Q (1982)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Larry Cohen

Writer:

Larry Cohen (writer)

Release Date:

29 October 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

You'll just have time to scream... before it tears you apart!

Plot:

New York police are bemused by a spate of reports of a giant flying lizard that has been spotted around the rooftops of New York...

Plot Keywords:

New York | Nest | Monster | Police | Empire State Building New York

Cast

Michael Moriarty	...	Jimmy Quinn
Candy Clark	...	Joan
David Carradine	...	Shepard
Richard Roundtree	...	Powell
James Dixon	...	Lt. Murray
Malachy McCourt	...	Commissioner
Fred J. Scollay	...	Capt. Fletcher
Peter Hock	...	Det. Clifford
Ron Cey	...	Det. Hoberman
Mary Louise Weller	...	Mrs. Pauley
Bruce Carradine	...	The Victim
John Capodice	...	Doyle
Tony Page	...	Webb
Larkin Ford	...	Curator
Larry Pine	...	The Professor

Also Known As:

Q: The Winged Serpent
Serpent
The Winged Serpent

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M | France:-12 | Norway:18 | UK:15 (re-rating) (1982) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Chrysler Building - 405 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Arkoff International

Trivia:

Pre-production for the movie lasted just one week. The film was conceived after Larry Cohen was fired from a low budget film shooting in New York. Cohen, determined not to waste the hotel room he had paid for, hired the actors and prepared a shooting script within six days.

Quotes:

Jimmy Quinn: Eat 'em! Eat 'em! Crunch crunch!

Movie Connections:

References "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962)

Soundtrack:

Dancing Too Close to the Flame

Worth seeing mainly for Michael Moriarty's performance.

Tongue-in-cheek, character-driven little Larry Cohen film, made in the veteran maverick director's inimitable style.

It's ostensibly about a monster, Quetzlcoatl, an enormous flying bird/serpent/god that was supposedly brought back into existence by the performance of gory, ritual killings.

However, as anyone who's seen this can tell you, the creature and its rampages become secondary to the characters and their dilemmas.

Michael Moriarty portrays Jimmy Quinn, an odd guy (just check out his unique and stylized performance; it's unlike anything else I've seen him do) who would like to be a jazz pianist (Cohen found out that this was a hobby of the actor in real life and made it a part of the role, much to Moriarty's delight) but who is forced to participating in crimes to make what little money he can. After a heist goes wrong, Quinn runs and hides in the very top of the Chrysler Building, where he discovers a big nest and a big egg. Knowing how much the fearful city wants the flying menace eliminated, he figures to profit from his knowledge of the creature's hiding place. Things don't quite work out that way, however.

Great to see Richard Roundtree as always, and VERY amusing to see David Carradine in a coat and tie as a detective. Carradine plays a guy who contrary to most cops in movies like this is willing to accept the unreal.

Effects are by the late David Allen, as well as Randy (Randall William) Cook and Peter Kuran; the latter two did work for John Carpenter's "The Thing", released the same year as this.

Carradine's brother Bruce turns up as a victim near the film's conclusion.

Despite similarities to 1998's "Godzilla" (which blatantly rips off this film's final shot), "Godzilla" is basically a dumb, overblown, and yet kind of fun popcorn movie. "Q" is more substantial and more interesting, overall.

Features some of the best overhead shots of NYC that I've ever seen.

7/10