As my longtime readers know, I'm a huge fan of writer/director Larry Cohen, so I was a little shocked to go through all my past articles and see that I've only ever reviewed one of his films: the amusing sociopolitical black comedy/creature feature, The Stuff. (You can read that review here.) Well, that slight ends today, and I hope to rectify it even further in the near future.
For those unfamiliar, Cohen started out in television, where he wrote for various TV shows- notably The Defenders (not the superheroes of the same name- this was a courtroom drama) and The Fugitive (which later spawned the movie of the same name)- before trying his hand at creating his own shows, including the cult favorite The Invaders, a sci-fi effort about an alien invasion.
In the late 60's, he also started scripting movies, including the sequel to the classic Western The Magnificent Seven, entitled Return of the Seven, and the cult horror faves Scream, Baby, Scream and Daddy's Gone A-Hunting. He made his directorial debut with the critically-acclaimed Bone, which he followed up with the one-two punch of two of the greatest Blaxploitation films ever: Black Caesar and Hell Up in Harlem.
His first return to the horror genre as a director yielded the instant classic, It's Alive, which spawned- see what I did there?- two sequels (It Lives Again, It's Alive III: Island of the Alive) and, more recently, a remake in 2009. The series remains a horror fan favorite and the first two in particular are essential viewing for 70's horror fans.
Other popular flicks he had a hand in include the quirky sci-fi/horror/crime drama mash-up God Told Me To, the political biopic The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover, the werewolf-themed horror comedy Full Moon High, the gritty Film Noir/Private Eye Thriller I, The Jury; the twisty thriller Special Effects, the self-explanatory Return to Salem's Lot, the ongoing Maniac Cop series, the fun return to Blaxploitation, Original Gangstas, the torture porn horror of Captivity and a quartet of phone-based thrillers: Phone Booth, Cellular, Connected and Messages Deleted.
In short, the guy's cult film royalty, an all-the-more impressive feat if you take into account all of the effortless genre-hopping he's done over the course of a multi-decade career spanning the late 60's to 2010. Cohen sadly passed away in 2019, but he certainly leaves behind a wealth of material for new fans to discover and old fans to re-discover, including this film, Q- The Winged Serpent, one of the first of his films I ever saw, if not the first. (It was either this or one of the first two It's Alive films.)
I just loved this one as a kid. I mean, what's not to love? It's got a wonderfully janky stop-motion animated flying lizard/bird creature created in old-school Ray Harryhausen fashion by Randall William Cook (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and David Allen (known for his work with Charles Band, including the Ghoulies and Puppetmaster series). It's got lots of action, over-the-top violence, snappy dialogue and even some gratuitous nudity- one of Q's victims is a nude sunbather! (Said actress is Cohen semi-regular Bobbie Burns, also in I, The Jury and The Stuff.)
The main critter was inspired by the Aztec God Quetzalcoatl- hence the "Q" of the title- which is brought back by a neo-Aztec cult known as "The Plumed Serpent," via ritualistic murders by a crazed priest, Kahsa (Shelly Desai, Barb Wire, Paul Blart: Mall Cop). If this sounds somewhat familiar, you might be thinking of the 1946 B&W pseudo-classic The Flying Serpent, which also deals with the same beastie, which is half-bird, half serpent and all bad-ass.
Or maybe you're an anime/manga fan, as Quetzalcoatl cropped up in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Fate/Grand Order - Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia and Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, as well as the video games Final Fantasy (specifically VIII & XV) and Indiana Jones & The Infernal Machine, among other places. Last but not least, Q also cropped up in the TV shows Star Trek: The Animated Series (episode: "How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth") and Lost Tapes (episode: "Q- The Serpent God").
What makes this iteration of the creature stand out is the overall arch black comedy going on in the main plot surrounding it. Cohen's amusing script couldn't be more New York in its execution, with a stand-out performance from semi-regular star Michael Moriarty, of Law & Order fame, as Jimmy Quinn, a would-be hustler that can't seem to catch a break to save his life- though, TBH, the guy's his own worst enemy. At one point, after a diamond heist goes south, he gets away with the loot, only to get hit by a car and lose it in the street while getting away!
