Q, The Winged Serpent (1982)

"It's name is Quetzalcoatl... just call it Q, that's all you'll have time to say before it tears you apart!"

Plot

Quetzalcoatl, a giant pterodactyl-like monster and ancient Aztec god, takes home in New York and begins to feast on people on the roofs of skyscrapers. The cops haven't got a clue what is going on until a dim-witted crook stumbles upon it's nest by mistake. Feeling hard-done by the city for previous time spent in prison, he holds the city to ransom and demands protection from the authorities, with the body count piling up in the meantime.

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I had fond memories of this from when I was a kid - this was the type of film my dad would let me watch. As long as it had no sex and nudity in it, then he knew I could cope with the gore because I loved my monster movies. It was one of those films where you can remember certain scenes from the past (the window cleaner losing his head at the beginning stuck in my mind for a long time) but like a lot of stuff from the 70s and 80s, they didn't get shown on TV very often and I was too young to start buying VHS so it remained out-of-reach for many years. Fast forward a long time until the present day when I have begun revisiting films I remember from my childhood because I can now get access to them via streaming or buying them on blu-ray or DVD. Q, The Winged Serpent is one of those films where the sum is definitely not greater than its parts. This is one pretty bizarre film or should I say two films because that's what it seemed like to me.

Only a crazed genius like director Larry Cohen could come up with a film like this. Pre-production lasted for one week after Cohen was fired from another film and decided he didn't want to give up his New York hotel room so early. He took one look at the Chrysler Building, said ""That'd be the coolest place to have a nest" and thus the idea behind Q, The Winged Serpent was born. So on one hand you have a pretty decent schlocky creature feature about a giant monster swooping down to snack on people stupid enough to sunbathe on skyscrapers (and the film gives loads of other cheap reasons for people to be atop a skyscraper). It's a classic B-movie in every sense of the word - lots of gore, obligatory breasts and of course a giant monster - and a definite nod to the old 50s black and white atomic monster movies.

But on the other hand you have a really plodding, boring cop thriller in which the characters try to piece together what is going on in the city, with the Aztec-linked murders starting to mount up. None of the characters are of any interest. David Carradine is rather wooden. Richard Roundtree (of Shaft fame) does little to warrant a pay cheque and Michael Moriarty is really annoying as the dim-witted crook, seemingly improvising a lot as he goes along. They could have cut out half of this bore and given more time to the Aztec cult story, which was severely underwritten. Grisly sacrifices and skinning people alive was evident in this film but a little more time devoted to this part of the script and it could have become quite compelling instead of just a boring distraction from the scenes of cops talking to each other. Granted lovers of police procedurals may be engaged on by this story but I was not. I guess this was Cohen's way of cramming as much into his shoot as possible before his hotel room was due for renewal.

The real star of the show is obviously the monster itself, even if you don't get to see an awful lot of it until the finale. Q, The Winged Serpent dripfeeds glimpses of the beast, from a shadow to its claws, wings and tail, throughout the film to keep us guessing as to how big and how horrific it will eventually look. There are lots of monster POV shots, presumably taken from a helicopter, where Q seemingly flies around New York looking for its next victim. In one of two sequences, a prosthetic/animatronic is used. An odd shadow is thrown onto the rooftops or people below find themselves being dripped in blood as Q dismembers its next meal in mid-air.

Whilst it doesn't look particularly great in it's sculptured stop-motion form - it looks like it was made of putty, with its texture and skin far too smooth and blemish free - it is certainly something unique in the 80s time period. This can be tolerated because the stop-motion animation itself is excellent, a real blast from the past that Ray Harryhausen would have been proud of. The animations are integrated well into the scenery with a convincing perch upon the Chrysler Building standing out as one of the film's most iconic shots. The combination of techniques really works to sell the monster and you'll never really have to suspend your disbelief for long.

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Final Verdict

It seems too coincidental that every time the monster is on screen, the film is pretty good. As soon as it disappears for ten or so minutes (which it has an annoying habit of doing) then the film drags enormously with a mish-mash of unnecessary sub plots which only serve to prolong its appearance. Worth a look if you're really desperate for a monster flick with a difference but Q, The Winged Serpent can be tough going at times.

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Q, The Winged Serpent Director(s): Larry Cohen Writer(s): Larry Cohen Actor(s): David Carradine, Michael Moriarty, Candy Clark, Richard Roundtree, James Dixon, Malachy McCourt Duration: 93 mins