Humongous (1982) – A VHS Nasty That Deserves Resurrection
Being VHS collectors, my Partner in Gore, Willow, and I, regularly come across long forgotten classics. There are genuinely hundreds upon hundreds of movies that never made the transfer to digital media, or if they did, it was a one off and is so rare.
The Canadian nasty Humongous once had a limited Blu-ray presentation, and like The Lamp (see Blood, Latex, and Bad Wishes: The Lamp Review here), it was costly to track down before Vinegar Syndrome picked it up. Luckily, Vinegar Syndrome released The Lamp a proper release, but it’s a shame Humongous is out-of-print — people deserve to view and own flicks like this.
Humongous was out in the early ‘80s, amongst an ocean of slashers, monstrous human creatures, and kids being sliced films of that era. It’s similar to 1981’s Madman in feel and delivery but chooses a far more flamboyant atmospheric location to the former. This review is taken from the Embassy Home Video pre-cert release. I have no idea what is cut, but I reckon a few blood shots as the camera quick edits off now and then.
We begin our tale with a flashback to the mid 1940s as we witness young Ida being raped before her pet dogs attack her assailant.
Moving forward to the ‘80s, brothers Eric and Nick are planning to take their dad’s boat out for a spin on the waves. Naturally and quite mandatory, whilst Eric is sensible, Nick is a loose cannon, over-the-top, waving a rifle around, etcetera. In fact, his girlfriend, Donna is just as bad. The Bonny and Clyde of slasher flicks.
They head out with their girls, plus one girl’s nerdy sister, and hit the water. After much power play between the brothers, they suddenly come across a shipwrecked fisherman, Bert, who’s cold and moist after floating around for a while.
He tells them a story about an island that they’re dangerously close to (it’s night and there’s loads of rocks, yep you know where this is going) where a lone old lady called Ida lives with her packs of dogs. Only time anyone sees her is when she gets supplies from the mainland twice a year.
Fuck me, guess what? The brotherly dick waving comes into play again as Nick threatens everyone with his gun and takes the wheel despite warnings. He wants to show he’s as capable as Eric. Smash! Straight into the rocks. Eric throws the rifle overboard and punches Nick.
The girls are all bewildered and Bert’s health is taking a turn for the worst. They all lay on the beach listening for the dogs they heard on the island barking as they arrived, but no hounds show up. In fact, now the island is dead quiet, no noise, not even birds. Nerdy Carla is missing. Perhaps thrown overboard as they hit the rocks. After a few shouts and calls, the group settle down, planning to look soon.
So far, we found this film to be jaw-dropping in its choice of visuals (filmed in Canada) and it’s creeping threatening approach of inevitable doom. Something big is watching from the undergrowth. A heavy breathing something. We’re big fans of Joe D’Amato’s Anthropophagus and we don’t apologise for the fact. This movie really has the same layout as that one. We were both glued to the screen by now.
Nick heads off alone to find anything useful and perhaps approach old Ida if he sees her. Still no dogs of wildlife of any kind. Suffice to say, he finds somebody and doesn’t make it back to the group.
Donna collects firewood whilst Eric and his girl, Sandy go off looking for the missing members of their party. Unbeknownst to Donna, she’s being followed by a big hulking meat loaf-shaped brute in the woods.
As the secrets of the island plus what happened there is revealed, the film becomes a deeply gripping game of cat and mouse and there’s a brilliant touch to the whole proceedings — you never clearly see the lumbering brute. Little flashes of Victor Crowley (in fact the Hatchet movies could have pulled a lot of inspiration from this one) and Ringo Starr showcases a rather unsettling noisy killer who’s also a dye in the wool cannibal! Hell, even the Embassy video cover keeps as much as it can secret, just an eye staring atcha plus a fire scene on the rear. Awesome.
The cast play to perfection, most being standard but likeable enough teens. Top marks to Janet Julian as Sandy for being your final girl. I recognised her from the totally awesome, King of New York as well as the original cheesy Swamp Thing TV series. Joy Bushel who played Donna also appeared in Cronenberg’s The Fly remake and Terror Train. I’ve seen both films years ago, yet I don’t recall her at all.
Director, Paul Lynch was more a television series and small box film kinda guy, yet he makes use of the surroundings plus has a knack for building up tension in the right places. Severed thumb in the air for writer William Gray. He wrote a bloody good horror film that delivers enough thrills, chills, and blood with a predictable twist to place on top of the cake. He also typed out Prom Night, The Changeling (wow, I love that one), and The Philadelphia Experiment amongst others.
Having effects folks who went on to do Death Weekend, Platoon, Class of 1984, X-Men, and many more, really helps this gemstone if a chiller along with the fact Garry Robbins (who plays the humongous fella) was a largely built wrestler. He also appeared in Wrong Turn as Saw Tooth, In the Mouth of Madness, and Narc.
The fact that it’s not available anywhere else apart from YouTube and a very pricey Blu-ray via Scorpion Releasing is criminal. This needs a crisp physical media from Treasured Films with extras!!!
Directed by: Paul Lynch
Written by: William Gray
Produced by: Anthony Kramreither
Cinematography by: Brian R.R Hebb
Edited by: Nick Rotundo
Music by: John Mills Cockell
Special Effects by: Brenda Kirk, Maureen Sweeney, Gordon J Smith, Peter Cresswell, Danielle Fleury, Marlene Graham
Cast: Janet Julian, John Wildman, Janit Baldwin, David Wysocki, Joy Bouschel, Lane Coleman, Garry Robbins
Year: 1982
Country: Canada
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 34 min
Studio: Humongous Films, Manesco Films
Distribution: Embassy Home Entertainment, New Line Home Entertainment, Scorpion Releasing
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