Larry Cohen: Party of One. That’s the way I see him, anyway; he’s always made the films he’s wanted, the way he’s wanted – with varying results, sure, but at the end of the day they are nothing less than Larry Cohen Films: unique, challenging, quirky, funny, and almost always a blast to watch. Which brings us to Q: The Winged Serpent (1982), his tribute to the Aip monster movies of days gone by, overshadowed by his patented blend of offbeat characters and intriguing dialogue. The flying lizard? Merely a delightful distraction.
Released by United Film Distribution Company (and co-produced by legendary Aip honcho Samuel Z. Arkoff) in late October, Q returned only a quarter of its $1.2 million budget, but reviews were fairly kind, with most critics singling out not the movie itself, per se, but a wonderful turn by Michael Moriarty (A Return to Salem’s...
Released by United Film Distribution Company (and co-produced by legendary Aip honcho Samuel Z. Arkoff) in late October, Q returned only a quarter of its $1.2 million budget, but reviews were fairly kind, with most critics singling out not the movie itself, per se, but a wonderful turn by Michael Moriarty (A Return to Salem’s...
- 10/21/2017
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Q The Winged Serpent
Directed by Larry Cohen
Written by Larry Cohen
1982, USA
Genre pioneer Larry Cohen takes a stab at the giant-monster genre with Q, The Winged Serpent, a first-rate grade-z schlock masterwork, which successfully combines a film noir crime story with good old-fashioned creature effects. The title refers to the winged Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, represented here as a dragon-like, flying serpent hovering over New York City. Detectives Shepard (David Carradine) and Powell (Richard Roundtree) investigate a bizarre series of deaths where victims have been snatched from high-rise buildings and dropped to the streets below, minus their head. After witnesses report seeing the flying creature, Shepard follows a lead that Quetzalcoatl has been brought back to life by a series of sacrifices performed by a killer they are also chasing. Meanwhile, when a diamond heist goes wrong, petty thief Jimmy Quinn (Michael Moriarty) hides out in the infrastructure of...
Directed by Larry Cohen
Written by Larry Cohen
1982, USA
Genre pioneer Larry Cohen takes a stab at the giant-monster genre with Q, The Winged Serpent, a first-rate grade-z schlock masterwork, which successfully combines a film noir crime story with good old-fashioned creature effects. The title refers to the winged Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, represented here as a dragon-like, flying serpent hovering over New York City. Detectives Shepard (David Carradine) and Powell (Richard Roundtree) investigate a bizarre series of deaths where victims have been snatched from high-rise buildings and dropped to the streets below, minus their head. After witnesses report seeing the flying creature, Shepard follows a lead that Quetzalcoatl has been brought back to life by a series of sacrifices performed by a killer they are also chasing. Meanwhile, when a diamond heist goes wrong, petty thief Jimmy Quinn (Michael Moriarty) hides out in the infrastructure of...
- 9/22/2013
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Nearly three decades after the sci-fi monster movie craze of the 1950’s, Larry Cohen, director of such diverse films as God Told Me To, It’s Alive, and Black Caesar made Q, later re-titled Q: The Winged Serpent.
It was a different kind of monster movie from those audiences were accustomed to from years prior, outside of some of the earlier Universal Horror films which were more character driven than the schlock fests of the McCarthy era. A thinking man’s monster movie, it questioned man’s inhumanity to man as much as the struggle against the inhuman beast at large.
Michael Moriarty stars as Jimmy Quinn, a broke musician who can’t find an honest break. Out of desperation, he decides to get in on a jewel heist and things don’t go so well. Meanwhile, the city is plagued by strange deaths, which appear to be freak accidents...
It was a different kind of monster movie from those audiences were accustomed to from years prior, outside of some of the earlier Universal Horror films which were more character driven than the schlock fests of the McCarthy era. A thinking man’s monster movie, it questioned man’s inhumanity to man as much as the struggle against the inhuman beast at large.
Michael Moriarty stars as Jimmy Quinn, a broke musician who can’t find an honest break. Out of desperation, he decides to get in on a jewel heist and things don’t go so well. Meanwhile, the city is plagued by strange deaths, which appear to be freak accidents...
- 8/27/2013
- by Derek Botelho
- DailyDead
Looking forward to seeing the Larry Cohen classic Q The Winged Serpent in 1080p high definition? Well then, you'll be happy to hear that Scream Factory has revealed a release date of August 27th! Mark those calendars! Special features to be announced.
