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:

Nest | Monster | Police | Female Nudity | Giant Egg

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:

The title 'Q' is short for Quetzlcoatl, the Aztec god who was half reptile and half bird.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Simpsons: Marge in Chains (#4.21)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

Dancing Too Close to the Flame

Cohen does Corman

Cohen is pretty goddamned erratic for an auteur. I mean, I don't think I've ever seen a movie with worse continuity; I don't think the constant lapses in screen direction are an homage to Godard; the character motivation is a mess. The newspaper headlines even have spelling mistakes for crying out loud. And every gruesome effort is made to avoid showing the titular winged serpent on screen. So why is this movie so cool? First of all, because it doesn't give a sh*t; second of all, because its subject matter takes us on an unprecedented and mesmerizing tour of the rooftops of NYC. And third of all because of that cast! I can't fling my stock epithet of 'stupid detectives' at Richard freakin' Roundtree and David by-the-Jesus Carradine, now can I? And I've never seen anything like Michael Moriarty's lead performance as a born-to-lose ex-junkie loudmouth opportunist with ego to burn. He's so mesmerizing you don't care about all the nervous cutting away from the sub-Harryhausen goings-on upstairs. In fact when you realize that Moriarty in Q equals Haze in Little Shop equals Miller in Bucket of Blood, the accretion of glaring imperfections starts to look like another form of loving tribute.