Q (1982).

Review #1140: Q.

Cast: 
Michael Moriarty (Jimmy Quinn), Candy Clark (Joan), David Carradine (Detective Shepard), Richard Roundtree (Sgt Powell), James Dixon (Lt. Murray), Malachy McCourt (Commissioner Nick McConnell), Fred J. Scollay (Captain Fletcher), Peter Hock (Detective Harold Kipps), and Ron Cey (Detective Hoberman) Directed by Larry Cohen.

Review: 
Q (also known as The Winged Serpent and Q – The Winged Serpent) is certainly a film that relies on techniques and gimmicks of the past to generate entertainment. Its director Larry Cohen is best known for b-movie films that fall in some way to either exploitation, horror or sci-fi, with examples of this being movies such as Bone (1972), It's Alive (1974) or later work such as The Stuff (1985). He also served as screenwriter for the film, of which he did for other material such as his creation of the television series The Invaders (1967-68) to even writing Phone Booth (2002). So, what is Q all about? Well, it's an Aztec god (half bird, half reptile) named Quetzalcoatl that nests itself on the Chrysler Building when not taking people out of the sky and devouring them. Naturally, there was a good reason that Cohen wanted to use that building, stating "The Empire State building had their monster, but I thought the Chrysler Building was a better-looking building, so I thought, “Well, they should have their own monster!” It's not hard to find the hallmarks and cliches that you might expect from a horror monster flick like this, but the entertainment is fairly high in part due to a game cast, particularly with Moriarty. There is something so offbeat and weird about his character that he manages to generate such watch-ability from, complete with his own improvised piano piece. He's an interesting anti-hero, never becoming too grating on the audience while also keeping the film afloat for the parts not involving the monster. Who else can make the idea of someone extorting New York for the location of a flying serpent for money seem so amusing and yet compelling at the same time? Clark plays her role with a fair deal of sense and balance that certainly sticks out from the odd stuff otherwise present, and it doesn't come off as distracting in any sense. Carradine pulls off an entertaining performance in a role that probably would've worked fine for a police film, but with him at the helm of facing the usual cop elements (rituals involving Aztec cultists sacrificing people in order to bring Q to life, no less) alongside giving a bit of exposition about the monster, and he handles it effectively enough. Roundtree plays his cop role with the kind of gruffness that corresponds just fine with Carradine for the time he gets to be on screen. The others in the cast are just fine, doing their bits without much struggle. The stop-motion effects, done by David Allen and Randy Cook hold up for the time just decently enough for entertainment value that likely works better than if this film had been made a decade or two later. For the most part, this manages to be a fine piece of entertainment in its 93 minute run-time. It can sometimes be silly but it also has its moments of charm and creepiness that has a winning cast headlined by Moriarty to make this a welcome cult classic right for the occasion for October.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.