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Lizards in Movies   The Nature of the Beast (1995)   Spoiler Alert ! Some of these pictures and descriptions may give away plot details that you might not want to know before watching the film.   This is a crime thriller about two men who encounter each other on the road in the Mohave Desert then travel together, with a good Gila Monster scene. One of the two men stole more than a million dollars from a Las Vegas casino, the other is a serial killer who signs his crime scenes in blood as "The Hatchet Man" because he likes to chop his victims up with a giant hatchet. When the Gila Monster shows up, we think we know which man is which, but we're not entirely sure. Jack (Lance Hendriksen) is a nondescript salesman driving home, while Adrian (Eric Roberts) is an aggressive drifter who forces Jack to give him a ride. When Jack tries to get away, Adrian tells him he knows Jack's secret and will turn him in to the police. When they stop for gas, Adrian goes into a roadside attraction called "The Creepy Crawler Zoo." The caretaker shows Adrain some snakes and a Gila Monster. Adrian asks if it's poisonous and the man tells him it is, and that it will sink its teeth in and not let go like a vice grip and hold on tight to make sure the venom is chewed into the bloodstream. Jack gets back in the car and is about to ditch Adrian again, but before he can, Adrian gets into the car holding a paper bag. He tells Jack it's a souvenir for him and puts in on the dashboard in front of Jack. After they drive away Adrian bullies Jack into speeding up. When he won't go fast enough, Adrian steps on the gas pedal so hard that the bag goes flying into Jack and we see a Gila Monster fall out onto the floor under the steering wheel. (Seeing the lizard, I wondered how Adrian got it and I assumed he had to kill or knock out the caretaker to steal it.) Jack panics and skids the car to a halt in the middle of the road. Adrian tells Jack "I am one dangerous, crazy motherf**ker" and that he wants to know that Jack respects him. The tension builds as the big lizard starts crawling up Jack's foot. When Jack aquiesces, Adrian picks the lizard up by the neck, then holds it in front of his face making pretending to kiss it and telling it "You've got to go, and I don't want to see you around here again." Then he opens the door and puts the lizard on the pavement. The Gila Monster is a real one, and I have to commend Eric Roberts for handling it and for the producers for letting him, even though a bite from one is very rare and the captive ones can get accustomed to being handled without getting defensive.