Michael Moriarty, David Carradine, and Richard Roundtree star in the flick which Rex Reed praised Moriarty for "amid all the dreck."
Synopsis
When a number of New Yorkers are brutally decapitated while sunbathing on their tenement building roof, two NYPD detectives are assigned to solve the case. Meanwhile, paranoid jewel thief Jimmy Quinn (Michael Moriarty) flees a botched heist and hides out on the roof of the Chrysler Building, where he unwittingly discovers the nest of the huge dragon-like creature that has been responsible for the deaths. As Quinn bargains with the police for a financial reward for his information about the creature's nest, a mysterious Aztec cult...
Michael Moriarty, David Carradine, and Richard Roundtree star in the flick which Rex Reed praised Moriarty for "amid all the dreck."
Synopsis
When a number of New Yorkers are brutally decapitated while sunbathing on their tenement building roof, two NYPD detectives are assigned to solve the case. Meanwhile, paranoid jewel thief Jimmy Quinn (Michael Moriarty) flees a botched heist and hides out on the roof of the Chrysler Building, where he unwittingly discovers the nest of the huge dragon-like creature that has been responsible for the deaths. As Quinn bargains with the police for a financial reward for his information about the creature's nest, a mysterious Aztec cult...
- 6/3/2013
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
“Q is Coming” was the simple tagline used to tease the release of Larry Cohen’s cult classic 1982 Aztec monster terrorizes New York City Q: The Winged Serpent. Q is coming once again; this time to Blu-ray thanks to the fine folks at Shout Factory.
There’s a famous anecdote about how after the Cannes Film Festival screening of Q film critic Rex Reed complimented legendary producer Samuel Z. Arkoff for the wonderful character performance by Michael Moriarty amid all the dreck. Arkoff took a big drag on his cigar and replied, “The dreck was my idea.”
Actually, the dreck was Larry Cohen’s idea and I’d be hard-pressed to call it dreck. I’d call Q: The Winged Serpent one of the most criminally underrated genre movies of the Eighties.
When a number of New Yorkers are brutally decapitated while sunbathing on their tenement building roof, two NYPD...
There’s a famous anecdote about how after the Cannes Film Festival screening of Q film critic Rex Reed complimented legendary producer Samuel Z. Arkoff for the wonderful character performance by Michael Moriarty amid all the dreck. Arkoff took a big drag on his cigar and replied, “The dreck was my idea.”
Actually, the dreck was Larry Cohen’s idea and I’d be hard-pressed to call it dreck. I’d call Q: The Winged Serpent one of the most criminally underrated genre movies of the Eighties.
When a number of New Yorkers are brutally decapitated while sunbathing on their tenement building roof, two NYPD...
- 5/2/2013
- by Foywonder
- DreadCentral.com
Exclusive: Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh, whose best-known novel Trainspotting was made into an as-well-known movie directed by Danny Boyle, will write a screen adaptation himself, this time for the small screen. Welsh has been tapped to write a script for a drama series based on the Ian Palmer-directed documentary Knuckle, which is in development at HBO. Described as Fight Club meets Sons of Anarchy, the docu, which was filmed over 12 years, is about two Irish families who settle a longstanding dispute by periodically engaging in bare-knuckle bouts, beating each other to bloody pulps, and focuses on two brothers, James Quinn and Michael McDonagh. The film premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival, where its remake rights sparked interest from several parties. HBO ultimately landed the project, with Danny McBride, Jody Hill and David Gordon Green's Rough House Pictures, which produces HBO's comedy Eastbound & Down, attached to produce.
- 6/10/2011
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
Exclusive: HBO is closing a remake rights deal for Knuckle, the Ian Palmer-directed documentary at Sundance about two Irish families that settle a longstanding dispute by periodically engaging in bare knuckle bouts. Rough House Pictures partners Danny McBride, Jody Hill and David Gordon Green are attached, and HBO will turn the concept into a TV series, I hear. Numerous parties circled -- word is they included companies of Gerard Butler, Robert Downey Jr., and Vin Diesel, but Rough House's Matt Reilly came to Sundance and won by knockout. Rough House produces Eastbound & Down at HBO. For two weeks, interest has been high for the remake rights of a film that debuted at Sundance last Friday. After bootlegs of an unfinished version began making the rounds, CAA pressed copies for the interested suitors. In the documentary that was produced by Rise Films' Teddy Leifer, the fighters square off...
