Frogs - Kino Cult

Alongside Bert I. Gordon’s Food of the Gods, ten years ago I reviewed George McCowan’s eco-horror creature feature B-movie masterpiece Frogs. And I use the term “masterpiece” rather liberally. In this “nature run amok” horror film, Sam Elliot stands tall in one of his earliest roles as photojournalist Picket Smith. While trying to cover the pollution spewing into a Florida lake, he’s waylayed into joining the 4th of July festivities with the uber-rich and morally bankrupt Jason Crocket (Ray Milland) and his family. It just so happens that weekend is when nature decides it’s had enough and intends to get back at humanity. 

Now in the ten years since I last reviewed this film, my thoughts about it haven’t changed. I think it’s a good creepy flick, pretty damned entertaining, but it’s also not a truly great movie. Its messaging is a blunt hammer to the head, but it’s also rather vague about the extent of Nature’s wrath. It’s illuded that what’s happening on the Crocket estate is happening everywhere all at once with its plot. Similar to something like Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, the idea that these people are cut off by an army of nature’s creepiest critters is a tantalizing prospect, but the film barely capitalizes on it. We get some great critter kills, but the answers to the "why now?" "why these people?" questions that would have helped ground the feature and add some urgency are elusive. 

Hampered by a thin budget, Ray Milland was so fed up with the production he quit days before he could film his character’s grand finale. In truth, as much as I love the guy, Milland probably wasn’t the best casting choice. He can play venomously mean and irate better than most actors of his generation, but it’s quite visible in his scenes he’d rather be anywhere else than stuck in a Florida swamp playing an aged invalid about to be ravaged by rampaging amphibians. But, his disinterest in the film and the crazy animal kills are all part of the charm. No, not a great film - but a fun one. Here’s what I had to say about this one in 2015:

"What if nature was trying to get back at us?"

Ecologist photographer Pickett Smith (Sam Elliott) is taking his time canoeing around a scenic lake taking pictures of the local wildlife, birds, frogs, snakes, and the numerous amounts of trash and poisonous chemical runoff that ruin their habitat. After getting knocked out of his boat by a high-speed motorboat driven by a drunken local boy named Clint Crockett (Adam Roarke) and his flighty sister Karen (Joan Van Ark), Pickett is invited back to the Crockett family's estate in time for their big annual lake-front celebration.

When Pickett arrives he sees more is amiss with the property than the eccentric head of the family Jason (Ray Milland). Everywhere Pickett looks, he sees an oversized creature of some sort, namely frogs. As Pickett learns that the Crockett family has been dumping poisons and fertilizers on the land to keep the grounds looking lush and healthy, creatures from the swamps begin to pick off members of the group one by one until they're forced to make a last-ditch effort for survival. 

'Frogs' may be a bit of a misnomer for this film. Yes, there are a lot of frogs, big ones even, there are more snakes, gators, skinks, geckos, tarantulas, snapping turtles, and lethal leeches to suck the life out of people. The titular frogs appear to be super intelligent and are working to direct the efforts of the other creatures. The where-to and what-for of this movie is relatively unimportant. All that matters is the cast is thinned out one by one in a delightfully icky and slimy way. Like 'The Food of the Gods' this isn't a particularly scary movie, it can be very unsettling while being incredibly unintentionally funny at times.

I'll give a lot of credit to Sam Elliott for being able to play this one straight without giving a hint of laughter at what I am sure was a hard shoot to keep a straight face during. I absolutely lost it watching one of my all-time Western heroes slap at a water snake with an oar! But that's how most of the performances are, people pretending to be attacked by an offscreen icky creature of some sort. In one shot you have a guy or gal screaming in terror, cut to a snake, spider, or snapping turtle, and then cut to the person now covered in thick bright red gooey blood! By the big grand finale, I had a giant grin on my face. This one was just great fun and Director George McCowan really brings the show home. 

If you're someone going into this movie expecting frights and terrors - you've got the wrong movie. That is unless you're actually scared of any of the critters I mentioned above then you should be absolutely terrified. Hell, I had a pet tarantula as a kid and this movie gave me a bit of arachnophobia during a specific scene. My favorite kill involved blood-sucking leeches that also peeled off people's skin!  I wish the snapping turtle had gotten to do more damage on camera - especially after 'Cannibal Holocaust' - that guy deserved some sort of revenge. 

At the end of the day, 'Frogs' is a great finish to this little double feature. Yeah the Man VS Nature theme is a bit heavy-handed, but it's just there as an excuse to have people meet an untimely end by slimy critters. If there is an actual meaningful environmental message to this movie - it's quickly lost. But that's fine - a hammy message would have just bogged this one down. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray 
Kino Cult delivers their 12th title with George McCowan’s Frogs. Now on a single-title disc, the film returns to Blu-ray pressed on a Region A BD-50 disc. Housed in a standard blue case, we get alternate insert artwork with a slipcover. The disc loads to a static image main menu with standard navigation options.

As has been the case with a lot of the recent Kino Cult titles, Frogs looks to utilize the same 1080p master from the 2015 Scream Factory disc, only now without having to sacrifice disc space to leave room for Food of the Gods. This was always a solid-looking flick and I’d wager given the location and critters it would have made a great candidate for a 4K disc, but I’ll say this transfer still holds up. There’s a little speckling here and the reel change burns remain, I think I spotted a blink-and-miss-it frame splice, but those really aren't huge distractions. The important thing is with a better encode, the transfer looks better. Sporting a much higher bitrate, fine details for our human and animal cast members come through with better clarity. Some soft scenes persist but that looks to be an issue with the filming rather than the transfer. Colors are bright and bold with lovely primaries. Black levels are nice and deep with some great shadows for a welcome feeling of three-dimensional depth. I was previously hesitant to give this transfer a 4/5 on the Scream Factory disc, but I don't have that problem now with this Kino Cult disc.

Likewise, what sounds like the same DTS-HD MA 2.0 track returns. Outside of some very long dialog sequences, most of the soundscape is made up of creepy animal sounds. Frogs, for obvious reasons, are the primary culprits for much of the movie. Dialog is clear without issue and the film’s score by Less Baxter is appropriately moody and atmospheric. I never really noticed it before now, but listen for the bizarre marching tune Ray Milland’s character enjoys listening to! All around a clean clear track suitable for this creature feature.

On the bonus features front, Kino Cult again does their best to secure the previous disc’s selection of extras while adding something new. So in addition to the trailer and a nice interview with Joan Van Ark, we have a great new audio commentary from David Del Valle and Dan Marino (yes, he’s related to that Dan Marino). It’s a great listen full of great anecdotes and trivia. Still, I would have loved to see a sitdown with Sam Elliot in all of his acidic grumpiness discussing this early step in his career. 

• Audio Commentary featuring David Del Valle and Dan Marino
• Buried in Frogs - Interview with Actress Joan Van Ark (HD 10:08)
• Radio Spots
• TV Spots
• Trailer

Frogs might not be the best nature run-amok creature feature ever made, but it was a fun one. It’s got a great mood and atmosphere that builds to some creepy kills. The cast is largely solid with Sam Elliot carrying a lot of the weight. Ray Milland may not look like he’s having a good time, but he exudes his exasperated mood throughout for a rich performance. Kino Cult delivers a solid new Blu-ray for this one. The extra disc space greatly improves the existing master with a solid audio mix to match. Bonus features aren’t the biggest and best of the bunch but the new commentary is well worth the listen. Creature feature fans should get a kick out if it - Recommended!