Zaat (1971)

What horrifying creature will be unleashed when Nazi scientist Dr. Kurt Leopold injects himself with his own sinister serum, ZAAT? Half man, half catfish, ALL TERROR! The mad mutant monster sets off into the Everglades to spread his pollution with the intent of taking over not just all of Southern Florida, but the entire universe!! What is ZAAT, exactly? A mind-blowingly absurd and absolutely horrendous creature-feature that throws back to the "Do It Yourself" Horror films of Roger Corman. After seeing ZAAT, one would welcome the CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA any day, as Dr. Leopold's mutant form look more like a cross-breed between a baboon and a mossy green turd than a catfish. The film is a failure on all fronts, and it would be completely unwatchable were it not for the fact that the audience becomes glued to the screen, wondering where the hell the plot could possibly go next? At one point, the monster attempts to take a mate (with deadly results), and later, the town sheriff punishes us by making us listen to a full fifteen-minutes of terrible folk singing before locking the group up for their own protection. Despite the film's recent rediscovery and remastering, ZAAT is sure to fall right back into obscurity where it belongs, far away from the young, impressionable minds that might mistake this for Horror.

Rating: 2/10.

Movies like ZAAT:
CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA, HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP, ISLAND OF THE FISHMEN, THE BEING.