Humongous (1982)
Director: Paul Lynch
Where to get it: TLAcult
A group of teens on a boat find themselves in a fogbound night only to run aground on the rocks of the mysterious ‘Dog Island’ right before their boat goes up in flames. As they gather on the shoreline, one of them goes missing, another is critically injured and four go searching for shelter. They then decide to venture into the still standing house to summon help from its occupants…if any. Luckily, there is someone still dwelling there, but unfortunately there’s something else out on the island growling in the dark and it ain’t no dog! And it is HUNGRY!
Calling a spade a spade, what you have here is your average run of the mill slasher from the 80s. Borrowing from countless other slashers, Hunongous, does manage to top such stuff in my eyes as Just Before Dawn and Madman. Still, to spite borrowing a lot from it, it doesn’t come close to the average Friday the 13th film. But it is still packed with the nudity, blood (still not very graphic overall), and a pretty cool looking killer that looks like your typical mongoloid, but it works.
One thing the movie does do very well is it doesn’t fully play by the rules on which characters are safe and which aren’t. There was more than a few kills that shocked me from at least the placement of them and that is always a very good thing. I couldn’t help but notice that part of the ending was an awful lot like part of another famous Friday the 13th ending, but I guess it was different enough to warrant not complaining about it. Hardcore slasher fans who love the 80s should welcome Humongous for what it is with open arms. Everyone else might not be so forgiving.
(6/10)
Features
– 1:78:2 Anamorphic Widescreen UNCUT
– Watch with or without “Katarina’s Nightmare Theater”
– Alternate R rated intro sequence
– Commentary
– Trailer
