Frogs

Frogs (1972)

Runtime: 91 minutes

Directed by: George McCowan

Starring: Ray Milland, Sam Elliott, Joan Van Ark, Adam Roarke, Judy Pace

From: AIP

The 4th of July setting was the main reason why the film was watched last night. To explain fully, yesterday afternoon I was participating in a YouTube stream when someone else brought up this motion picture and how it was appropriate for the holiday. As Frogs is yet another one I’ve known of for years and the cast featured several familiar names (Joan Van Ark, Ray Milland, Sam Elliott sans mustache), why not view some eco-horror last night?

Elliott is a freelance photographer doing a piece on pollution. He meets the rich Crockett family, who just love polluting the environment. At first I thought it mainly the fault of Milland’s character, the irritable patriarch of the family… then I realized that they’re all rotten people, totally dysfunctional. No wonder his Jason Crockett is ill-tempered. Nature decides to get revenge on that A-hole family-Ray even calls him & his family “the ugly rich.” To steal a line from a mutual, the other family members wish that Jason… would croak.

Frogs has a mixed reception; I get it. There are many different species that do the attacking, and the biggest role those amphibians had was “their croaking is constant background noise and there are many shots of them sitting or moving about.” Of course, more than a few people will be steamed that a movie entitled “Frogs” doesn’t have killer frogs. Why hasn’t there been a killer frog movie? Seems like a missed opportunity.

The first half is methodically-paced; some find it “slow” which is valid, although they usually don’t bother me that much & it didn’t here. Present is decent atmosphere-especially at night-and is filmed in a lovely part of rural Florida… the panhandle, to be exact, which is more like the Deep South than the palm tree area of Florida I am a resident of.

Ultimately, I was won over by the combination of a soundtrack full of “electronic sound effects,” the period fashion, the swampy setting, the abundance of different animals, the enveloping atmosphere, and low-budget AIP charm. Many won’t be won over by that and in fact will feel this is disappointing; I can’t argue with that opposing viewpoint.