Q

Recently out of prison, Jimmy Quin looks for work as a pianist in small bars, but he has no luck and so, to make ends meet, he decides to go back into business with his old friends Slim and Morgan, specialists in jewelry store robberies. After a failed heist, Quinn, to escape the police, takes refuge in the Chrysler Building; on the top floor, directly under "the tip," he makes a macabre discovery: a giant egg and a completely devoured corpse. While he watches the macabre spectacle in terror, something enormous enters through one of the roof openings and Quinn just manages to escape in time. From that moment on, Quinn will be involved in a series of macabre ritual murders and strange disappearances that inevitably lead back to the Chrysler Building, and the only one willing to help him and shed light on the strange story is Lieutenant Shepard. "Q - The Winged Serpent" is one of the best B-movies of the 1980s, and perhaps of all time. The plot is intriguing and multifaceted, as it intertwines two strands: that of the ritual murders and that of the "monster's" murders; two seemingly different stories, but in reality closely connected, if not one functional to the other. The cast features two good character actors: Michael Moriarty, a favorite actor of director Cohen (present in almost all of his films, including the recent "Pick me up" from the "Masters of Horror" series), plays the petty thief Jimmy Quinn, while the antagonist, the policeman Shepard, is played by David Carradine, who returned to the spotlight, after years of small productions, with Tarantino's masterpiece "Kill Bill." The first half is the best part of the film; it engages the viewer and includes several good ideas (the monster's shadow on the buildings; the macabre findings in various parts of the city; the theory that during flight it would not be possible to see the monster; the figure and/or representation of the snake god; the reference to Aztec rituals, faithfully reported). Special mention should be made of the special effects, especially for those, like the writer, who are fond of old-fashioned tricks and stop motion, with its "plasticine" monsters; the trick is rather simple, in some ways even funny, but effective and never ugly, then it evokes a lot of nostalgia for the past and reminds a lot of the science fiction films of the 1950s. The "animations" are rather credible and at times funny (several scenes worthy of note such as the final attack on the Chrysler Building); the revival of stop motion is a well-chosen choice because it allows to realize good action scenes that, otherwise, could not have been shot at a low cost. Very well cared for and credible are the ritual murders, among which we point out a flaying and a gruesome stabbing (not to mention the numerous corpses with the heart removed or without skin or the numerous victims of the monster). The second half, although it loses a few points (a characteristic, unfortunately, that often unites B-movies: a second half not up to the first due to exhaustion of ideas or various defects, such as screenplay gaps), due to some small inconsistencies in the development of the story (and some rather ridiculous scenes, such as the abduction of a man on a roof by the monster, or that of the organization of a plan by the police to capture the latter) proceeds, all in all, smoothly and turns out, in some points, also pleasantly self-ironic. The irony, in this type of film, often appears as a fundamental component because it allows not to take too seriously works that frequently appear implausible and not very credible. The photography appears well cared for, definitely above average for this type of work; also noteworthy are the locations. The story unfolds perfectly between the city's slums and the "tops" of its most famous and representative buildings, such as the Chrysler Building; curious, in this sense, is the contrast that is always reproduced between low-angle and high-angle views (from the man's perspective, from the chaotic streets of the metropolis, to that of the monster, from above or from the tops of the buildings). Good the soundtrack, which perfectly underlines the action of the film and never gets in the way (not bad a "jazz strumming on the piano" at the beginning of the film and the main theme of the latter). In the ending, a nice homage to a great masterpiece of cinema can be noticed, namely "King Kong" by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack of 1933. "Q - The Winged Serpent" represents, together with "Baby Killer," the best work of Larry Cohen, a skilled craftsman who has managed, with a lot of imagination and few means, to bring to life one of the most fascinating, mysterious and bloody legends of the Aztecs, that of the snake god; a cruel and vengeful god in honor of whom various human sacrifices were performed. Deserves half a pumpkin more.