If you're looking for a movie about giant lizards, this is one you're going to love. It may not be Godzilla, but in some ways the Giant Gila Monster is even better.

Admittingly, the special effect of having a giant gila monster is rather weak. If you can't tell, the film merely shows a regular gila monster and uses a few small models of cars and such. People don't like to share the screen with the monster. (One character comments that any number of things could hide in the underbrush, but this monster is so big I'm not sure where he was hiding!) There's no nudity, no gore and it's not really scary at all (the sci-fi eerie music is kind of nice, though). The first characters disappear without ever really showing us anything about their disappearance.

And yeah, a large part of the movie focuses on hot rods and kids just hanging out (with some clever editing, you would never even know this was a so-called "horror" film). But the film is in the 1950s, and gives you a 1950s feel... which is nice.

You won't want to see this if you're looking for a scare, but for a fun time and a bit of nostalgia, this is a good choice. (I think there's a "Mystery Science Theater" episode, as well... maybe you'd prefer that.)