When he stumbles upon a place to hide from the cops in the Chrysler Building, near the top of the place, where some construction work is going on, Jimmy also inadvertently discovers Q's lair, where it has been bringing back the remnants of people it has attacked throughout the city. In addition, the female Q has also laid an egg, which could, of course, lead to another critter flying around and munching down on unsuspecting prey.
Sensing an opportunity at hand, he tries to use this knowledge to extort money from the city, telling law enforcement he'll tell them the location of the beast if they give him- wait for it- one million dollars. They ultimately agree, even though they know Jimmy to be a suspect in the aforementioned diamond heist, because people are dying in ever-increasing numbers and the people are demanding action. (Hmm- why does that seem familiar...?)
This ultimately leads to a King Kong-esque showdown in Manhattan, as a military assault team engages with the creature and a shoot-out ensues. Meanwhile, the crazy priest that started it all continues his rampage of killing- and wouldn't you know it, he's got Jimmy in his sights for his betrayal of the beast.
Can the cop on the case, Shepard (David Carradine, of Kung Fu and Kill Bill fame), figure out who's to blame and save Jimmy before it's too late? Will the powers that be be able to defeat the wily creature? Is that big egg Jimmy found the only one? You'll just have to see for yourself.
Can the cop on the case, Shepard (David Carradine, of Kung Fu and Kill Bill fame), figure out who's to blame and save Jimmy before it's too late? Will the powers that be be able to defeat the wily creature? Is that big egg Jimmy found the only one? You'll just have to see for yourself.
As per usual, Cohen's trademark warped sense of humor is on ample display, and he's assembled a fantastic cast that's clearly in on the joke to bring the story to pulsating life. Moriarty in particular, who I discussed at length in my review of The Stuff, gives one of his best performances as a dead-end loser that sees an opportunity and grabs it, even while he puts lives in jeopardy, to say nothing of his relationship with the much-put-upon Joan (the underrated Candy Clark, of American Graffiti and The Man Who Fell to Earth).
Other familiar faces in the cast include Blaxploitation favorite Richard Roundtree, of Shaft fame, as Shepard's ill-tempered partner, Sgt. Powell; then-future politician Malachy McCourt (The Molly Maguires, The Brink's Job) and brother of Frank (of Angela's Ashes fame), as Commissioner Nick McConnell; Mary Louise Weller (Animal House, The Evil) as Mrs. Pauley; character actor John Capodice (Naked Gun 33 1/3, Speed- many more: see his long list of credits here) as Doyle; Cohen regular James Dixon (the It's Alive trilogy, most everything else) as Lt. Murray; and Wes Anderson favorite Larry Pine (Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom) as The Professor.
Fun facts, taken mostly from the excellent Cohen commentary on the DVD/Blu-Ray:
Pre-production on the film was a mere week. Cohen had rented out a hotel room for a previous gig which he ended up getting fired from: the aforementioned I, The Jury, which he wrote the script for, but was replaced as director on, on account of going over-budget by $100,000 in the first week. Not wanting to waste the time he had already booked, he was out walking when he passed by the Chrysler Building and thought, in regards to the spire on top: that would be a great place for a big bird's nest.
Pre-production on the film was a mere week. Cohen had rented out a hotel room for a previous gig which he ended up getting fired from: the aforementioned I, The Jury, which he wrote the script for, but was replaced as director on, on account of going over-budget by $100,000 in the first week. Not wanting to waste the time he had already booked, he was out walking when he passed by the Chrysler Building and thought, in regards to the spire on top: that would be a great place for a big bird's nest.
Remembering the legend of Quetzalcoatl and the movie The Flying Serpent, he hammered out the script accordingly and cast the film in only six days. Cohen also had the last laugh, as I, The Jury, which cost about 8 times as much as Q, ended up grossing only about a quarter of Q's box office. Both were released on the same date, and Q came out on top by a landslide.
A lot of it was shot "guerilla-style," as in without permits. Reportedly, the sirens heard towards the film's climax were real, as the cops were responding to calls about shooting in the area! After the tumult, Cohen was forbidden to have gunfire on the set moving forward, fake thought it might have been. But hey, at least he wasn't shut down for shooting the film without a permit, or without officially securing locations.
