Written by / 3/16/2023 / No comments / , , , , , , , , , ,

BERT I. GORDON DIRECTS 'FOOD OF THE GODS' WITH RALPH MEEKER

Title: FOOD OF THE GODS Year: 1976 Rating: ***1/2

When cult director Bert I. Gordon was a forgotten legend of 1950's and 1960's drive-in cinema, he had a comeback for two consecutive years — 1976 and 1977 — with a pair of science-fiction flicks, loosely based on stories by H.G. Wells, ending with EMPIRE OF THE ANTS and before that a more message-laden eco-horror in FOOD OF THE GODS, centering not on enlarged killer insects but voracious rats...

Like EMPIRE, they're actual creatures made to look immense by trick photography, while the actors are superimposed like they're either battling, or, with cheap close-up practical effects, being devoured by the rodents, who exist because a rural farm couple discovered the titular slimy FOOD coming from the earth, making these GODS rise up and conquer...

Ida Lupino and Pamela Franklin in FOOD OF THE GODS

Including chickens and bees but the rats are the real problem, while the main heroes are a professional football player and his muscular agent on a hunting trip, who happen upon this nature gone amok...

The central focus, however, is on veteran actors Ida Lupino as the surviving old lady farmer and human antagonist Ralph Meeker who, with mousy assistant Pamela Franklin, are seeking this new miraculous discovery for a giant corporate payoff... that's Ralph's goal, anyway...

Jon Cypher and Marjoe Gortner in FOOD OF THE GODS

Cute Pamela winds up predictably smitten with the intrepid jock played by former child preacher Marjoe Gortner, on the last stretch of his 15-minute ride of b-movie stardom, paired with future HILL STREET BLUES chief Jon Cypher while that decade's future scream queen Belinda Balaski is just about to give birth and... well...

It doesn't matter how these eclectic outdoor-dwelling characters wind up together but they all do, and as director, Gordon keeps the battle sequences flowing along with sporadic downtime tension so that, ultimately, FOOD OF THE GODS makes a pretty decent action flick where it falls short of a legitimate sci-fi thriller.

Ralph Meeker in FOOD OF THE GODS
Pamela Franklin and Ida Lupino in FOOD OF THE GODS
Pamela Franklin in FOOD OF THE GODS
Ralph Meeker and Marjoe Gortner in FOOD OF THE GODS
Pamela Franklin and Marjoe Gortner in FOOD OF THE GODS
Belinda Balaski in FOOD OF THE GODS
Ralph Meeker in FOOD OF THE GODS
Jon Cypher and Marjoe Gortner in FOOD OF THE GODS
Jon Cypher and Marjoe Gortner in FOOD OF THE GODS
Jon Cypher and Marjoe Gortner in FOOD OF THE GODS
Jon Cypher and Marjoe Gortner in FOOD OF THE GODS
Pamela Franklin in FOOD OF THE GODS
Bert I. Gordon's FOOD OF THE GODS
Pamela Frankllin in FOOD OF THE GODS


Share This Post :
Tags : , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

All Time Popular

Featured Post

JIM KELLY RETURNS AS BLACK BELT JONES HANDLING 'HOT POTATO'

Title: HOT POTATO Year: 1976 Rating: *** No one could fathom why the urban blaxploitation BLACK BELT JONES would have a pulpy-adventure sequ...

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM
Movie Reviews, Interviews, Articles and Pop Culture from White Heat to Blue City

RIP ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

TOTAL HITS

Popular Trending

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE
RANDOM QUOTE: "God help a man who can't live by himself: We all end up in a single bed, sooner or later." Alec Guinness, Raise the Titanic

FILM NOIR & NEO NOIR CRIME

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)CALCULATED RISK 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE BREAK 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)THE SERGEANT 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)RIOT 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6) CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)SAM PECKINPAH 10)MICHAEL WINNER

BRITISH NEW WAVE CINEMA

RARITIES AND EXPLOITATION

HAMMER HORROR & THRILLER

Popular This Month

CHARLES BRONSON CINEMA

CINEMA OF DANA ANDREWS

WESTERN GENRE REVIEWS

PEAKING INTO THE SIXTIES

KICKING IN THE EIGHTIES

TALES AND REFLECTIONS

REVVING THE SEVENTIES

Most Popular Last Year