I recently became interested in watching some of the "acclaimed" nature-gone-amuck films from the 70s, and this is the one of the first I've seen in a long time. (I saw "Kingdom of the Spiders" years ago, but have only vague childhood nightmares to remember it by.) I was rather interested in seeing this, and despite some entertaining moments, the movie is a tad underwhelming.
The Crockett family is having a reunion of sorts on Jason Crockett's (Ray Milland) island in the bayou. Brother and sister Karen (Joan Van Ark) and Clint (Adam Roarke) are out on the motorboat when they literally run into Pickett Smith (Sam Elliot), a photographer doing a story on pollution. Karen, apologetic, invites Pickett back to her grandfather's mansion to dry off and get something to eat. Once he is there, Pickett sees that the frogs on the island are nearly driving the family crazy. Jason hopes to seek his help in ridding the island of the creatures and their incessant croaking, but the frogs--and all of the other reptiles and amphibians on the island--have different plans, and begin murdering off the Crocketts in a war between nature and man...and nature seems to be winning.
For the most part, "Frogs" is rather well done. The musical score is excellent, and very disturbing. Reminded me of the "score" to "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," almost a dissaray of creepy groans and shrieks of music. The setting is creepy, and has a nice isolated feel. The acting is rather good, especially for the eco-horror subgenre. Sam Elliot is great in the lead role (his jeans could have been a little less tight--I don't need to know that much about Mr. Elliot), and Ray Milland is comfortably hammy in what is obviously an "I need the money" role. Joan Van Ark starts off bad, but gets better as the film progresses. Lynn Borden and Adam Roarke as Adam and Jenny play the upper-class white couple very well, and I loved Judy Pace as Bella, Kenneth Martindale's (Nicholas Cortland) black model girlfriend. The rest of the cast is all very good, especially Holly Irving, as Iris, Jason's neurotic sister. She's an absolute riot.
The real problem with this movie is that, unlike many other nature-gone-amuck movies, it never really explodes into all-out hysteria. Most of the cast is killed off rather quickly, but then the rest escape, and it's actually pretty easy. Other than a crocodile and some snakes, there's not much of a struggle. And you never really get an idea what happens with three characters (my three absolute favorite characters) who escape earlier before the second batch escape. I mean, you sort of find out, but even then....It's not much.
One thing I really wanted to mention is the scene seen in the trailer, and captured on the cover of the movie box. It's the shot of Holly Irving sinking to her death in a swamp....But, that never happens. The closest to that is when she falls on her face in a big puddle of water and mud (and check out those leeches!), but that's not much in comparison to what's often seen in ads for this movie. I guess it was an alternate end to her character. (Oh, like you didn't expect she'd go? Don't worry, you'll know who survives, pretty early on.)
Overall, not a terrific film, not as good as I hoped it would be, but still quite good, and entertaining. I recommend it just to see it, but I'm sure you could do a little better, at least in the excitement department. This is probably one of the better-acted and better-plotted nature-gone-amuck films, though. Have fun.
The Crockett family is having a reunion of sorts on Jason Crockett's (Ray Milland) island in the bayou. Brother and sister Karen (Joan Van Ark) and Clint (Adam Roarke) are out on the motorboat when they literally run into Pickett Smith (Sam Elliot), a photographer doing a story on pollution. Karen, apologetic, invites Pickett back to her grandfather's mansion to dry off and get something to eat. Once he is there, Pickett sees that the frogs on the island are nearly driving the family crazy. Jason hopes to seek his help in ridding the island of the creatures and their incessant croaking, but the frogs--and all of the other reptiles and amphibians on the island--have different plans, and begin murdering off the Crocketts in a war between nature and man...and nature seems to be winning.
For the most part, "Frogs" is rather well done. The musical score is excellent, and very disturbing. Reminded me of the "score" to "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," almost a dissaray of creepy groans and shrieks of music. The setting is creepy, and has a nice isolated feel. The acting is rather good, especially for the eco-horror subgenre. Sam Elliot is great in the lead role (his jeans could have been a little less tight--I don't need to know that much about Mr. Elliot), and Ray Milland is comfortably hammy in what is obviously an "I need the money" role. Joan Van Ark starts off bad, but gets better as the film progresses. Lynn Borden and Adam Roarke as Adam and Jenny play the upper-class white couple very well, and I loved Judy Pace as Bella, Kenneth Martindale's (Nicholas Cortland) black model girlfriend. The rest of the cast is all very good, especially Holly Irving, as Iris, Jason's neurotic sister. She's an absolute riot.
The real problem with this movie is that, unlike many other nature-gone-amuck movies, it never really explodes into all-out hysteria. Most of the cast is killed off rather quickly, but then the rest escape, and it's actually pretty easy. Other than a crocodile and some snakes, there's not much of a struggle. And you never really get an idea what happens with three characters (my three absolute favorite characters) who escape earlier before the second batch escape. I mean, you sort of find out, but even then....It's not much.
One thing I really wanted to mention is the scene seen in the trailer, and captured on the cover of the movie box. It's the shot of Holly Irving sinking to her death in a swamp....But, that never happens. The closest to that is when she falls on her face in a big puddle of water and mud (and check out those leeches!), but that's not much in comparison to what's often seen in ads for this movie. I guess it was an alternate end to her character. (Oh, like you didn't expect she'd go? Don't worry, you'll know who survives, pretty early on.)
Overall, not a terrific film, not as good as I hoped it would be, but still quite good, and entertaining. I recommend it just to see it, but I'm sure you could do a little better, at least in the excitement department. This is probably one of the better-acted and better-plotted nature-gone-amuck films, though. Have fun.