The Food of the Gods (1976) Horror Environmental

 The Food of the Gods (1976) -  This is the stuff I lived for when I was a kid. Although I have no memory of it I have to imagine I saw this movie as a young teen. Fitting into the environment gone wild films of the 1970's this film is a b-movie pleasure I am glad I can now say I have seen. By no means is this a good film. The premise is flimsy, the effects hilarious in their silliness and the climax not so climatic but still I loved watching this movie.Its really a throw back to the mutant monster films of the 1950s, Them! (1954) and Tarantula (1955) and any other number of films. In those films the culprit was radiation but her it is the food of the Gods, an oozing slime from the ground that when mixed with grain makes for some startling results.
  Morgan (Marjoe Gortner) is a star player on a team of ten players, well that is how many guys we see when they are practicing in the establishing scenes.  After some hard practice for the big game the coach tells him he should get some rest and relaxation. It has to be one of the lamest establishing scene I have seen. A five on five drill and then voice over as he is crossing on the ferry to the island.   So he loads up with a couple of his buddies Brian (Jon Cypher) and Davis, who went ahead (Chuck Courtney) and goes off to an island for some rest.The film really wastes no time that one scene and then bam we are ready to go. The premise of the entire film is told to us by Morgan in voice over. He relays that his father said to him, "Morgan one of these days the earth will get even with man for messing her up with his garbage. Just let man pollute the earth the way he is and nature is going to rebel. Its going to be one hell of a rebellion."
 Its a wooded island with a ferry like you would see in Washington state or Oregon or Maine and we see the guys out on horses riding with hunting dogs and a scared deer running this way and that. Davis gets out ahead and immediately we start getting the plot. His horse is spooked and throws him. A buzzing sound makes him look up to see some giant wasps. He screams as he is attacked bringing his friends to the scene. The wasps are gone but poor Davis is a bloated venom filled mess. Morgan heads to the nearest house where he sees a barn and enters. A giant (like 8 feet tall) rooster attacks him and he has to fight and kill it with a pitchfork. When he finally meets the woman who lives at the house, Mrs Skinner (Ida Lupino) his great line of "Where the hell did you get those chickens?" is a memorable one. Very quickly we get the full story. There is an ooze coming from the ground, that when mixed with grain became the food that the chickens ate. They grew very large from it. The Skinner's call it "The Food of the Gods"
  The couple plan to sell the stuff figuring that the world famines will soon be at an end and they will be rich. Here I believe we the audience are supposed to remember that nature is going to rebel. In fact the main story will be about the consequences of this rebellion. While Mr Skinner (John McLiam) tries to get a deal with businessman Jack Bensington (Ralph Meeker), inviting him and his assistant Lorna Scott (Pamela Franklin) to his place. Brian and Morgan have to deal with the dead body of their friend back on the mainland before returning to let the survival story play out. Added to the eventual crew of potential survivors are the unmarried couple, very pregnant Rita (Belinda Balaski) and boyfriend Thomas (Tom Stovall).
  Much of the story from here is interactions with over sized animals, besides the giant chickens,  giant maggots, link inch worms about two feet long, Dealing with the giant wasps nest and mostly the giant rats, dozens of giant rats. The modelling for the animal interactions with humans is pretty flimsy but this is not a great movie so what do you expect. The rats swarming over the little model RV that Thomas and Rita own is just one of the scenes. The Skinners farmhouse is strangely small when compared to the rats. Then when the cast does hand to hand with them the rats seem a bit smaller. Scale it seemed was hard to do.
  While Bensington wants to save the slimy stuff and flee the island it is obvious that this will not happen. He plays the heal that we don't feel empathy for because he is greedy and selfish. Thomas and Rita provide social commentary on out of wedlock marriage. Lorna is the love interest for Morgan our hero, leaving poor the poor Skinners and Brian odd people out. There are elaborate plans to try to fence off the rats but that was destined for failure so in the end there is a lot of Morgan racing around in his jeep before the final sequence and the last survivors are revealed. The special effects of the end of this movie are ridiculously campy and certainly this is not a good movie. It still was a lot of fun to watch and laugh at though. The warning to the world ending is exceptional.
Writer and director Bert I. Gordon who made monster movies as far back as the late 1950s has done it again. He has a group of veteran actors who know how to get the job done. The effects are lousy but, when all is said and done I am recommending this film as campy fun. Not a good film but a silly time you and your friends can sit around laughing at.
Rating (5.0) 5.0 and up are recommended, some more recommended than others.

