The Food of the Gods (1976)

A group of friends travel to a remote Canadian island to hunt, only to be attacked by giant killer animals which have populated the place.

Director:

Bert I. Gordon

Writers:

H.G. Wells (portion of novel), Bert I. Gordon (screenplay)

Stars:

Marjoe Gortner, Pamela Franklin, Ralph Meeker

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Marjoe Gortner	...	Morgan
Pamela Franklin	...	Lorna
Ralph Meeker	...	Bensington
Jon Cypher	...	Brian
Ida Lupino	...	Mrs. Skinner
John McLiam	...	Mr. Skinner
Belinda Balaski	...	Rita
Tom Stovall	...	Thomas
Chuck Courtney	...	Davis
Reg Tunnicliffe	...	Ferry Attendant

Storyline

Morgan and his friends are on a hunting trip on a remote Canadian island when they are attacked by a swarm of giant wasps. Looking for help, Morgan stumbles across a barn inhabited by an enormous killer chicken. After doing some exploring, they discover the entire island is crawling with animals that have somehow grown to giant size. The most dangerous of all of these, however, are the rats, who are mobilizing to do battle with the human intruders.

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Plot Keywords:

when animals attack | murder of a woman | woman with a gun | pregnancy | psychotronic film | 

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Taglines:

H.G. WELLS predicted the atom bomb, nuclear energy and space travel...But his most frightening prediction was of a ecology gone berserk. WAS HE RIGHT AGAIN?

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Genres:

Adventure | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 June 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

H.G. Wells' The Food of the Gods

Filming Locations:

Cowan's Point, Bowen Island, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Oversized reproductions of worms, chickens, wasps and rats were used to create the gigantic creature effect. Six different mechanized rat heads and four human-motivated rat costumes were also employed.

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Goofs

After Mr. Skinner is killed by the rats, you can see his closed eye fluttering as the rats carry him off.

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Quotes

Jack Bensington: You know about the food the Skinners have up here?
Morgan: Yeah, a little.
Jack Bensington: Well, I can tell you right now if you're entertaining any intention of becoming involved, you're too late. My company controls all rights.
Morgan: Well then maybe it's not Mr. Skinner I want to see after all, is it?

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Crazy Credits

Based on a Portion of the Novel By H.G. Wells

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Connections

Featured in A Century of Science Fiction (1996)

User Reviews

Yeah, it's pretty dumb.

On an island, some crazy old lady and her husband found some white goo seeping out of the earth. So, they did what anyone would do--they mixed it with animal feed and gave it to their farm animals. The animals then grew to enormous proportions and soon had a craving for human flesh. Some particularly dim people get themselves stuck on the island and must fight giant animal models (being thrust at them by people from the props department) to survive. All the while, a REALLY dumb rich guy is imagining the riches he'll make by harvesting this goo! I was not at all surprised to see Marjoe Gortner starring in a crap movie like this. What surprised me was seeing some once decent actors whoring themselves out in this film. To a small extent I was surprised to see Ralph Meeker but even more surprising was the famous 1930s-40 actress/director Ida Lupino. Was she bankrupt? Was she being blackmailed?! All I know is that the film is every bit as bad as the worst giant animal films of the 50s and 60s and 70s and these two never should have taken these parts.

Dumb acting, VERY dumb writing, horrible props and the like sink this production. One of the finer moments in the film was when giant bees attack as folks are INSIDE the cabin--so naturally one of them goes outside with a shovel to fight them! Later, when a Winnebago has a GIANT rat on the roof, the husband tells his wife (who is safely inside) to come outside to see the rat that is the size of a cow! Duh!!! By the way, this film would make a wonderful double-feature with "Night of the Lepus"--a 70s film about giant killer bunnies that is nearly the equal to "Food of the Gods" in the stupidity department.