Q (1982)
Q (1982), written, produced and directed by Larry Cohen.
Aka Q: The Winged Serpent.
Blood raining on New York streets? A string of ritually flayed corpses? Reports of a giant flying thing? What do you expect when an ancient Aztec monster-god is on the loose?
When you're in the mood for a creature-feature this is just the sort of title you need. The effects are rudimentary Harryhausen-style stop motion, giving a 1950s nostalgia rush, although we have more gruesome dismemberment here, and that light casual nudity for which we remember 1980s films so fondly.
On the down side, there is a lot of talk. Petty thief Michael Moriarty takes over the film with an irritating motor-mouth routine and the story grinds to a halt in his scenes with girlfriend Candy Clark. I would have spent more time with police detectives David Carradine and Richard Roundtree. Carradine is particularly good as an ironic, barely believing monster hunter.
Great New York street scenes, and a flying sequence passing between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The monster lair is on location in the tower of the Chrysler Building.
Available on Blu-ray, quite good for such a minor title, although without subtitles. The director provides a lively, nonstop commentary track, saying:
After being fired from another film he got this project together and started filming in 48 hours.
David Carradine was an old army buddy who came in instantly as a favor
He fired Carradine from a later film for drunkenness, but they made up after.
Lots of flexibility and improv during shooting.
You can do that only in a completely independent production. Studio execs won't allow it.
The top of the Chrysler Building was exactly as shown and sounds scary and difficult as hell. He had a stunt man follow him around to keep him from falling out of the gaps in the walls.
He says the film was a success and made a lot of money (but the wikipedia has it earning 1/4 of its budget back at the box office. I don't know who to believe).
He praises the cast and crew.
He claims Emmerich's Godzilla was copied from Q.
Many New York police officers are also members of the Screen Actors Guild. As extras they bring their own uniforms and gear, which is a big cost savings for the filmmaker.
He wanted then-unknowns Bruce Willis and Eddie Murphy for the movie, but producer Samuel Z. Arkoff insisted on recognized names.
Shout Factory deserves great credit for bringing back these catalog titles, often pretty fine looking. I remember seeing this on video tape, which of course wasn't really seeing it at all.
