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 | island | killer animal | 

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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

In an early scene with Morgan, Davis and Brian on horseback chasing a deer, the second rider's horse nicks the top of a fence rail, bringing one end down to the ground. However that rail isn't there when the third rider's horse jumped the fence to take another rail down.

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Quotes

Jack Bensington: [pointing at bubbling fluid from ground] That's what your husband brought us out here for?
Mrs. Skinner: Just like Mr. Skinner found 'er. Just like that one day. At first he thought it was oil and it was going to make us rich.
Jack Bensington: Come on, Lorna.
Lorna Scott: No, wait a minute, Jack, wait a minute. Look at this. I've never seen anything like it. Mrs. Skinner, how did your husband happen to feed it to the chickens?
Mrs. Skinner: Well, when we found out it weren't no oil, there was nothing to do about it, so we fed it to the chicks.
Lorna Scott: Right ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

End credits play over a stilled image of a child sitting in a school class drinking milk, not knowing it has the growth substance.

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Connections

Referenced in Blow Out (1981)

User Reviews

Rats of the Gods

A great title (borrowed from the greatest science-fiction writer of all time) and downhill from there, but this fun flic with a bad rep, for good reason in a couple of spots, taken in its entirety offers more entertainment value, pound for pound, than most of the other 'eco-terror' flics of the '70s; that's not saying much, but there were plenty of 'em: Bug(75); Night of the Lepus(72); Squirm(76); Kingdom of the Spiders(77); Prophecy(79); Empire of the Ants(77); Frogs(72); Day of the Animals(76); Ben(72); and even Phase IV(74), which was more intelligent but a bore. The only one on par with this is Piranha(78), whose director, Dante, moved to the A-list, and the original Willard(71), which had the added psycho angle. Beyond this, "Food.." contains a wicked depiction of American 'can do' gumption, embodied by Marjoe (an odd choice for leading man). He kills a rooster which was just minding its own business and defending its turf, and never apologizes to the owner (Ida Lupino). Later, he causes the deaths of his buddy (Cypher) and the obvious villain (Meeker-slumming,but the 'go to' guy those days for bad guy roles) by refusing to listen to their logical arguments for getting out of the mess they're in. No, it's his way only, 'cause he's the toughest around these here parts, and if a few people get eaten due to his manly choices, well, that's the American way. In a very strange way, it called to mind the relentless expansion & colonization represented by the American spirit; OK, that's a stretch, but, in another genre, his role would be played by someone like John Wayne, who needs to make the tough decisions. However, if you look more closely at Marjoe's character, he seems to have some crazy death wish. At one point, when they already know the island is infested with giant killers, he decides to go look around in his jeep, which offers no protection at all; his friend, echoing the thoughts of the audience, asks what the hell for? Marjoe doesn't really have an answer; he even says "I don't know." Wild. I first saw this as a teen when it came out, in a downtown theater in San Francisco and sure, most of the FX, especially the dam breaking and water pouring out, caused me to groan in another sort of horror, but seeing people getting eaten alive by giant rats was nothing to laugh off back then. This looked pretty grisly. I recently acquired a decent DVD version and the photography was quite good. Oh, and a bit of a twist ending, to boot! The much later sequel, having little to do with this picture, really was a waste of time.