Thirty-something drag-racing teens have more to worry about than the law when a gargantuan Gila monster starts chomping down on necking couples near the town's disused quarry in GILA!, a semi-remake of the classic THE GIANT GILA MONSTER by exploitation stalwart Jim Wynorski (NOT OF THIS EARTH). Everyone likes school jock/mechanic/drag racer Chase Winstead (Brian Gross, 2001 MANIACS) except for wrong side of the tracks "Waco Bob" (Jesse Janzen, CRY_WOLF) just out of juvie with a hot rod and hot girl Carla (Christina DeRosa, STUPID TEENAGERS MUST DIE!). Their rivalry quickly takes a back seat to the increasing number of local disappearances and slaughtered livestock that have the sheriff (Terence Knox, FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM) puzzled and the mayor (Gerard Pauwels, CAMEL SPIDERS doing damage control. The sheriff does not believe Chase's story of seeing a giant lizard until Professor Dawes (the original "Chase Winstead" Don Sullivan, TEENAGE ZOMBIES and MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS) identifies a large deposit of green slime as Gila monster venom. Chase and the sheriff arm themselves and blow up the monster's lair but that just makes it angry, and soon the sheriff is deputizing right and left as the town bands together to destroy the beast.

Looking more cheaply made than your average Syfy channel movie, GILA! is undemanding and fairly entertaining with an amusing CGI creature (designed by KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE's Charles Chiodo) and a cast imitating the cheesy earnestness of small town characters in fifties and sixties monster movies (with nods to old-school sexism, the Communist threat, and polio). The supporting cast also includes Kelli Maroney (NIGHT OF THE COMET) as Deputy Wilma and Julie McCullough (SHARKNADO!) as the mayor's drunken wife. It lacks the boobs and gore associated with Wynorski - possibly this was a work-for-hire since he is not listed among the writers or producers - but it's worth a rental (or a streaming).