Schlock is a prehistoric apeman who terrorizes Southern California. He emerges from his cavehole after a couple of teenagers venture into it. The police, under Detective Sgt. Wino, is informed where the creature lives, and Professor Shlibovitz ventures into the hole to study the habitat. Schlock returns to the cave, and after a few hijinks, the people realise what he is. The police tries to apprehend the creature, but are powerless. Schlock then ventures into the suburb. He is a menace to some, and a friend to others. He falls in love with the beautiful blind teenageer Mindy. She is kind to Schlock at first, but after she regains her sight, is terrifiend of him. Her boyfriend Cal defends her against Schlock, by using a flare. Schlock later crashes a school-party, and takes Mindy to the roof of the building. Cal uses a flare to get Schlock to drop Mindy. A small army regiment then shoots down the apeman, using two rounds of ammunition. Mindy quotes Love Story; "Love means never having to say you're sorry", while a police officer quotes King Kong; "It was beauty that killed the beast". Sgt. Wino asks him; "What's wrong with you?". At the end, Professor Shlibovitz emerges from the cave, carrying Schlock's son, teasing the potential sequel "Son of Schlock".
Shot in the summer of 1971, but not released until 1973, Schlock is the first credited film by John Landis, who also starred in the title role. The feature-length parody of 1950s monster movies was shot in 12 days in the Los Angeles area and had a budget of approximately $60,000, half of which came from Landis' personal savings. Aside from being Landis' first project as a director, the film is also notable for being one of the first jobs for makeup artist Rick Baker.
Release and reception
Landis could not find a distributor interested in releasing the film until 1972 when it came to the attention of Johnny Carson. Carson loved the film and booked Landis as a guest on The Tonight Show, where clips were shown. It subsequently got released theatrically in the United States by Jack H. Harris Enterprises. It opened in Hollywood in March 1973 and in West Germany on September 17, 1982. The film eventually became a minorcult hit and helped pave the way for the careers of both John Landis and Rick Baker. Current reviews for the film are fairly positive; it currently holds a 71% score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, Landis has described the film as "terrible".