- 1/25/2011
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
Exclusive: While Hollywood will be in a heavy rotation of Oscar screeners, another in-demand picture for weekend viewing will be Knuckle. That is a documentary that won’t premiere until January 21 in competition at Sundance, but has created a heightened advanced interest for remake rights to a film being described as Fight Club meets Sons of Anarchy. The Ian Palmer-directed doc chronicles an enduring violent feud between two rival families in Ireland that periodically leads to a bare-knuckle bout with a member of each family. The fighters square off and beat each other to bloody pulps, the victor winning family pride and bragging rights. It’s not exactly clear why the families hate each other—hints are it has to do with a dispute over a woman—but the bouts are preceded by taunt-filled videos sent by one family to the other. The film took 12 years to shoot,...
- 1/7/2011
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
Just a heads up to everyone that follows these articles each Sunday. I will be in France for the Cannes Film Festival for the next two Sundays and I have no way of predicting just how exactly this article will turn out for the next two weeks. I will certainly post something wo you have a place to post, share and discuss what you watched, but my contribution may be limited.
I may just post links to the coverage of the Festival to that point as I hope to be reviewing and watching a lot of movies, but perhaps a couple of those won't get their own article and will wind up here. Nevertheless, just a heads up so you know what to expect. Now for this week's movies...
Burnt by the Sun (1995) Quick Thoughts: I paid $10 for this one from Amazon.com's Video On Demand service thanks to a...
I may just post links to the coverage of the Festival to that point as I hope to be reviewing and watching a lot of movies, but perhaps a couple of those won't get their own article and will wind up here. Nevertheless, just a heads up so you know what to expect. Now for this week's movies...
Burnt by the Sun (1995) Quick Thoughts: I paid $10 for this one from Amazon.com's Video On Demand service thanks to a...
- 5/9/2010
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The Alamo Guide
for December 10th, 2009 If you’re at the S. Lamar theater this weekend, and you see a bunch of groggy ass, smelly, crazy-looking people wandering out of the theater around noon on Sunday, don’t worry. They won’t hurt you, they will have just sat through a full 24 hours plus of movies and they’ll be in desperate need of sleep. I’ll be one of them. It’ll be awesomely exhausting! Aside from that, if you got tickets already (if not, toooo bad), you can see the folks from Broken Lizard with their newest film The Slammin’ Salmon, but the most important thing that you should do is Go See Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans!!! Yes, the name is long, and the trailer makes it look kind of silly, but the hype over at Alamo Headquarters is ridiculous and the few people in...
for December 10th, 2009 If you’re at the S. Lamar theater this weekend, and you see a bunch of groggy ass, smelly, crazy-looking people wandering out of the theater around noon on Sunday, don’t worry. They won’t hurt you, they will have just sat through a full 24 hours plus of movies and they’ll be in desperate need of sleep. I’ll be one of them. It’ll be awesomely exhausting! Aside from that, if you got tickets already (if not, toooo bad), you can see the folks from Broken Lizard with their newest film The Slammin’ Salmon, but the most important thing that you should do is Go See Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans!!! Yes, the name is long, and the trailer makes it look kind of silly, but the hype over at Alamo Headquarters is ridiculous and the few people in...
- 12/10/2009
- by caitlin
- OriginalAlamo.com
Horror movies really are like monsters. Just when you think they’re dead they reappear out of nowhere despite the passage of time and the vagaries of the marketplace and critics pens. Great ones have the power to lift you up out of the ordinary world and leave you shaking in disgust, fear, or overwhelmed by dread or a sense of displacement. That’s the reason I creep through the vaults of any studio that will let me in. I hadn’t seen any of these Blue Underground titles before and when they told me that five out of six of the titles I had asked to write about were available I was excited to have the chance to check them out.
First up was Anguish by acclaimed art house director Bigas Luna. Besides the Luna pedigree this film also boasted the talents of a young but still instantly recognizable...
First up was Anguish by acclaimed art house director Bigas Luna. Besides the Luna pedigree this film also boasted the talents of a young but still instantly recognizable...
- 7/17/2009
- by no-reply@fangoria.com (David Canfield)
- Fangoria
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.