Starring: Ray Milland, Sam Elliott, Joan Van Ark, Adam Roarke, Judy Pace Directed By: George McCowan Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC Label: MGM (Video & DVD) Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: September 19, 2000 Running Time: 91 minutes Theatrical Release Date: March 10, 1972
Description: "A shocker reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds" (Variety), this amphibious horror flick is teeming with thousands of nasty-tempered creatures that are hopping madand murderous. Jumping with action, suspense, revenge and Southern Gothic charm, Frogs' stars Sam Elliott, Joan Van Ark and Ray Milland are constantly a lily pad away from croaking! Jason Crockett (Milland) is an aging, physically disabled millionaire who invites his family to his island estate for hisbirthday party. The old man is more than crotchety he's crazy! Hating nature, Crockett poisons anything that crawls on his property. But on the night of his shindig, it's nature's payback time, as thousands of frogs whip up every bug and slimy thing into a toxic frenzy until the entire environment goes environ-mental.
Amazon.com: Millionaire Jason Crockett (Ray Milland. No, really. Ray Milland) hates frogs. Naturally, he lives on an island estate in the middle of a big Southern swamp. His family also hates frogs, so much so that they clap their hands over their ears and scream about the horrible, horrible noise. Everybody joins in spraying toxic chemicals around, little realizing that these frogs are not just moist, they're mad. Hopping mad. The family gathers for Grandpa's annual birthday celebration, unaware that doom is hopping toward them on wet, flapping feet. The point is driven home with shot after shot of the frogs hopping... hopping... hopping... and occasionally being tossed by a helpful stagehand. Actually, the whole swamp is mad--snakes, snapping turtles, and even crocodiles- -which is really for the best because the only thing the frogs seem to have in the way of menace is that hopping thing. One by one, family members go flailing into the swamp, never to return, while those still in the house watch death hop closer. Frogs is almost as remarkable for the sartorial issues it brings up as the environmental ones. Why is everyone wearing sweaters with blazers in Florida in July? How did Joan Van Ark manage to find an outfit that combines the practicality of hot pants with the beauty of a terrycloth jumper? Will Ray Milland ever be able to get the slime off that bright white suit? And still, the frogs hop closer... --Ali Davis
Big green dumb fun This is NOT a great movie by any stretch of the imagination but it's a lot of fun to watch. I find myself doing my own MST3K type schtick during campy B films and Frogs provides perfect fodder. Go into it knowing what it is and you'll probably enjoy it. But if you're buying or renting a "horror" film called Frogs you probably have some idea what to expect.
Frogs This may be an old movie but I still love it, it is one of my favorites as I love frogs & toads.
RIBBIT....RIBBIT In the early to mid seventies a new genre of horror film was making its way onto screens across the land. Most of them were drive in screens but they were screens anyway. This genre revolved around the growing ecology movement and more often than not had normal, everyday animals terrorizing the countryside. Be it giant chickens in FOOD OF THE GODS or giant rabbits in NIGHT OF THE LEPUS, nature was bound and determined to kick man's butt for the pollution he had caused.
Into the fray came a movie that decided against the use of giant animals and instead just took a group and tossed them together. Amphibians and reptiles joined forces to hand man his hind end in the movie FROGS.
The movie takes place over the Fourth of July weekend. Pickett Smith (Sam Elliot) is an environmental photographer taking pictures on a lake in Florida. While doing so, his canoe is tipped over by speedboat racing Clint Crockett (Adam Roarke) and his sister Karen (Joan Van Ark). After an apology is made, they offer to take Smith with them back to their home to dry off and for lunch.
The three arrive as preparations for the annual family get together are in motion. This clan has been celebrating like this for years. Not only is it a national holiday, it's also old man Jason Crockett's (Ray Milland) birthday. Gathered around are Clint, his wife Jenny (Lynn Borden) and their two children, his son Stuart (George Skaff), Stuart's son Ken (Nicholas Courtland) and his girlfriend Bella (Judy Pace), daughter Iris (Holly Irving) and his other grandson Michael (David Gilliam). This is your typical rich-grandpa-get-together. Everyone is there not to help the old man celebrate so much as to make sure they are retained in his will.
Pickett fits in easily with this crowd, being as kind and courteous as he can. While the rest seem to be spoiled rich kids, Picket offers a respectful sense of self that seems to sit well with Jason. So much so that he asks him to stay and search the island for a man who works for him who was last seen sent out to spray for the over abundance of frogs this year. Pickett agrees to do so and enjoys the company of the family.
Pickett's search results in the discovery of the man's body, bitten by snakes with half a dozen slimy looking scale wearers wrapping themselves around him. Rather than spoil the weekend, Jason keeps the news to himself with the intention of having the law pick up the body...once the phones begin working again. Let's face it, if the phones aren't working on an island and you're in a horror film, believe that the worst is coming.
The overflow of frogs on the island, as well as their unusual behavior (such as massing outside the windows) gives Picket cause for concern. It goes unheeded though as is the case with most movies.
The next day as final preparations for the gathering are completed, Michael is sent to check the phone lines and aunt Iris goes off I search of butterflies to add to her collection. Neither one returns and both end up suffering grizzly deaths, one by snake bite the other by being wrapped cocoon like by spiders. Oh yes, the spiders have decided to aid in the reptile/amphibian take over of the world.
