Monsters of God review: Tiger King meets reptile smugglers
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- Monsters of God is a new docuseries co-produced by Goode Films, HBO, and A24 that focuses on the illegal US reptile trade, adapted from journalist Bryan Christy's 2008 book "The Lizard King."
- Eric Goode, producer and co-director, previously made Tiger King follow-ups and "Chimp Crazy"; his new series continues his focus on exotic-animal trading and conservation.
- The series centers on Hank Molt and Tommy Crutchfield, the two men who kickstarted the illegal US reptile trade, whose mutual animosity is framed as a Joe Exotic vs. Carole Baskin-style rivalry.
- Crutchfield claims he supplied cobras to a Hollywood blockbuster maker, sold tortoises to Michael Jackson, and bred distinctive white albino alligators that fetched £175,000 each.
- Molt once buried a stash of animals alive in New Jersey's Pine Barrens to evade police — a location later made famous by The Sopranos — and was a former mayonnaise salesman.
- The final episode turns to Malaysian dealer Anson Wong and how his smuggling drove the ploughshare tortoise to near-extinction in the wild, ending on a note that nature may be healing.
- The reviewer calls the series a five-episode slog after a strong first episode, arguing it loses narrative tightness as it tangents into drug-trade entanglements and characters like a federal agent who wore a gorilla costume in a sting.
Why it matters: For Tiger King fans, Eric Goode's new series delivers more of the same bizarre-animal-trade spectacle — but the reviewer says the five-episode run dilutes the focused single-feud appeal that made Tiger King a 2020 quarantine hit, saving the conservation stakes for the finale.