The memorable movie poster, as seen above, was illustrated by renown fantasy artist Boris Vallejo, who many of you may know for his work in the magazine Heavy Metal, as well as his popular line of fantasy-themed calendars, which were often illustrated along with his equally well-regarded wife, artist Julie Bell. Vallejo also did the poster art for the popular National Lampoon's Vacation and its first sequel, European Vacation. Take a look at some of his stuff for yourself here.
A lot of it was shot "guerilla-style," as in without permits. Reportedly, the sirens heard towards the film's climax were real, as the cops were responding to calls about shooting in the area! After the tumult, Cohen was forbidden to have gunfire on the set moving forward, fake thought it might have been. But hey, at least he wasn't shut down for shooting the film without a permit, or without officially securing locations.
The memorable movie poster, as seen above, was illustrated by renown fantasy artist Boris Vallejo, who many of you may know for his work in the magazine Heavy Metal, as well as his popular line of fantasy-themed calendars, which were often illustrated along with his equally well-regarded wife, artist Julie Bell. Vallejo also did the poster art for the popular National Lampoon's Vacation and its first sequel, European Vacation. Take a look at some of his stuff for yourself here.
Among those in contention for Carradine's role was a young Bruce Willis, who really wanted to do it. As he was relatively unknown at the time, Cohen had to give the role to a more known, bankable actor, so Carradine beat Willis out. Willis was also up for a role in I, The Jury and even read for the lead. Cohen had already committed to another actor (Armand Assante), so he couldn't hire Willis for that role, either, but encouraged him to keep at it.
Shortly thereafter, Willis landed the TV show Moonlighting, which proved to be his breakout role. He and Cohen remained friends, though they never quite got around to working together. Even crazier, a young Eddie Murphy was considered for Moriarty's role! Investors worried the unknown actor wouldn't be bankable overseas, so the role went to Moriarty instead.
Moriarty did bring something new to the table, however, as he improv's the music he played on the piano in the bar scene, and it was his idea to make his character an aspiring jazz musician. Cohen would go onto work together with Moriarty four more times, and Cohen said he was his favorite actor to work with and that Q ended up being his favorite of all the films he did.
Cohen was also longtime friends with Carradine, with whom he served with in the army together. Carradine's wife in the film was his real wife at the time, and his brother, Bruce, plays one of the mad priest's victims (as seen in the above pic), so nepotism worked in Carradine's favor all around.
Cohen was also longtime friends with Carradine, with whom he served with in the army together. Carradine's wife in the film was his real wife at the time, and his brother, Bruce, plays one of the mad priest's victims (as seen in the above pic), so nepotism worked in Carradine's favor all around.
The scenes with the nest were shot in an abandoned police building. They ended up leaving most of the stuff behind, including the feathers and the like, and later on, a group of anthropologists discovered them and went nuts with excitement, thinking they'd discovered some new massive bird-creature. The story even made the front page of the New York Times! Bemused, but worried about the legal repercussions, Cohen remained silent on the topic, and let the scientists figure things out on their own.
Cohen noted that the 1998 American remake of Godzilla copped the plot to his movie, down to the twist ending, but declined to seek legal action against the film. This proved to be a wise move, as that film's producer Dean Devlin later financed one of his scripts, Cellular.
Later on, writer-director and future Oscar winner, Bong Joon-Ho, of Parasite fame, would admit that his also somewhat similar creature feature The Host was greatly inspired by Q as well, particularly in regards to it combining horror and humor in a unique way. The Host is well-worth a watch, IMHO, even if you didn't care for Parasite.
The film's creature also popped up in animated form on both The Simpsons ("Marge in Chains") and South Park ("The Poor Kid"), and was the subject of a recent episode of celebrated "drive-in" movie critic Joe Bob Briggs' The Last Drive-In on Shudder. The "Q" insignia also crops up in the 2002 horror movie Witchcraft XII: In the Lair of the Serpent.
Also, the opening scene of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, where the crooks meet up before the heist- the one with the infamous "Madonna" speech- was inspired by a somewhat similar scene in Q, where the crooks meet up in a diner and engage in some small talk before their own heist, which also goes sideways.