Science Fiction Shorts Night 3 - Planetary Paranoia

The Boston Science Fiction Film Festival - This new event connected to the Boston Science Fiction Marathon Feb. 14-15 noon to noon is a wonderful addition. Each night from now until the Marathon there will be a feature or a night of Shorts at 7pm at the Somerville theater. I encourage you to look into getting tickets for these events.

Reminder I recommend anything with a 5 or above rating. I am not the toughest guy to please.


SITA (2008) - Tchaiko Omawale directed this story of a faerie who helps and then loves a mental health patient. She brings him back from the brink with her invisible(to him) arms. As he recovers he begins a relationship with a woman and the faerie is jealous and starts her own journey of acceptance. Artistic and fluid with great music. Rating (6.1)


RATS (2006) - Humans are isolated, each living and staying in their space only interacting through the share computer network. Fear of going outside is strong but when the system is in error one man decides to go. Outside is tainted and he worries about safety. When he discovers the problem, he handles it in an appropriate manner. Filmed in polarized black and white it is a distracting choice but does give the comic feel to the world. Rating (4.8)

1:03 AM (2009) - A man brings his paperwork to the government agency in charge and the papers are approved. His time will be 1 minute starting at 1:03 AM, from that time he has one minute to legally murder his cheating wife. Good reveal and pacing, with a decent turn at the end. Rating (6.1)

The Replicant (2009)- Writer and director David Walton Smith did this short about a man getting a new synthetic body. Now immortality is possible, but what happens to his old body. Well it wakes up and runs of course. A quick chase scene and resolution make this short work. Maybe not the most original of ideas but very adequately executed. Rating (6.0)

Die Schneider Krankheit (2008) - A spaceship with a monkey in it lands behind the iron curtain in post WWII (50's?)Europe loosing a deadly disease. The communist science community works for solutions and cures in this part newsreel part propaganda film. Ending with the facts that the cure had not been found but that life could continue but with wearing gas masks. Rating (6.1)


Under God (2009) - President Eisenhower visits UNIVAC the countries first supercomputer. A skeptic of its intelligence Ike is challenged to as any question. He asks "Is there a God" the computer works and then spits out an answer. Writer Director Richard Farmer wraps that answer into some history of the era creating a cool short that mixes science, religion and politics together into a nice package.
Rating (7.8)


Afterglow (2009) - Two local new militia men investigate a report of surviving aliens from a failed invasion of earth only to find something very unexpected. They run out of gas and in the process of finding some they come across an older couple. The couple is suspicious and soon it become apparent they are hiding something. The reveal is a good showing the depth of their paranoia after the near invasion. Rating (6.5)


Oxygen (2009) - A worker in the maintenance department in an isolated community find out things are not what the government has told them. In a constant storm the people of the community have been told the air outside is poison and will kill them. The worker Xavier find out the truth when he discovers a hole in his apartment wall that has been letting in outside air. The police are on to him though and soon he must flee the city for his own good. New and amazing realizations still await him on his journey. Rating (5.8)


Lifeline (2009) - Animated story of a man attempting to travel back in time to be with the woman he loves. The problem is that in order to have love he has to cut the lifeline back to his own time. Rating (5.5)

Attack of the Nebula-5 Robots (2008) - Amusing seven minute short about a mentally ill man who believes that robots from nebula 5 are going to attack and destroy the planet. Each day about the time he saw for the attack he sits in what he believes is the only safe place. Writer Director Chema Garcia Ibarra does a great job at developing character and a story full of humor. Rating (8.1)