Q: The Winged Serpent

Small time hood meets evil dragon. Outstanding acting across the board, some cheesy effects, but that's part of its charm. DVD intact and played fine.

Da..Winged Serpent..yeah, 5 Star.. its for the cheese content of the matter..and stop motion (B+ type) animation.. on the same grounds as "LaserBlast" and "The Crater Lake Monster"..inwhich I am also.. a big Fan of..thank God for the obscurities of the past..and Thanks, Amazon.com..for delivering..the Story pretty simple..New York city harbors more than just Cops.. Thugs.. and recovering herion addicts..GIANT FLYING SERPENT (remake) nests high above the city.. preying during the day..attacking with it's back against the sun..secret Serpent Cult Worshippers perform gruesome sacrifices as a means to apease and assist the Q-SERPENT in becoming even more powerful.. in our world..David Carridine plays the part of a city cop named Shepard (pretty conservative role)that makes the cult and Monster connection..the main charactor a street thug struggling in soceity (that sang off key..sorry David I didn't dig his musical audition)..talking about the main charactor..inwhich watching him move about the screen was at times pretty painful..throughout the movie..questions ran through my head..was he acting?? or was he really a recovering herion addict?..or was he high on herion during the shooting of this film??LOL!!HA!HA!ha!oh' man.. he moved like a soup sandwhich HA!HA!ha!..but look out... the guy can act..had me fooled..all in all.. the city shots..high above with a Q's Serpent's eye view..reminded me of the first Spiderman movie and The Dark Knight.. the music and flying over the city stuff was real cool.. it made you feel that somthing dangerous was moving around in the sky..I also liked the Wing Design on the stop-motion animation model (they were feather like)better than the Boris cover painting (more batlike) wings.. no disrespect Boris the artwork in and out (all BORIS)is extremely cool..and adds to the overall value (Bang for Buck)of this dvd.. Bought it..collected it..sits between my "PTERODACTYL" dvd and my "WARBIRDS" dvd..yeah, gotta thing for.. people chomping, Flying Lizards..

Q: The Winged Serpent is a fun and very self-aware…long before term even existed…movie about a winged Aztec god named Quetzalcoatl who nests in the Chrysler Building and begins to snack on NYC residents. The film follows both a series of ritual killings, where victims are skinned alive and a series of disappearances and murders that are rumored to be caused by some large bird stalking the NYC skyline. Detective Shepard (David Carradine) seems convinced they are related and his investigation proves true as it appears the skinnings where part of an Aztec ritual to summon Quetzalcoatl from it’s centuries long slumber. Enter petty crook and getaway driver Jimmy Quinn (Michael Moriarty) who stumbles upon the creature’s nest when hiding from police after a botched robbery. Jimmy sees not an opportunity to become a hero, but an opportunity to become rich, famous and be pardoned for all his criminal activity. So, the third rate crook holds the city hostage as the winged serpent continues to feed on it’s citizens and Shepard continues to try to convince his superiors that there is a centuries old Aztec god slaughtering the people of New York City.What makes Q fun is that writer/director Larry (It’s Alive, The Stuff) Cohen knows this is a silly movie with a silly concept, but takes it and runs with it. He has his cast play it straight and yet with a wink and it works far better than it should. The film has a very Roger Corman feel as characters spout some very silly dialog, but with complete earnest and we smile with delight as FX masters Randall Cook and David Allen bring our monster to life with some charming old-fashioned stop motion animation. Cohen fills his movie with some very gory moments, earning it an R-Rating and throws in some breasts to go along with the blood. Cohen got his start working for Corman’s New World Pictures and making blaxploitation flicks for AIP and his exploitation roots are on perfect display here. He knows just how serious to take his monster movie, but also knows enough to let audiences in on the fun. The film isn’t perfect. The pace is a bit slow, but this is the early 80s. There is some very cheesy dialog…though that is probably on purpose if you are familiar with Cohen’s films…and the monster effects look cheesy at this point, but the clay critter adds to the charm in my book. There are a lot of witty touches to look out for as Cohen builds up to his fun King Kong-esque finale with momma Q…where there is a nest, there are eggs…battling it out with a heavily armed squad of NYC cops in and around the spire of one of NYC’s oldest landmarks. Sure the film is very dated, but the 80s nostalgia and wonderful shots of 80s era New York City only add to the enjoyment of this flick and I think I actually did enjoy it far more now than when I first saw it years ago.The cast are obviously having a good time, especially Moriarty as he chews up the scenery with a furious passion as low level crook Jimmy. He really gives Jimmy that thick New York street punk swagger and accent and it adds a lot of flavor when contrasted with Carradine’s aloof, tough-guy cop. Carradine recites his dialog about Aztec sacrifice and giant monster birds with a seriousness and a smirk as if to let us know that this is ridiculous, but he’s going to go with it. This helps the audience to relax and go with it, too. We also get movie legend Richard (Shaft) Roundtree as another hard-nosed cop on the case and 70s-80s movie regular Candy (American Graffiti) Clark as Jimmy’s fed-up girlfriend. The cast all take things serious enough and never make a joke out of it, but also seem to be having fun chasing a monster around New York City. A good example of a director and cast on the same page as to how to treat the material.While I will admit, I wasn’t exactly thrilled with this when I first saw it. I think I expected something a bit more serious and was a bit taken back by the more Roger Corman-ish approach, but I have really come to appreciate it over the years especially with all the great nostalgia involved and you know how much I love Roger Corman flicks. It’s a delightfully cheesy and fun monster movie that takes a very ridiculous premise and runs with it. There is some wonderful nostalgia and there is a lot of charming fun watching the old-style animated monster wreak havoc on the the rooftops of New York. A fun monster flick that is both charmingly old-fashioned and delightfully Corman-esque.-MonsterZero NJ

Q the Winged Serpent 1982 is sci fi/horror film directed by Larry Chen(It's Alive 1973, It's Alive 2: It Lives Again 1979, and It's Alive 3 :Island of the Alive 1986). Q is a monster movie that's a throw back to the 1950's. The creature is Quetzalcoatl an Aztec god or "A monster mistaken for a god". The creature is in stop motion a special effect that is sadly not used today due to stupid cgi. Forget cgi because these are real special effects that are right in front of the camera that look cool and stop motion is cool to look at. I highly recommend this film to any monster fan, horror fan, sci fi fan, movie buff, or any person. But beware Q is the only thing you'll be able to say before it rips you to pieces. This film stars Michael Moriarty as a sneaky jerk who finds Q's nest in the Chrysler building. What does his character want, money as a trade for him telling where the nest is. Co stars include David Carradine, Candy Clark, Richard Roundtree, and as stated Larry cohen as the director, writer, and producer. This is a film I've loved ever since I was 5 it got me interested in sci fi/horror films and inspired me to become a writer/director.The dvd includes:Main featureAudio commentary with Larry CohenTeaser trailerLarry Cohen Bio& Q memorabilia (DVD - ROM)