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Never
has Bela Lugosi been so keenly missed.
A pseudo-remake of 1940's The
Devil Bat, The Flying
Serpent likewise features an airborne monstrosity
controlled by an evil scientist who uses the beast
to bump off his enemies. This time it's George
Zucco in charge of the aviary instead of Bela
Lugosi... and without Bela's weird charm to keep
things interesting we're left with a complete
waste of celluloid. The flick is excruciatingly
dull, lacking any unintentional laughs to make
the ordeal worthwhile. Royally sucks would
the most apt description.
Instead of a giant mutated
bat homing in on a special chemical-laced aftershave,
in The Flying Serpent
the monster is a prehistoric creature, half-reptile
and half-bird, which has somehow survived down
through the centuries. In ancient times it was
worshipped as the god Quetzalcoatl by the Aztecs.
The creature was discovered by archeologist Prof.
Andrew Forbes (Zucco) during his excavation of
some Aztec ruins outside the "little city" of
San Juan, New Mexico. At the same time he stumbled
across the world's richest treasure, the hidden
loot of Aztec emperor Montezuma. As the movie
opens Forbes is gloating over the treasure in
a secret cave where he keeps Quetzalcoatl in a
cage. No one, he vows, will share in his discovery.
Anyone he thinks even suspects the treasure exists
will feel the wrath of the feathered serpent-god.
Forbes is angered when a local
ornithologist mentions the legend of Montezuma's
treasure in an article he's written for a bird-watching
journal. He marks the man for death by leaving
one of Quetzalcoatl's feathers where he can find
it, then luring him out to the Aztec ruins. (We're
expected to believe the creature is so "proud"
of its plumage that it will kill to reclaim its
feathers.) The pull of a lever allows Forbes to
release Quetzalcoatl, who takes to the sky and
zeroes in on the target with the accuracy of a
GPS-guided cruise missile. The monster tears out
the ornithologist's throat and drinks his blood,
then returns with the feather to its cage. Forbes'
revenge backfires, however, when the sensational
murder brings national attention to San Juan.
Richard Thorpe (Ralph Lewis), a popular mystery
writer/radio show host, shows up to conduct his
own investigation as a promotional gimmick for
his program. With assistance from comic relief
technician Jonesy (Eddie Acuff), Thorpe broadcasts
his show from San Juan as he pieces together the
clues. It doesn't take him long to zero in on
Prof. Forbes as the culprit, particularly since
Quetzalcoatl is used to commit two more murders
during his stay, including that of the local sheriff.
The enterprising radio sleuth manages to solve
the case, locate the hidden treasure, give Forbes
his comeuppance, kill the monster and romance
Forbes' stepdaughter all in a little more than
half an hour. Yawn.
A PRC (Producer's Releasing
Corp.) cheapie, The Flying
Serpent suffers from all the limitations
of a nearly nonexistent budget and never rises
above any of them. Surprisingly enough the creature
effects, while still pretty poor, are substantially
better than those seen in The
Devil Bat —
but that flick had Bela Lugosi, who's practically
a special effect unto himself. Zucco, a fine character
actor in a number of genre films, is a third-rate
stand-in here. His Prof. Forbes is a lame, colorless
villain, gleefully boasting that he's the "richest
man in the world" yet content to live in obscurity
in a podunk desert town while keeping Montezuma's
treasure hidden away in a cave, never cashing
in on the wealth. The whole feather bit is pretty
damn silly, too. The evil Forbes gets his just
deserts when he, too, is killed by Quetzalcoatl,
stupidly clutching one of the monster's feathers
as he tries to escape. Why the hell doesn't
he just throw it away?
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The
Image DVD of The Flying Serpent
looks and sounds pretty bad;
it's about on par with the public domain movies
issued on disc by low budget label Alpha. Besides
being very dark —
in the cave scenes you can hardly see anything at
all (which may be a good thing as far as the monster
is concerned) —
print damage and missing frames abound. Sound isn't
all that hot, either. For all I know this may well
be the best version of the movie extant in terms
of A/V quality... Would anyone be willing to spend
a single penny trying to restore this thing? (Highly
doubtful.) There aren't any extras to speak of,
just a George Zucco filmography. Fortunately the
DVD is cheap, priced at less than $10.
If you simply must sacrifice
an hour of your life to Quetzalcoatl at least it
won't empty your wallet.
7/03/03 |
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