This is a movie about a giant piece of poo that kills people. Get them giggles out now.You get the feeling going into "Monsturd" that the crew knew exactly what the heck they were making. The film doesn't take itself seriously at all, and feels more like a satire of monster films than one trying to be a serious one. You have the law enforcement officer with a bitter family past, you have the government official who serves also as the film's love interest, you have the evil scientist, you have the big even that of course CAN'T be postponed because reasons...if you've seen it in a monster movie, you'll find it in here. The only difference is, instead of a giant shark or a giant dinosaur, this happens to be a giant piece of poop. As you can imagine, poop jokes abound. The name of the town is Butte County (yeah yeah, they pronounce it "bewt," but c'mon). The name of the convict that turns into the monster is Jack Schmidt (think about it...think about it...). Thankfully, the entire movie isn't just one giant poop joke, and when they actually do make poop jokes, it doesn't feel as forced as it could have been. Let me put it this way: Happy Madison films only WISH they could do poop jokes as funny as this.You also get the feeling that most of this movie was filmed over the course of a weekend. Some sequences are a bit awkwardly edited, as if they were filmed at different times and edited together later (eg., the interrogation of the little girl). The special effects are low budget, although the monster itself is pretty impressive as far as costumes go. The acting overall is terrible, and it comes across like every scene was done in one take. The only exceptions might be Dan West and Rick Popko as Deputies Dan and Rick respectively: seriously, almost every scene with these guys is hilarious, and their delivery is great. The best scene in the whole movie has them taking out a ventriloquist dummy as part of an anti-drug campaign for kids, and turning it into a case of police brutality. There are some other scenes obviously played for laughs, including one where the evil scientist tries to summon the poop monster by making fart sounds (no, really, it's a lot funnier than it sounds, trust me).A lot of times these low-budget horror comedies are duds, but this one was actually pretty enjoyable. It's hard for me to rate it properly, but it definitely is worth at least one viewing if you're into this kind of stuff.

Monsturd is set in Butte County, California where convicted serial killer Jack Schmidt (Brad Dosland) has just escaped from 'Hardell Maximum Security Prison', cut to 'FBI Field Office Sacremento' where agent Susan Hannigan (Beth West) is told to fly out to Butte County & work with Sheriff Tom Duncan (Paul Weiner) in the apprehension of Schmidt. Meanwhile evil genetic 'Dutech' scientist Dr. Stern (Dan Burr) has disposed of his latest failed experiment down the County's sewer system so when Schmidt hides in the sewers & accidentally falls into a vat of this chemical waste it comes as no surprise that he transforms, his genes & the poo in the sewers are all mixed together & mutated by the chemical which creates the Monsturd, a creature made totally out of human poo. Soon after a spate of incidents are reported in which people are killed on their toilets alerts the Sheriff & together with Susan quickly figure out what's going on. They join forces to destroy the Monsturd although their task isn't help by the towns annual Chilli Cook Off which will force people to use the toilet & literally become sitting ducks(!), will the Monsturd be stopped in time...Written, directed & starring Rick Popko & Dan West Monsturd is a unique film, probably. Whether you like Monsturd will depend on your sense of humour I would guess, if you like juvenile tasteless toilet humour Monsturd is for you, if not then it most certainly isn't & it's as simple & straight forward as that. Personally I have that childish mentality & immature sense of humour which meant that I thought Monsturd was really funny in parts as there are plenty of poo jokes & double entendres, from being set in Butte County to someone trying to trap the Monsturd using peanuts, corn & farting noises as bait along with people dressed in diapers as armour & devising a plan to unleash a million flies onto the Monsturd so they will eat him! Yes folks this is quality & highly intellectual stuff all the way! Monsturd moves along at a nice pace & at only 80 odd minutes long it doesn't outstay it's welcome & thankfully never takes itself seriously. As a whole the film is very silly & doesn't have much of a story, the character's are basic as is the dialogue which is littered with swearing but sometimes you need to hold your hands up & say even though a film has no real artistic or social merit it sure as hell is funny & entertaining & I'd say Monsturd fits that bill perfectly. I liked it, so sue me.Directors Popko & West give themselves all the best lines as the two bumbling deputies & considering the budget this had I thought they did a pretty decent job overall. In one way I was disappointed that the film was actually more restrained than I would have liked, they really should have piled on the gross humour, fart gags & poo jokes, while they are here there not as offencive as you might think. The only gore is when some mutilated body parts are discovered complete with wriggling maggot's & worms. The Monsturd itself looks rather silly & a bit too, erm, solid if you know what I mean. Apparently the original title for this was Number 2 Part 1 which I think is quite funny in itself, toilet humour don't you just love it?With a supposed budget of about $3,000 the filmmakers did absolute wonders & to it's credit it is at least competent, the locations are good & it looks alright. The acting isn't up to much but I've seen a lot worse in far bigger budget films.Monsturd definitely isn't a film for everyone, of that there is no doubt but I found it perfectly good, childish, funny, gross out entertainment that brought a smile to my face on more than a few occasions. I simply have to mention the closing theme song as it's absolutely hilarious & worth an extra star on it's own, here's a quick sample...'I'm here to warn you although it must seem absurd, to be aware of a giant Monsturd...' 'When the s*it goes down he may be in your town, don't get caught with your pants down...' 'Don't be a fool don't drop the kids at the pool, oh yeah he's one cruel stool...' 'Number two he does what dodo's do...' Number two he smells like poo...' 'Silent but deadly you'd better beware, he might just be in your underwear...'Total class, what more needs to be said? The best killer poo film ever, period.

