Simply A Masterpiece

As Good As It Gets

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

"Dr. Kurt Leopold" (Marshall Grauer) is a mentally unstable scientist who has worked for 20 years developing a formula which can turn a human being into a fish. Since he cannot get any humans to experiment on he decides to use his own body and rapidly turns into an amphibious monster (played by "Wade Popwell"). Having successfully crossed the threshold he first decides to take revenge on those within his profession who laughed at him and tried to stop his research. Once that is accomplished he then decides to take a mate to propagate the new species he has created. Complicating this is the investigation into these tragic deaths which includes both the local sheriff named "Lou Krantz" (Paul Galloway) and a marine biologist by the name of "Rex " (Gerald Cruse). Along with that two agents for an organization called "INPIT" by the names of "Walker Stevens" (Dave Dickerson) and "Martha Walsh" (Sanna Ringhaver) are also called to investigate. Now, as far as this movie is concerned I thought it was severely hampered by its low budget as the special effects, costumes and script were quite bad. I also didn't quite care for the narrative technique used to explain Dr. Leopold's thoughts and motivations. Along with that I thought some scenes went on much too long and could have been condensed or left out all together. On the plus side, I must admit that the creature had a good eye for women as both Nancy Lien (as the female camper) and the aforementioned Sanna Ringhaver were both rather attractive. Unfortunately, too much time and attention was spent on other things. In summation, while it may have been an earnest effort the lack of resources clearly showed and the overall picture was a dismal failure. Definitely below average.

There's one thing that ZAAT has going for it that very few monster movies do: it delivers the goods early on and doesn't skimp. I'm referring, of course, to the monster itself. In 99.9% of monster movies, the viewer is left wanting more (if not ANY) of the titular creature. ZAAT boldly breaks with tradition and gives us an active, almost always on-screen creature doing his best to wreak havoc on the local populace. He's not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer (he IS a mutant monster, after all- nor was he any worldbeater BEFORE his transformation, either), but he does his best. It helps that the locals make some serious errors in judgement when confronting our hero (like the sheriff who starts to draw his gun when he runs afoul of our hero, then opts to use it as a club rather than a firearm), but that's a big part of what makes the movie so much fun. ZAAT's costume is pretty neat (yes, I'm well aware that the fur is there to hide the seams, but so what?) and it's refreshing to run into a No Budget movie that just keeps plugging away to the very end. I've seen a LOT of movies a lot worse.

Wow! I watched this movie several times, because it was awesome. I really laughed throughout the entire movie! Fighting scenes without hitting, terrible soundtrack, people acting worse than the TNA Wrestling contestants, the lead actor visibly waiting for his cue AND a dragging, unconvincing sentimental scene at the end. This movie has it all. It really is THE flick for some late night entertainment with no suspense, only kick-ass slap-stick scenes put together. Of course this was not the intention of the makers, but with their budget, you can hardly expect anything more. This movie has an enormous cultural value. Although I agree with the IMDb's 1.7 for it's genre (horror/thriller) it deserves a ten for bringing joy and laughter in the world. Thanks Don Barton, I enjoyed every moment!

This is the second film that I watch in only a couple of weeks where I had to restrain myself from shouting at the screen: "Get over Creature from the Black Lagoon; its success has been twenty years!" A little word of clarification is in place here perhaps, this film and "Octaman" are two cheap 70's exploitation horror movies with a 50's attitude and mentality. Both titles desperately want to imitate Jack Arnold's legendary "Creature from the Black Lagoon" with an old-fashioned guy-in- a-rubber-suit monster emerging from still waters to attack unsuspecting swimmers. However, both films are also unimaginably bad, amateurishly put together and they actually make the aforementioned Creature look like it's "Citizen Kane". The ultra-evil and deranged Dr. Kurt Leopold – a scientist with obvious Nazi sympathies – found a method to mutate into a fish monster and simultaneously developed the absurd plan to create a superior aquatic race and exterminate all human beings. That's pretty much the whole set-up… There are certain hints towards interesting sub plots (fish jumping on land and revolting against humans, acid baths to dispose of failed experiments …) but they are never properly elaborated. "Zaat" is also obviously stuffed with Frankenstein influences. The monster creation process, for example, is very similar and there's also search for a bride for the monster. Basically, it comes down to the fact that Dr. Leopold intends to create a fish-queen and therefore he extendedly observes blond girls camping and then kidnaps them to his liar. There are numerous good reasons why "Zaat" is currently listed as n# 10 in the bottom top 100 movies of all time. The effects are incredibly tacky and the set designs are laughably cheap. Most of the film was most obviously shot on private locations, like somebody living room or the pond in one of the crew members' garden. The poor sucker who had to walk around in the suit appears to be drunk most of the time and the mask looks like a green version of Alf. The soundtrack is horrible and worst of all were the hippie morals being shoved down your throat, like for example the fact that "friends" of the environment escape the wrath of "Zaat". Only for very experienced bad movie fanatics.