Scared to Death (1980)

Well, I did learn one thing after watching this flick. After a hard day of work, nothing relaxes you more than watching yet another genetic mutation run amok sucking out the spinal fluid of every hapless human it encounters.Yup, that really takes away the old stress, let me tell you. "Scared to Death" is yet another super low budget, monster on the loose flick, yet is charming in it's own unique way. Preceding "CHUD" by about four years in the monster in the sewer sweepstakes, the title monster in this one is called a Syngenor. You know, your basic genetic humanoid experiment gone wrong that has gotten loose and taken up residency in the cozy confines of the L.A. sewer system. Our Syngenor is your basic man in a rubber suit deal, but still looks pretty cool in a simple way. He also has a long ass tongue that he crams down his victims throat to suck down all that yummy spinal fluid, of which that right there is a pretty unique concept I suppose. In terms of the story its your pretty basic deal, you know the "former detective who now returns to track down the mysterious monster concept", but it worked for me. Acting wise, of course there was not to much of that, but all the characters were actually a pretty likeable bunch and you actually felt a little sorry for whomever got their spinal fluid sucked out. The shots of the monster chasing down it's victims were actually pretty suspenseful, particularly the scenes of the creature strolling down the tunnels towards its prey. Good stuff. This flick was just plain old dumb fun no more, no less.