Charles B Griffith was hired by AIP to work on the script for this but tried to make it a comedy and was booted after one day - while I love Griffith and the resulting script would have been a lot of fun, it was probably the right decision. This sort of story - atomic radiation making something blow up in size - is always best played straight without any winks at the audience or Griffith like craziness.
This feels very similar to The Incredible Shrinking Man in tone and structure - Glenn Langan is touching as the poor bastard who gets caught in an atomic cloud and blows up to a massive size. Director Bert Gordon and his co writer Mark Hanna made the right choice I feel in putting Langan's relationship with fiancee Cathy Downs center stage so the piece always has an emotional element. I felt for Langan's character, a brave bloke who suffers a terrible accident then suffers more - when he goes on his Frankenstein/King Kong-esque rampage the audience's sympathy is firm with him.
The low budget means its really not that much of a rampage - it's through Las Vegas but he doesn't knock over any high buildings and there are few extras. The movie is very cheesy, but it does have heart and was fun.
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