Saw Q:The Winged Serpent, a film as strange as its title. It's about a series of mysterious murders in NYC which turn out to be caused by the reincarnation of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl who is living in the Chrysler building. The film is a B-movie romp crossed with a 1970s gritty realism crime thriller.
The film is interesting in its mix of influences. Made in 1982, it bears the gritty look and naturalistic, semi-improvised performances of the 70s, but the monster is all Jason and the Argonauts-style stop motion and aging green-screen. I feel this film would have worked better as a book or something. Almost everything involving the monster is not worth it.
The bits that are worth it are the scenes reveling in the bizarreness of the situation. Instead of having some audience stand-in character become aware of the monster and get a good look at it, we follow sweaty, pudgy cops who are trying to solve these mysterious beheadings and gruesome disembowelings suddenly plaguing the city. It's a gritty-realistic-style approach given to an utterly nutty concept. Very interesting if nothing else.
As you might expect, this film is really more strange and outlandish than it is entertaining. After the premise is revealed, everything else seems sort of plodding and pedestrian in comparison, especially since we're follow a cops-eye view. I feel like this is the sort of film to watch and react to with friends. It keeps the weirdness coming at a reasonable pace, the performances are fairly serviceable, and it's relatively short. Watched alone it's a bit of a slog by the end however.
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