By Melissa Antoinette Garza
THE FOOD OF THE GODS (1976) is a B movie made one year after the blockbuster hit JAWS (1975). This was one of many killer animal films, but rather than the enemy being a single entity, all animals are killing machines.
A white substance is unearthed on The Skinners Family farm. Both Mr. Skinner and his wife decide to mix the substance in with chicken feed and see what happens. The chickens and rooster become enormous and violent. The couple decide to bottle it up and have a salesman come down to purchase it.
Meanwhile, Morgan (Marjoe Gortner) and his pal are out hunting when they come into contact with enormous wasps. Morgan runs to the farm for help. He is nearly killed by the chickens, but escapes. He then meets Mrs. Skinner (Ida Lupino) who tells him about the liquid. As Mr. Skinner is, and the Mrs. is concerned, she asks Morgan to help. He enters her quaint home where the painting AMERICAN GOTHIC hangs on the wall.
Mrs. Skinner shows him large holes where it appears rats have entered. The super steroid liquid also looks as if the rats had a feast. They both fear the worst and it isn’t long until they come face-to-face with that fear.
Soon, business partners Bensington (Ralph Meeker) and Lorna (Pamela Franklin) come to the farm. Bensington just has dollar signs in his eyes, while Lorna is more interested in Morgan.
When the rats return, they are enormous and ready to kill. The group fight back with guns but it doesn’t stop their terror. There’s too many of them and not enough people to fight back. Even when couple, Rita (Belinda Balaski) and Thomas (Tom Stovall) show up, the odds aren’t in their favor. Rita is 9 months pregnant. Mrs. Skinner watches over her as Thomas tries to have a pissing contest with Morgan. Tom disputes Morgan’s method, but Morgan shuts him down with a few cool strong words. Thomas relents backing down quickly and follows Morgan’s lead.
I’m very torn about this film. There’s only one negative aspect to it, but it’s a biggie. Animals were injured and killed during the making. The movie shows real rats drowning. When viewing, I had hoped that when shot with the rifle, which was undoubtedly a paint gun, that it was a puppet or mechanical rat being hit hard in the head. Even when I saw the rat wince in pain, I hoped for the best. When I saw the rat rolled up and dead in water, once again I thought, “please let that be fake.” It wasn’t. The writer/director, Bert I. Gordon, was a sadistic douchebag that didn’t care about the welfare of the animals despite the fact that without them, he would lack the core element of his film.
To be clear, I did investigate this prior to reviewing the movie. Every source I found online confirmed this. I checked multiple websites, and here are just two of the references.
John Floyd of http://www.celluloidnightmares.co.uk/thefoodofthegods.html states, “Unfortunately, Gordon squanders any good will he might have engendered in these better moments by treating his animal actors with what can only be described as genuine cruelty.”
Carl Manes wrote about the film, ” it includes an unexpected amount of animal cruelty, where live rats are maimed and dismembered on screen,” via his website http://www.ilikehorrormovies.com/2011/02/food-of-gods-1976.html.
After confirming the amount of cruelty within the movie, I have to admit it altered my opinion. It makes it a hard watch, which is awful because there are so many great aspects to it. The movie is one part THE STUFF (1985), one part CABIN FEVER (2002) and one part GRIZZLY (1976). Sadly, I can’t view this as fondly because of Gordon’s lack of compassion. It’s the same reason, I find it hard to watch SHAKMA (1990). In SHAKMA reports differ on whether the baboon was harmed or not. At least on that set, The Humane Society oversaw the treatment of the animals. In FOOD OF THE GODS, I’m sure Gordon did his best to keep them away.
I love films in the 70s because so many of them expressed feminism in a real way without catering to the PC mainstream. There are three main women in the film. Mrs. Skinner is old-school. She has a powerful speech reflecting about death and how she then, at least, would be with her husband.
Rita is pressured by Tom to get married. He wants their child to share his last name, but she refuses and is adamant about it. She doesn’t need the piece of paper to define what they mean to one another. She is firm in her decision.
Lastly, there is Lorna. She not only doesn’t hide her attraction to Morgan but flaunts it and asks him to make love to her. She too is strong and isn’t looking for a ring.
It was refreshing to see three distinct women with different life philosophies and feelings towards relationships, marriage, and children in a B movie. Even in the best modern horror films, the women tend to either blend together and are essentially interchangeable or are just PC caricatures. Women are often defined as nothing more than the prude, the slut, the snob and the nerd. Somehow these empty opposites are strangely best friends but argue all the time and fight/bond over men and sex. In the 70s however, female characters were shown with the strength that true women encompass.
Mrs. Skinner wasn’t weak because she loved her husband and followed his lead. That was her belief system and she did it with grace and courage enough to die for her conviction.
Rita wasn’t just a hippie who picked fights with her love interest. She had sensible arguments and articulated them in a dignified and direct way.
Finally, Lorna wasn’t just some slut who wanted to jump into bed with Morgan. She was just in touch with her sexuality and wasn’t afraid to express it. I love when female characters make the first move in a realistic way. Lorna wasn’t in lingerie or talking like a seductress. She was merely herself which made it 100 times sexier. Directness mixed with subtlety is a lost art among modern filmmakers.
In all honesty, the film was a blast. The characters had depth. There were moments of comedy, especially where Bensington was concerned.
The composite shots were done fantastically well. I would love to brag about the animals not being CGI, but due to the cruelty previously discussed, this is one case I wish CGI was available. The animal cruelty alone taints this movie. It’s hard to enjoy the production knowing that certain visuals are actual animals being killed on camera.
That said, I have to be honest. It’s a good movie. It’s a fun movie. It’s something I would watch again despite knowing I would cringe and turn my head during certain scenes.
If not for the harm done to the animals, I would have given this a 8.5/10. It’s going to lose a point, and probably should lose more. That said, I want you as a reader to make up your own mind about watching it. I’m not going to low-ball it so low that you walk away thinking it’s garbage. It’s not. It has more to offer than most B movies. Just be aware of what you’re walking into, when the rats appear. Though the movie itself isn’t scary, seeing the animals get hit in the head with paint-balls, is painful.
Watch at your own risk.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7.5/10
