Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)

August 18, 2024 2:40 PM

A small-time crook stumbles onto the nest of a winged serpent attacking New York City, and hopes to use his discovery to broker a deal with the police.
posted by johnofjack (7 comments total)

Partway through watching this, I mused out loud that it had to be by the same director who made God Told Me To--a late 70s/early 80s film about NYPD detectives working through a case when they encounter supernatural elements?--and it turns out it is.

The effects are a bit ropey, but on the whole I liked it anyway.
posted by johnofjack at 2:46 PM on August 18 [2 favorites]

I really didn't expect it to ultimately be about a small, awful man given the chance to be important. Great little flick.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:16 PM on August 18 [2 favorites]

This was featured on Shudder on the Joe Bob Briggs show. Apparently, the shootout scenes in the pinnacle of the Chrysler Building were actually shot in the pinnacle of the Chrysler Building! They did it without a full permit. That is not a set; it is the actual interior of that historic, iconic space! 1982 was a different reality.
posted by SoberHighland at 6:16 AM on August 19 [5 favorites]

This is a great silly monster movie - I had to see it when I read Roger Ebert's review that referenced Rex Reed proclaiming Michael Moriarty as creating a great method acting demonstration in the middle of schlock: Ebert review
posted by jkosmicki at 8:35 AM on August 19 [2 favorites]

This came out when I was a kid, making an ill-defined mark in my memory, entirely due to Siskel and Ebert's reviews. Later, I conflated it with Z, a film by Costa-Gravas. Imagine my confusion as a teenager, catching a reference to Z and wondering how a movie about a flying lizard monster in NYC was also a gripping, well respected indictment of political violence and corruption.

First, there one hundred percent should be a movie about a flying lizard monster in NYC that is also a gripping, well respected indictment of political violence and corruption.

Second, there should be a one-letter-title movie marathon, in alphabetical order. M, Q, Z, ooh there's a 1998 Indian film called A...
posted by Harvey Jerkwater at 9:00 AM on August 19 [2 favorites]

Ha, you made me look up a list: 1 Letter Movie Titles
posted by mrphancy at 11:21 AM on August 19 [3 favorites]

I really didn't expect it to ultimately be about a small, awful man given the chance to be important. Great little flick.

This is one of the great things about the Larry Cohen films that he wrote and directed. His films are always something special and transcend whatever veneer of trash it might have.
posted by Ashwagandha at 11:51 AM on August 20 [1 favorite]