First things first, with a title like Monsturd you pretty much know this isn't going to be a serious movie and not the kind of film you'd probably watch with your future in-laws. What you do get however is one kick ass movie made on a budget that has everything horror fans looks for in a film. For me this is what low budget independent movie making is all about. The story is simple, an escaped serial killer Jack Schmitt dies a mysterious death in the city's sewage treatment plant, deep, dark trouble comes to town. A horrifying accident at a nearby genetic research laboratory results in the blood thirsty killer's resurrection and soon, using the county's sewer system as his underground lair, Schmitt exacts his odious revenge on the frightened townsfolk. Thats right folks, Jack Schmitt becomes a walking talking killing lump of s@#t with attitude. How's that for a storyline!.Don't think however this film is just an excuse for toilet jokes, it isn't. Yes it is a horror comedy and yes there are some funny moments but this film is much more than just 80 minutes of c@#p and s@#t jokes. What the writer/director pairing of Dan West and Rick Popko have created here is a brilliant piece of independent movie making. The acting throughout the film had a great relaxed and natural feeling and it's hard not to enjoy the film for what it is, a good fun movie. It's also thanks to the acting from the cast that some of the less plausible scenes just fit in and work, for example two scientists pouring chemical waste down a sidewalk storm drain in broad daylight in the middle of a residential area or the scene where a small girl describes to the local sheriff's and a police sketch artist the giant turd that killed her father, or my personal favorite where the two local deputies, played by our writer/director duo of Dan West and Rick Popko, find the remains of a sewer worker and spent the next 30 seconds throwing up, just brilliant. Monsturd is the first full length film from 4321 Films but having checked out their site I see there already well into production into their next film RetarDEAD and it's planned for a video release for this winter. RetarDEAD see's the evil Dr Stern, the creator of the s#$t monster return from the sewer to unleash his latest evil scheme on the students of Butte County Institute of Special Education and having just watched the trailer for this next project I'm already looking forward to picking this one up too. I'll wrap this little review up with a couple of lines from the brilliant title song from Monsturd...I'm here to warn you though it must seem absurd To be aware of a giant Monsturd When the s#$t goes down he may be in your town Don't get caught with your pants down Don't be a fool, don't drop the kids at the pool Oh yeah he's one cool stoolViolent but deadly, you'd better be aware He might just be in your underwear Best hold your breath, no don't breath that noxious vapor Make sure you've got some toilet paper Dan/hmandm.com

Being a big fan of low budget, horribly made horror films (Troma Style), when I saw this at my local Blockbuster, I just had to pick it up. This is a movie about turds. Most would stop reading this review (and throw this movie back on the shelf) once they found that out. For those of you who are still reading, I recommend you see this movie. Along the same lines as any of the best Troma movies, Monsturd will have you in stitches. The sheer ridiculousness of the plot and obvious low quality is reason enough to give this one a try. Unexpectedly, the DVD of this movie has directors commentary which is definitely worth a listen. The director openly admits to not taking the movie seriously, so laughing at the "serious" parts is expected. this movie has all the campy comedy that you'd expect from a movie called "monsturd". Although the visual effects are laughably bad and most of the acting is sub-par, I'm giving Monsturd an 8 out of 10 for the good "seat of your pants" laughs.