"Q: The Winged Serpent" is a modern classic of fantastic cinema that, although initially intimidating with its extravagant title, ends up fascinating even the most experienced fans. It´s a TRUE modern monster movie that only lightly draws from the classics. In all other aspects, both narratively and aesthetically, it is an update of the cinema of the 50s, without nostalgia or empty glances to the past.
And all of this we owe to the forgotten craftsman of genre cinema that was Larry Cohen, a man who tried everything, from writing scripts for "The Fugitive" series, to the so-called "blaxplotation" films, to making a name for himself with the "It's Alive!" saga, featuring the mutant killer baby, and "Maniac Cop" (as a writer and producer)
Cohen has always shot his films with absolute creative freedom, thanks to his limited budgets and his astonishing ability to find good stories. But his best work is "Q: The Winged Serpent" An exotic mix of film noir and horror movie in which a cult commits the most bloody and gruesome murders in order to resurrect their God, Q, the aforementioned creature half-reptile, half-bird.
Simultaneously, we are told the story of a loser with criminal aspirations, played by the great Michael Moriarty, Cohen's favorite actor, and the police officers chasing him, David Carradine and Richard Roundtree.
The meeting of both plots will result in a film full of imagination, good ideas, and a lot of fun. The most admirable aspect of it is how Larry Cohen manages to introduce the story of the mythological monster into a modern urban context in a subtle way. The good doses of gore help and the scenes in which a creature animated by stop-motion thanks to the great David Allen faces the police on top of the Chrysler skyscraper are wonderful, especially considering that Cohen had the budget that Steven Spielberg spends on catering to shoot it.
An absolute classic that deserves to be rescued.
All rants by KRAMER
And all of this we owe to the forgotten craftsman of genre cinema that was Larry Cohen, a man who tried everything, from writing scripts for "The Fugitive" series, to the so-called "blaxplotation" films, to making a name for himself with the "It's Alive!" saga, featuring the mutant killer baby, and "Maniac Cop" (as a writer and producer)
Cohen has always shot his films with absolute creative freedom, thanks to his limited budgets and his astonishing ability to find good stories. But his best work is "Q: The Winged Serpent" An exotic mix of film noir and horror movie in which a cult commits the most bloody and gruesome murders in order to resurrect their God, Q, the aforementioned creature half-reptile, half-bird.
Simultaneously, we are told the story of a loser with criminal aspirations, played by the great Michael Moriarty, Cohen's favorite actor, and the police officers chasing him, David Carradine and Richard Roundtree.
The meeting of both plots will result in a film full of imagination, good ideas, and a lot of fun. The most admirable aspect of it is how Larry Cohen manages to introduce the story of the mythological monster into a modern urban context in a subtle way. The good doses of gore help and the scenes in which a creature animated by stop-motion thanks to the great David Allen faces the police on top of the Chrysler skyscraper are wonderful, especially considering that Cohen had the budget that Steven Spielberg spends on catering to shoot it.
An absolute classic that deserves to be rescued.
All rants by KRAMER
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