| Magic Lizard | |
| Director: | Sompote Sands[1] |
| Studio: | Chaiyo Productions Co., Ltd. |
| Distributor: | Chaiyo Productions Co., Ltd. |
| Runtime: | 107 minutes |
| Country: | Thailand |
| Language: | Thai |
Magic Lizard (th|กิ้งก่ากายสิทธิ์; ; lit: Magic lizard) is a 1985 Thai fantasy monster adventure film directed and produced by Sompote Sands. The film's plot follows a large frilled lizard who sets out to retrieve a crystal stolen by aliens.[2]
Magic Lizard is a large lizard who guards the crystal under the base of the pagoda of the Temple of Dawn. After Martians stole the crystal, Magic Lizard enlists the aid of the giant guardian as he escapes to various locations throughout Thailand, including Bridge on the River Kwai and Phae Mueang Phi. Over the course of the film, Magic Lizard flees from man-eating crocodile, wild elephants, tiger, a mother and baby black bear, run away from a train, giant mosquitoes and skeleton ghost in treasure cave.
Magic Lizard was inspired by Sompote Sands' nephew, who had brought home a frilled lizard from Australia.
The film was released in Japan by NHK as エリマケトカゲ一人旅 (Erimaketokage hitoritabi; lit: "frilled lizard lonely travel"). When it was released in Thailand, it was not expected to garner commercial success due to copyright infringements and the lack of a drafted copyright law.[3]
After not being successful in the screening. It is considered to be Sands's last film work. After this, he turned to working solely on Ultraman. Several years later, this resulted in a copyright lawsuit against Tsuburaya Productions.
In February 2022, the film screened at the 11th Madrid International Cutre Film Festival, also known as CutreCon, in Spain.[4] Discussing the film ahead of the festival, CutreCon director Carlos Palencia stated, "I cannot recommend this film enough, because it seems conceived by an extraterrestrial civilization. I didn't understand anything the first time I saw it. [...] it seems like a children's movie, but suddenly there is an alien invasion and there begins to be nudity, scenes of incomprehensible violence and other things I can't reveal because I don't want to ruin the movie. [...] I have not seen anything else like it, because nothing else like it exists."