Les Crapauds

While it's pretty obvious that this film was done on a low budget (i.e. the same shots are repeated over and over and over) this is a pretty effective horror movie and deserves a look. The death scenes are well executed (and the end is quite chilling), the music is appropriate (it's sounds almost like an "angry swamp"), and the locations are put to good use. It's definitely a b-movie and is not at all "great cinema", but it's still a minor classic and should have some kind of cult status.

Ray Milland gets such a fright his toupee nearly blows off in this crazie AIP quickie that combines the plots of 'Them!' and the old 'Thunderbirds' episode about giant alligators with results that would probably have pleased Rachel Carson. SLIGHT SPOILER COMING: See the final credits out for the shot of an animated frog; probably the wittiest thing in the film!

Actually had good actors in it, but I think the directors of the early 1970's were just taking too many drugs. So a decent ecology journalist scoring extra Politically Correct points is taking pictures in a swamp in Florida when he falls in with a family of rich industrialists browbeaten into obedience by a wheelchair bound Ray Milland. A bunch of menacing frog direct reptiles to engage in a series of attacks requiring a lot of ineptitude by the character actors who are picked off. I don't think the frogs actually kill anyone, they just keep looking menacing... maybe they were co-ordinating the operation as the other reptiles did all the hard work. Bonus point.. Joan van Ark in a tight-one piece showing a lot of leg.

A group of hapless victims celebrate a birthday on an island estate crawling with evil frogs. By no means should this be considered a good film, but it has a certain charm that is hard to replicate. American International made some gems, and this is one of them. Later it was picked up by MGM. And, I believe, a Blu-ray was released by Scream Factory. Though you can never have enough special features. Ray Milland is a joy to watch, whether in his best work ("Lost Weekend") or some of his worst. Indeed, towards the end of his career, he seemed to appear in just about anything. We also get Sam Elliott, though he is almost unrecognizable without his trademark mustache.

Millionaire patriarch Ray Milland and his extended family gather together at his private island mansion to celebrate the 4th of July and have much more to worry about than photographer and ecologist Sam Elliott snooping around getting material for a magazine layout on pollution. You see, Elliott isn't the only one who's fed up with Milland's environmental poisoning, as a horde of frogs wise up and lead their swampland buddies (alligators, snakes, lizards, turtles, birds, leeches, spiders and more) in a violent revolt. Thanks to the piercing sounds of Les Baxter's score and sheer variety of creepy crawlers on display, you are likely to cringe somewhere along the line in this ridiculous and often awkwardly directed, but nonetheless entertaining effort.

If this movie ultimately fails to be scary (and it does), it's not because the filmmakers didn't try; they did their darnedest to make those frogs look as menacing as possible. But it was all for naught, because frogs are fundamentally un-vicious creatures and, well, they cannot be trained to look mean. They don't care about us annoying humans! They just want to hop around! So this movie can't hold a candle to, say, "The Birds". That doesn't mean it's not enjoyable though - it is, in a schlocky way. It's colorful, it's beautifully photographed, and Sam Elliott is rather cool, as 70s leading men go. (**1/2)