Q- The Winged Serpent is, for my money, one of the best Creature Features of the 80's, and easily one of my favorite monster movies in general. It's a lot of fun, the script is way better than it almost has any right to be- especially for one written in less than a week- and the film is filled with colorful performances that rival most low-budget movies of this type, especially in regards to Moriarty, who gives a manic performance that one critic (Rex Reed) even called "method acting- and in the middle of all that dreck!" Quipped producer Samuel Z. Arkoff: "The dreck was my idea." Lol.
As fake and cheesy as the monster is, I just loved it as a kid, and I suppose part of me still does, even as I recognize how badly the special effects have aged. Call me crazy, but as far as CGI has come, I still kind of prefer the old, practical effects in movies like this, An American Werewolf in London, The Howling and especially John Carpenter's version of The Thing. There's just something charming about those old-school FX.
Q is no exception, and I also love the bonkers attack scenes, which deliver the goods in a way that something like King Kong never could, because of the limitations on violence back in the day. Yes, the bit with nudity is gratuitous, but it's still fun, and in perfect keeping with the slightly lowbrow charm of B-movies back in the day.
Producers like Arkoff (seen above) and Corman knew enough to give a certain type of audience what they wanted, even if they knew it wouldn't exactly garner them much in the way of respectability from critics. Hey, respectability is overrated. I'd rather be shown a good time, more often than not. And Q remains a lot of fun and a blast to watch. It's aged remarkably well, IMHO, and how many movies you loved as a kid can you say that about?
Check it out, by all means. It's readily available on DVD and Blu-Ray, but you should definitely get the Scream Factory version, which has the highly entertaining commentary I referenced in the "Fun Facts" and lots more info where that came from. I honestly can't recommend this one more. 👾
Later on, writer-director and future Oscar winner, Bong Joon-Ho, of Parasite fame, would admit that his also somewhat similar creature feature The Host was greatly inspired by Q as well, particularly in regards to it combining horror and humor in a unique way. The Host is well-worth a watch, IMHO, even if you didn't care for Parasite.
The film's creature also popped up in animated form on both The Simpsons ("Marge in Chains") and South Park ("The Poor Kid"), and was the subject of a recent episode of celebrated "drive-in" movie critic Joe Bob Briggs' The Last Drive-In on Shudder. The "Q" insignia also crops up in the 2002 horror movie Witchcraft XII: In the Lair of the Serpent.
Also, the opening scene of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, where the crooks meet up before the heist- the one with the infamous "Madonna" speech- was inspired by a somewhat similar scene in Q, where the crooks meet up in a diner and engage in some small talk before their own heist, which also goes sideways.
Q- The Winged Serpent is, for my money, one of the best Creature Features of the 80's, and easily one of my favorite monster movies in general. It's a lot of fun, the script is way better than it almost has any right to be- especially for one written in less than a week- and the film is filled with colorful performances that rival most low-budget movies of this type, especially in regards to Moriarty, who gives a manic performance that one critic (Rex Reed) even called "method acting- and in the middle of all that dreck!" Quipped producer Samuel Z. Arkoff: "The dreck was my idea." Lol.
As fake and cheesy as the monster is, I just loved it as a kid, and I suppose part of me still does, even as I recognize how badly the special effects have aged. Call me crazy, but as far as CGI has come, I still kind of prefer the old, practical effects in movies like this, An American Werewolf in London, The Howling and especially John Carpenter's version of The Thing. There's just something charming about those old-school FX.
Q is no exception, and I also love the bonkers attack scenes, which deliver the goods in a way that something like King Kong never could, because of the limitations on violence back in the day. Yes, the bit with nudity is gratuitous, but it's still fun, and in perfect keeping with the slightly lowbrow charm of B-movies back in the day.
Producers like Arkoff (seen above) and Corman knew enough to give a certain type of audience what they wanted, even if they knew it wouldn't exactly garner them much in the way of respectability from critics. Hey, respectability is overrated. I'd rather be shown a good time, more often than not. And Q remains a lot of fun and a blast to watch. It's aged remarkably well, IMHO, and how many movies you loved as a kid can you say that about?
Check it out, by all means. It's readily available on DVD and Blu-Ray, but you should definitely get the Scream Factory version, which has the highly entertaining commentary I referenced in the "Fun Facts" and lots more info where that came from. I honestly can't recommend this one more. 👾
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