ATTACK! of the Gila monster: Weekend’s B-Movie Celebration features A-list campy fun

A gigantic monster has invaded downtown Franklin.

The scaly desert lizard, as big as a tractor trailer, thunders through city streets towards Franklin College. Curved claws dig into the pavement as a mouth full of dagger-like teeth snap.

Terrified townspeople scurry away from the destruction. Not all of them make it.

This vision of horror has sprung from the imaginations of local B-movie mavens Bill Dever and Jim Wynorski. Mutated lizards, rockabilly music and hot-rod racing power the new film “Gila!,” which was entirely shot, edited and made in Franklin.

A remake of a 1959 creature feature “The Giant Gila Monster,” this version holds true the original elements of teenage rebellion and genetically altered monsters. Bad boys race their souped up cars, sock-hoppers boogie around to authentic ’50s music, and a Gila monster tries to destroy all of it.

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