Godmonster of Indian Flats Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		2.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.0

Godmonster of Indian Flats Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 11, 2018

Lest it may have escaped notice, we live in a world where any number of iconic films, some of which probably deserve being called masterpieces, languish in vaults around the world desperately in need of major restoration, let alone high definition home theater releases, and yet here we have Godmonster of Indian Flats, a film my hunch is the vast majority of readers of this site have never heard of before stumbling on this review, and which nonetheless has been granted a 4K restoration off of the only surviving 35mm print. The American Genre Film Archive has partnered with Something Weird to provide whatever fans of this film there may be with a spectacularly odd release, one that in its own way matches the peculiarities of AGFA releases like Bat Pussy, though in this case there’s (thankfully?) no quasi- hardcore content, even if (and I swear I’m not making this up) the heroine of the film approaches the titular monster late in the story and says, “I’ve followed you all the way from the Glory Hole.” Godmonster of Indian Flats was the brainchild (or something like that) of would be auteur Frederic C. Hobbs, a rather fascinating character (at least as evidenced by some of the relatively scant information available on him online) who was both a historian and art curator along with being an occasional filmmaker (there are evidently three other film bearing Hobbs’ imprimatur). One of Hobbs’ historical pursuits was documenting the story of Nevada’s Comstock Lode, which may be one reason why that particular source of wealth plays an arguably absurdly large part in a film which is ostensibly about a “hybrid” beast that is kinda sorta half man, half sheep. This is the sort of a film that needs to be seen to be believed, if even viewing it can accomplish that feat, and it’s another completely bizarre gonzo effort that should certainly delight whatever demographic AGFA has been targeting with their off the wall offerings.

Hobbs evidently had a sense of humor, something that may be more than obvious given the patently ridiculous monster at the core of the story (see screenshots 3 and 17 for a little preview if you’re interested), but which shows up perhaps subliminally in the opening moments of the film, which are underscored with Leopold Stokowski’s rendition of Johann Sebastian Bach’s immortal “Sheep May Safely Graze”. While not a whole bunch in this film makes a ton of sense, the “story” (such as it is) follows sheep farmer Eddie (Terry Wills), who arrives in Reno and enters a completely deserted casino. That is just one of several unexplained phenomena which dot the film (not the least of which is the presence of the monster itself), and it’s notable that Hobbs just kind of ups and drops the “abandoned casino” look when Eddie hits the jackpot, at which point the place is stuffed to the gills with other customers. In other words, it’s best not to ask too many questions in a film like Godmonster of Indian Flats.

Eddie is driven up to “Comstock”, actually Virginia City, Nevada, where Hobbs evidently lived and worked for years, and which is of course the supposed locale of television’s legendary Bonanza, which may be one reason the nefarious Mayor Silverdale (Charles Lancaster) keeps using the word “bonanza” late in the film. Mayor Silverdale has attempted to “recreate” the town as a historical site kind of like Williamsburg, Virginia, and so everyone walks around in vintage outfits and there’s even a functioning bordello (which also offers fortune telling, something that of course plays into the “plot”).

Eddie gets involved in a little fracas at a bar after he hits the jackpot, but is “rescued” by a local anthropology professor named Dr. Clemens (E. Kerrigan Prescott), who drops Eddie back at his family ranch. There, still pretty buzzed from his drinking spree, he witnesses something, and when Clemens and his assistant Mariposa (Karen Ingenthron) drop by to check on him, they find him buried under a bale of hay with a pulsating “hybrid embryo” next to him. Again: don’t ask questions, it’s really for the best.

Suffice it to say Clemens wants to study the hybrid and of course things ultimately go completely haywire, but perhaps surprisingly the monster doesn’t really go on its rampage until rather late in the film. Instead, there are whole swaths of mining related content to get through, as Silverdale attempts to take control of the town and an interloper named Barnstable (Christopher Brooks) shows up and becomes a scapegoat (scapesheep?) of sorts, perhaps not so subliminally because he’s about the only black cast member in the film.

I couldn’t help but think of an old season of The Amazing Race as I watched Godmonster of Indian Flats. Those of you with good memories who are fans of the reality series may recall cousins Charla and Mirna who appeared both on a regular season and an All Stars run. I frankly can’t recall which year had this particular moment, but somewhere along the way Charla and Mirna (one of whom is a “little person”) had to herd a bunch of sheep onto a tiny boat and then paddle them across a lake. They were having pretty good luck with the exception of one recalcitrant ewe. One of the cousins pointed to the uncooperative beast and said, “That’s the evil one.” This may suggest that there is more than one godmonster in sheep’s clothing lurking in various global locales.

Godmonster of Indian Flats Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Godmonster of Indian Flats is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of AGFA and Something Weird with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. As stated above, AGFA's press materials tout this as a "new 4K scan from the only surviving 35mm theatrical print" (some online sources state the film never actually had a theatrical exhibition, which isn't all that surprising). As I mentioned in our Bat Pussy Blu-ray review, there's often a tension between how accurate a transfer is and how it actually looks, and this is another excellent example. There's no doubt that this 4K scan authentically recreates the source material, but there's also no doubt that the print here has considerable damage, especially in the opening and closing reels, where rather long and long lasting scratches can be seen. Even in the "middle" section of the film, though, there are manifest specks, dirt and other signs of age related wear and tear. The entire palette looks fairly faded quite a bit of the time, and there's a bluish undertone that's apparent quite frequently and which becomes even more noticeable in a number of day for night sequences. Detail levels are fairly variant depending on light conditions and framings, but quite a bit of the outdoor material actually pops relatively well. Grain looks natural and there are no compression anomalies.

Godmonster of Indian Flats Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Godmonster of Indian Flats features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track that actually fares at least a bit better than the video element, but which is still occasionally hobbled by pops, crackles and signs of inartful sound editing (several source cues just kind of end mid-tune). Dialogue is rendered relatively well, though some loose sync suggests that some post looping was done. The entire track has a slightly boxy sound, but all elements are presented with decent fidelity and no really problematic damage.

Godmonster of Indian Flats Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Strange Sightings (1080p; 36:15) is a short about UFOs that is a bit like Ed Wood updated a decade or so.


• School Bus Fires (1080p; 25:00) is a short for those of you who have stopped worrying about more minor issues like nuclear holocaust.


• White Gorilla (1080p; 9:48) is about, well, guess.


• Rampaging Monster Trailers (1080p; 8:52) are culled from the AGFA vault and suggest Godmonster of Indian Flats perhaps surprisingly not the weirdest film the group might release.


• Bonus Movie: The Legend of Bigfoot (1080p; 1:14:49) takes an almost verite approach toward its subject. No, really -- this almost plays like a Walt Disney True Life Adventure with tons of scenic footage only occasionally interrupted by a Yeti or two. The back cover of the release states that this was sourced off a new 2K scan of an original 35mm print.

Godmonster of Indian Flats Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

AGFA has its own unique "mission" and one has to appreciate the fealty they've shown toward bringing out some completely outré films over the past year or so. Godmonster of Indian Flats certainly qualifies in that regard, and when taken on its own decidedly lo-fi merits, it's actually kind of weirdly amusing. I personally would have loved a bit more information on Hobbs as part of a supplementary package, but AGFA fans will no doubt enjoy the gonzo shorts and secondary feature that are included here.