(1982) **
I vaguely remember putting this in my Netflix queue based on the title and star (David Carradine) alone. It promised me a flying Egyptian monster god decapitating New Yorkers in the early 80's. How could it miss?
The glaring problem is that the winged serpent itself is noticably absent for most of the movie. The other bits are forgettable nonsense involving Carradine and another cop who won't stop talking. But depending on your threshold of pain, it's all worth it for the possibility of a glimpse of the mythical beast. I found myself yelling "less talk, more winged serpent!" at least twice. The last ten minutes are a good old time with some decent stop-motion animation.
2 comments:
Lauren made me watch some North and South last year and I must say that David Carradine was a fantastic villain. Such a bastard...
Here's my review from last year:
Q (1982) **1/2
As the credits for this rolled, I thought "hmm, produced by Samuel Z. Arkoff, he sounds familiar." Then I thought "starring Michael Moriarty? Damn, he was that guy who tortured me with his lousy Southern accent all through The Stuff!" Then, "A Larry Cohen film? Agh, he wrote and directed The Stuff! I'm doooooomed!"
But actually this turned out to be pretty good (and I knew Arkoff from Dr. Phibes, he had nothing to do with The Stuff). The reason Q avoids the suckiness of The Stuff is that it has a naturally progressing, cohesive story line; it lacks that diffuse fever-dream feeling that makes you ask yourself what's going on. There is one scene that edges into that, but see below.
A giant stop-motion snake-bird makes a nest in the Chrysler Building and starts grabbing New Yorkers from high-rise rooftops, raining blood down on the pedestrians below. The creature effects are naturally a bit silly (as much as I love stop-motion to death, I've never thought it was convincing when paired with live action). But they manage to be fun. And the idea is actually quite appealing; I'd love to see a remake of this.
Michael Moriarty is not, thankfully, sporting a southern accent, but he gets way too much screen time as the small hood who discovers the nest by chance. I don't know what Larry Cohen sees in him. The scene in which he negotiates with the city for the info is a needless, overlong bit of gridlock while the climax is waiting around the corner. I dropped half a star off for the offense. They should have given the ritual killing subplot more time.
David Carradine plays the cop in charge of taking the beast down, and there's refreshingly rapid acceptance on his part that he's after a big snake bird that was drawn to town by a series of ritual sacrifices. As he discusses the possibility that this really might be the Aztec god Quetzalcoatal, he never shrinks from his goal to shoot it down. And since the magic requires sacrifices that are willing, at one point Carradine muses "Wow, a guy flies hundreds of miles just to give his life on a sacrificial altar." And this with no internet!
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