Godmonster of Indian Flats (1973)

Today I’m very excited to talk about this movie. Godmonster of Indian Flats is a drive-in flick that I had never seen before, which trust me is very unusual. I’ve spent most of my adult life tracking stuff like this down so for such a strange movie to stay off of my radar is weird, which makes sense since Godmonster of Indian Flats is a crazy movie. Let’s talk about the plot.

This is a movie with a pair of storylines that intersect at the very end. The first has to do with a sheep farmer, Eddie, who gets beaten up for his gambling winnings and ends up befriending a scientist who drives him home. Checking on him the next day he inexplicably finds a mutant sheep lying next to the farmer who is still recovering from his beating and isn’t sure what happened. They take the creature back to the lab to observe as it grows, all the time keeping it sedated.

The nearby town, where the farmer was beat down, is having its own drama. Seems an outside interest is trying to buy up the mineral rights and reopen the local silver and gold mines. The prices have gone up enough that it would be profitable to wring the last bits of the precious metals out of the ground. The local rich guy, Silverdale, does everything in his power to prevent the agent of the outside interest from having any luck. This includes both legal and illegal roadblocks. This story ends up with a posse chasing the man who knocks on the door of the lab where the creature is being kept.

Now that everyone is together the posse shoots tear gas to get the man out of the lab and ends up setting the creature free. It goes on a rampage… well okay it actually just pushes one guy off of a building. But that is enough for another posse to form to run it down and save the day. It is also revealed that Silverdale has purchased all the mineral rights and is negotiating with the outside interest directly. Double cross! When this is found out by the citizens of the town a big riot starts, shots are fired, and the now captured mutant sheep monster explodes. How do you like that plot?

This movie makes absolutely no sense at all. The individual story threads are odd, which makes sense for the sheep monster bit. What I didn’t expect was the other one which is basically a financial drama to be so weird. In an effort to turn the town against the man representing the outside buyer they stage a dog homicide and funeral so that everyone thinks the sheriff’s pet was accidentally killed by the outsider. This is all an elaborate ruse as the dog is just fine and is staying with family out of town and the coffin is full of rocks. Yeah, I said coffin because as I stated there is a proper church funeral for the dog! Let me be very clear that this isn’t a comedy and is being played seriously. See what I mean when I say this movie is crazy?

I love the look of this creature!

Since at least part of Godmonster is a creature feature I have to talk a bit about the effects work. This falls into the category of guy in a rubber suite, but the design has a lot of thought put into it. It seems like someone who was familiar with the basic anatomy of a sheep took the time to make this look like it was a mutated animal. From the elongated head to the useless, but recognizable front leg you can see the sheep inspired parts of the design. For what is basically a low budget cheesy movie this attention to detail is shocking. Sadly, we get one kill and it is very tame. Don’t go into this one expecting a lot of gore because there isn’t any.

Godmonster of Indian Flats is one of those rare movies that is far better than it should be. You have two nonsensical plots jammed together that eventually intersect with inexplicable results. Nothing makes sense here, but somehow it works. The characters are quirky and while it doesn’t always make sense the director makes sure something interesting is on screen at all times. Sure, you might be sitting on the couch confused, but you are paying attention. I watch a lot of movies and that isn’t always the case. If you are looking for something totally different then Godmonster of Indian Flats is for you.

© Copyright 2020 John Shatzer