Holy crap, is this for stoners?
This movie is so so so so so bad, that it is watchable only with weed.
When you're high, this poor B-flick becomes very funny.
I think you have to be in the right mood for it, that's for sure.
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It's not "sci-fi", it's SF!
I love it,cheesy as hell and fun to watch but yes it's definitely a stoner movie.
shareEveryone in the movie must've been a stoner. How was this huge thing able to fly around NYC, the most populated city in the US, in broad daylight and not be detected? It would even fly down to rooftops and grab victims, again in broad daylight, undetected.
The dumbest thing was it nesting in the Chrysler Building's spire. If you live in NYC you know it would've been detected on day one.
In theory, yes, this movie would be prime stoner time.
In practice, it's actually a very well made little B-film, driven by a wonderfully eccentric performance by Moriarity.
Yes, it's funny, but it means to be -- I'd say it's one of the best B-movies of the 80s.
I will agree with you, balthazar_bee. It is unfortunate that a movie should require such unique audience participation as suggested by the OP. Heavy lidded eyes might easily be entertained by anything so why not this? For sober-minded audience members I do not think any distractions are necessary with Q: The Winged Serpent.
Michael Moriarity is terrific in the role of Quinn and certainly kept my attention throughout, reminding me of Frank Gorshin at his finest (and he did some very fine acting) and Dennis Hopper in his best restrained moments. The other performers were OK, but not doing much more than showing up and delivering the lines.
To me "B" movies have their charm and you take what you can from them. Something akin to reading one of those tall tales from cheapjack hacks in the pages of True Adventures, Argosy and For Men Only magazines from the 50's and 60's.
I suppose these days enjoying a movie such as this and admitting to it would be tagged as a Guilty Pleasure.
"Please use elevator, stairs stuck between floors."
Larry Cohen's movies would have provided plenty of problems to his distributors. Q is a case in point. How on earth can you market a perfectly serviceable B horror thriller, mindful of its glaring idiosyncrasies such as ludicrous plotting, an eccentric lead performance, subversive humour and a barely disguised critique on organised religion? (If you think I'm off the mark with that last item ask yourself how many followers of theistic religions look up to the skies when referring to their deities and versions of the hereafter? And where do the dangers come from in Cohen's jolly little romp?)
Cohen's monster horror works perfectly well for stoners, and for lovers of camp should they wish to engage with the film from a one dimensional viewpoint, but to take it purely on face value and dismiss it as such, does both Cohen and his audience a disservice. Q allows us to be provoked to a deeper appreciation often beyond the confines of exploitation, and have some fun at the same time. It's only a movie but it has so much of what a good movie should.