Producer: Larry I love your script.
Larry Cohen: Thank you!
Producer: I mean, Aztec Cults, ritual murders, a crime investigation, it’s wonderful.
Larry Cohen: I also have David Carradine and Richard Roundtree in mind to star.
Producer: Excellent. Just throw in a large monster for no reason and we’ll make your movie!
Larry Cohen: Great! I’ll… wait–what?
Producer: There has to be a large monster wreaking havoc. “King Kong” is still big after all. And make it look like a featherless chicken. That’s the ticket!
“Q The Winged Serpent” definitely has a lot going for it, it just feels so slapped together out of separate plot points that director Larry Cohen desperately tries to bring together to form a coherent story. And he fails big time. “Q The Winged Serpent” is a brutally boring and goofy horror film that pairs David Carradine and Richard Roundtree to investigate a series of grisly murders and ritual sacrifices. At times the murders are very disturbing, one of which involves someone having been skinned alive. What’s the point of a large stop motion monster, after all? None that I can tell, honestly.
The victims were all willing participants, which is also odd considering the giant bird, a manifestation of Quetzalcoatl, seems to be doing fine on its own. Not only has it nested in the Chrysler Building, but it’s making meals out of random people that dare to venture at the tops of buildings. It bites the head off of a window wiper, and carries a woman off of a building top spa while she’s sun bathing. So why does it even need the cult? It looks like Cohen and co. couldn’t really decide between a monster movie, or a murder mystery, so they venture for both. “Q The Winged Serpent” can’t be saved by the charisma of Richard Roundtree, which is a shame because at times there are hints of potential within the narrative.
I’m not sure why an all powerful Aztec god would transform in to a winged bird, or why it would come to New York to hide. I’m also not sure why it can be taken down by sub-machine guns, either. You figure they’d bring in a sorcerer or magician of some kind. Surely, even King Kong required massive gun fire from airplanes to be brought down. He wasn’t taken down by a snub nose six shooter from some beat cop. And where’s the military in all of this? Why is every single location at the top of some tall building? And if you know your Bird God is nesting in tall buildings, why not do a search of every single tall building in New York city to ensure that it hasn’t bred? “Q” has no idea what the hell it is, and it shows with a question mark ending that left me giggling more than anything.
Featured in the Blu-Ray from Scream Factory is the original trailer and teaser for “Q The Winged Serpent.” There’s also a full length commentary with Writer, Producer, and Director Larry Cohen. Cohen has fun with the commentary mocking himself, discussing the film’s creation, and a screening mishap where an audience thought they were originally going to see “Close Encounters” and got up to leave when they realized it was the wrong film.