Q-The Winged Serpent
(Blue Underground Region 0 NTSC DVD)
(1982)
review by Head Cheeze

God, I love this movie. I love every lil' nook and cranny of this defiantly low-budget monster "epic", from it's cheezy-by-today's-standards stop-motion effects to it's brilliantly assembled B-movie superstar roster, and I, for one, couldn't be more thrilled to see it re-released on DVD by the always caring folks at Blue Underground.

While New York City police investigate a series of ritualistic murders, a string of even more bizarre deaths upon the rooftops of the city begs their attention. Detective Shepard (Carradine) begins to see a connection between the two killing sprees, and, armed with a pile of books on Aztec myths and an earful of scholarly suggestion, presents his superiors with his expert opinion: New York is under siege by a winged reptillian god named Quetzacoatl, summoned by the ritual killings. Meanwhile, career criminal Jimmy (Moriarty) takes part in a diamond heist gone bad, and flees the scene to seek refuge in his lawyer's office at the top of the Chrysler Building. Jimmy is spooked by a security guard, and makes his way into the building's domed roof where he discovers what appears to be a huge nest, one hell of an egg, and a whole bunch of sticky human remains. At first, Jimmy is terrified by his discovery, but then sees an opportunity in his "secret", and presents an offer to the city officials. He'll lead them to the creature, in exchange for a full pardon, a caseful of cash, and full acknowledgement that he is "the man who saved New York". It's the American way.

Q is an absolute masterpiece. It's no wonder that this film has developed not only a radid cult-following, but a huge fanbase amongst some of the world's most respected film critics. Cohen's "monster movie" is one of those rare gems that manages to be scary, thrilling, touching, and howlingly funny, all the while staying true to the schlock epics that inspired it. Michael Moriarty is superb as the perpetual loser Jimmy, making him a character that we root for despite the fact that he's essentially holding a city hostage for his own personal gain. His performance in this film is widely recognised as his best, and amongst the finest in the genre. Carradine serves as a perfect foil for Moriarty's thespian prowess by playing it cliche' cool as Shepard, spewing out intentionally bad tough-guy dialogue with his trademark detachment. The cast is rounded out by cult icons Candy Clark, as Jimmy's enabling girlfriend, and Richard "Shaft" Roundtree as Shepard's doubting partner and resident "bad" cop. His interogation of Jimmy is priceless, as Roundtree and Moriarty sizzle off of one another in an inspired bit of wisecrack laden machismo.

Q is presented in a gorgeous widescreen transfer that retains the film's original "dirty" look and feel (Cohen's films have a sort of documentary look to them) and features a multitude of sound options, including 6.0 DTS, 5.1 DDS, 2.0 Dolby, and the original mono track. The disc also features a very fun and informative commentary by Cohen, extensive stills and ephemera gallery, trailers, and a very thorough Cohen bio.

Q-The Winged Serpent is one of my favourite horror films of all time, and it gets better every time I see it. As I have mentioned in a recent review of Cohen's God Told Me To, this is part of a trio of Cohen films to be released by Blue Underground, and is by far his best. I can't recommend this film highly enough, but a word of caution to the CGI generation; Q's effects are quite archaic (although I think they add to the film's charm), so don't go in expecting Lord of the Rings quality monster animation. Q's style is of the Harryhausen era, and looks quite dodgy by today's standards. However, don't let that stop you from giving this one a chance! This is one of the all time classics!