More deaths result from subtle attacks by the creatures (did anyone know that lizards were able to read labels on bottles and know just which ones to combine to make toxic gas?) and those that remain alive decide it's time to high tail it off of the island. But not old man Crockett. Jason states that they can leave if they want but he wants this celebration to continue on just as planned. Talk about your cold hearted rich men!
The end results of this are obvious, there is of course a small twist at the end, but then again its left open when the survivors are picked up hitch hiking and told by the lady driving the car that they haven't seen anyone for the last half hour. How odd for a Fourth of July to see no one.
The movie takes all sorts of liberties with nature and the collection of animals it uses for the take over. But it doesn't matter! It's all about low budget, drive in schlock film making at its best!
You have to wonder why the title of the film is FROGS when the frogs do little more than pile up on someone who is already dead. Spiders bite, lizards bite, snakes bite, but frogs? They just pile on or get in the way of someone trying to run. Perhaps, like the pigs in ANIMAL FARM, the frogs are the organizers of this animal revolution.
The acting is far better than a film of this budget should offer. Elliot was starting his career and Van Ark had yet to move on to KNOTS LANDING. Milland had already had a hand in low budget film making with films like X THE MAN WITH X RAY EYES and was also to do THE THING WITH TWO HEADS the same year this was released (1972). Some see it as a step down from Oscar material like THE LOST WEEKEND but Hollywood never treats its stars well when they age and Oscar quality actors sometimes ended up with material such as this. Good for these actors I say as they take some terrible pieces and still turn in performances that are solid.
The locations of this film are lovingly shot but not to the point of distraction. Willow trees and Spanish moss are found everywhere and the lush green look is captured even at an expense that most commercial makers would have laughed at. But the studio who released this, AIP (American International Pictures) was known for making top notch low budget films out of nothing.
This film is not destined for any hall of fame awards. It will never be hailed as a high water mark in film. But it is a good, entertaining time capsule at the ecology movement in it's early days as well as a look at an actor, Elliott, who went on to bigger and better things. It's a blast and a great DVD to have if you're planning a drive in party some night.
Cult film lovers only -- a superb entry! This one is an early '70s environmental cult film, made at just about the time that "ecology" became a buzzword. It was an early film for Sam Elliott and a late one for Ray Milland but the pair play off one another like cookies and milk.
Here's the story:
Ray Milland plays a wheelchair bound, aristocratic old curmudgeon whose family estate is located on a southeastern U.S. Island... a big swampy place where the Spanish moss hangs everywhere. It's his birthday and his dubious offspring and their partners have arrived by boat at the estate to participate in the obligatory birthday party. Heavy drinking by most seems to be the order of the day. Sam Elliott plays an environmental photographer who gets his canoe swamped by a couple of Milland's intoxicated spawn who are out for a pleasure cruise in a speedboat -- he ends up at the birthday party to recompense him for his rude treatment.
At about this time, the frogs on the island seem to be congregating in huge numbers and it irritates Milland to the point that he's sent out his house man to spray poison here and there to eliminate them... but the frogs know exactly how to deal with such paltry assaults. They secure the help of their amphibian and reptile pals, snakes, hefty lizards, gators... all manner of creepy-crawlers to help them in their quest to take over the island and to eliminate its mostly-nefarious inhabitants.
Soon, Milland has to secure Elliott's help, seeing right away that Elliott is made of firmer stuff than his own spoiled offspring. And from there, life on the island quickly descends downhill. I'll stop here to avoid any spoilers.
This picture is shot in really great color, presented in letterbox format, and runs for 90 minutes. Yes, the acting isn't exactly the stuff of Academy Award material, Ray Milland excepted -- he plays his role brilliantly. But the film is a strange mixture of just being real enough, and just campy enough, to finish at the "magnificent" level of cult film rating.
A curiousity, one of Milland's (caucasian) sons is dating a black gal which, at the time, was a very unusual caveat for any film. Of course, this scenario was cast precisely for the purpose of lending interest to the film and, in my opinion, made this movie a bit of a groundbreaker.
Finally, this is a Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson film which, to us Drive-in movie and late night TV enthusiasts meant one thing: "quality horror". I have watched "Frogs" many times and will do so again.
Highly recommended for appropriate audiences.
"What If Nature Is Trying To Get Back At Us?" "Frogs" is one of my favorite entries in the "Nature Gone Wild" genre. It also belongs in the "Holiday Slasher" genre. I've seen it at least half a dozen times over the past thirty years, usually around the 4th of July.
A wealthy, elderly man lives on a Florida island. He invites his beautiful family for his annual 4th of July birthday bash. One by one the family members die in gruesome ways. However, the culprit is not a psychotic killer but various creepy crawlers (lizards, alligators, snakes, tarantulas, and even a giant alligator snapping turtle). Nature is getting revenge on humans for polluting their environment. This movie boasts a high body count, and it is fun to see who will die next and how they will die.
Sam Elliot and Joan Van Ark are among the cast of veteran actors from the seventies. The film is beautifully shot on location in a Florida park using live reptiles and amphibians. I recommend adding this gem to your "Nature Gone Wild" collection.
Favorite Scene: When Michael shoots himself in the leg while running through the woods. He falls down beneath a tree from which Tarantulas descend and cover him with their sticky webs. He lays paralyzed from their venom while they dine on him. Gross!
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