Q the Winged Serpent (1982)

What happens when you cross a creature feature, stop motion animation, a gritty exploitation movie, and the great David Carradine?  You end up with Q the Winged Serpent and a pretty good time. 

New York City is terrorized by a large bird that is plucking victims off the roofs of buildings all over the city.  Initially no one believes the reports, but eventually there are too many to ignore.  All while this is happening detectives are investigating some ritualistic murders that are taking place.  What they eventually figure out is that some nut job cult has woken Quetzalcoatl, the winged god, from his sleep.  So not only do they have to kill a giant bird, but they also have to track down a murderer as well.  Lucky for them they catch a break when a small time crook (played by Michael Moriarty) knows where the nest is.  But he is kind of a weasel about it. 

I had a blast with this movie.  We have a very solid creature feature with Q flying around snatching victims, while the human stories of the Moriarty character and Carradine character play out.  So we get some good old-fashioned monster action and some fun exploitation action.  While not as gritty as some of the other movies set in NYC during the ‘70s and early ‘80s we still get to see some fun stuff.  There are mobsters and some violence, and again the giant bird monster!  Honestly this was a blast to watch.  As if the story and characters aren’t enough we also get a great cast. Michael Moriarty is wonderful as the crook, we get to see Richard Roundtree in a few scenes, and in my opinion the late David Carradine steals the show.  He has some of the best dialogue in the movie and does a great job delivering the lines. 

Lets talk the creature.  Q was shot on a pretty small budget, but manages to work well.  There are a few on set props with a large egg and a baby Q that the cast gets to interact with.  We also get to see some bodies, many with there heads missing.  The blood is very red, almost H.HH H.G. Lewis red, and looks silly.  But this only made me enjoy the movie even more.  The creature itself is mostly brought to life with stop motion effects and some miniature work.  It doesn’t look real, but again that doesn’t matter much because it looks perfect for such a fun and goofy movie like this.  Even when Q grabs people with a giant prop claw (King Kong style!) it worked for me. 

In the end Q the Winged Serpent is a movie that you should just watch for fun.  If you are looking for a serious bit of science fiction or horror then pass on this one.  Also this isn’t Jurassic Park and the monster is going to look fake, so don’t expect that either.  What the movie does well is have some fun with a great cast and a story that takes full advantage of the New York setting.  For that I do recommend it.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2011 John Shatzer