds sleaze as a womanizing American factory worker. Deliciously bad, this poorly photographed horror/science fiction film is watchable, yet at times you find yourself either rolling your eyes to the point where you are seeing out your ears, or yelling at the screen for its obvious stupidity. Add in horror film veteran John Carradine as a sin obsessed priest, and you've got a candidate for the Golden Raspberry for worst horror film of the past 50 years. In his two scenes, Carey's obnoxious character either makes you want to see more of him (he is delightfully over the top) or see him as one of the creature's most pain-stakingly slow eaten meals. You can see how the North Americans become so hated by the South Americans because practically everything they say is insulting to all Hispanic cultures. There is no hesitation in referring to the Spanish speaking people as all backwards even though it is obvious that they were fine until the Gringos showed up. A subplot concerning the wife of the first victim being called a witch is disturbing. While the ending is left open for a possible sequel (which never happened), the fact is that a sequel might even have been better with the way that the plot was left open. You can also refer to this as probably the most racist (and sexist) horror film ever made.

I don't care how inept and foolish "Monstroid" is, because this film's leading male character is my new personal here and role model from this moment on! It's fairly irrelevant to the story, but dig this: the manager of a gigantic construction company in Bolivia dumps his gorgeous blond girlfriend because he started a new relationship with another gorgeous woman; a brunette this time, who also happens to be the local mayor's daughter. Yet, the exact same evening, the guy meets up again with the blond girl by the side of a lake, has sex with her and then dumps her again! And she doesn't even seem to complain! I worship this guy! How does he do it? Then of course, the titular monster emerges from the lake and kills the blond girl, so that the actual movie can finally start. Please, don't pay too much to the incredibly low (1,9 ?!?) rating here on IMDb, as "Monstroid" is a tremendously fun and undemanding trash-effort of the late 1970's. The make-up effects and the creature's design are delightfully cheesy (it actually looks like a watery version of ET, with a long neck and totally UN-menacing puppy-eyes) and the script is full of holes and unintentionally comical situations. Supposedly based on true facts (yeah, sure…), the film claims that industrial waste and constant pollution of the water caused an ordinary inhabitant of the lake to mutate into a bloodthirsty creature that feeds on human flesh. Locals as well as company employees and opponents of the factory eventually have to combine forces to defeat the cute-looking critter, but nobody knows how. Perhaps I was just in a very relaxed mood hen I saw it, but "Monstroid" is a lot more charming and amusing than the other reviews suggest. It certainly isn't the worst film in its type and at least it's 100% unpretentious and traditionally accomplished, with a lot of spirit and goodwill from everyone involved in the production. The setting is even rather original and the bright and enchanting photography make it easy to watch. I might be making dangerous recommendations here, but surely admirers of old-fashioned B-monster movies won't regret seeing this film.

This is a wonderfully goofy example of a self produced, written and directed vanity project ...while I was working as a crew member John Carradine commented to me (before the burning at the stake sequence): "This is the worst piece of sh*t I've ever worked on ...and I've worked on a lot of pieces of sh*t." Also An interesting moment earlier when Jim Mitchum was having trouble with his lines and started cursing in the courtyard location of the Santuario (a religious shrine in Chimayó) - at which point one of the local "vato loco" low-rider onlookers growled "...show some respect man", which apparently caused Jim to remember where he was, as he then made a very profound and heartfelt apology for his inappropriate behavior. In any case the crew did the job on deferment and were never fully paid - but came away with plenty of particularly bizarre stories - like the night we caught the producer/director's 10 year old son entertaining himself by constructing miniature Burmese tiger traps for us to break our legs in. Like they say: "Ya gotta' love the Biz..."