Frogs (1972)

One of the prevalent horror subgenres in the 1970s was the “Nature Gone Wild” or “Eco-Horror” film.  Until I recently researched the topic, I always assumed this subgenre sprung from the blockbuster success of Jaws.  However, Jaws was not released until 1975, and prior to it there were at least half a dozen movies about various members of the animal kingdom going crazy and attacking humans.  More so than Jaws, I’d say the phenomenon was a result from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, which was released in 1963.

Between the time panicked birds were picking at Tippi Hedren’s wig and rogue Great White sharks were taking bites out of Robert Shaw, humans on screen were victims to rats (Willard), rabbits (Night of the Lepus), snakes (Sssssss), ants (Phase IV) and cockroaches (Bug).  One of the earliest “Nature Gone Wild” films happens to also be one of my favorite childhood horror movies:  Frogs, from 1972.  I’d like to imagine that it was actually the inspiration for the birth of the subgenre.  In fact, it may have been ahead of its time with its combination of deadly creatures.

Yeah, frogs themselves aren’t so deadly, even if they’re piling up and rubbing their slimy digits on your glass porch windows.  So they’re just the title villains in a movie where snakes, spiders, lizards, alligators and even butterflies take their revenge against a rich family that abuses the local ecology.  It sounds almost comical, but Frogs is played straight, and offers some surprisingly effective scenes.  I was likely first exposed to Frogs when it was the cover story for Famous Monsters of Filmland #91.  Take a look.  How could you not love this movie?!?

It’s the 4^th of July at the Crockett estate in rural Florida.  Jason Crockett (Ray Milland) is a bitter old man confined to a wheelchair.  It doesn’t matter why, other than the fact that because of his handicap, he insists his entire clan get together once a year to go through the motions of being a normal, functional family.  It is so important to Jason, in fact, that when confronted with the question, “What if nature were trying to get back at us,” he’d rather die in his chair than be late for dinner or cancel the annual croquet match.

The family members are numerous, but the intimacies of their relationships are merely suggested.  They’re mostly on hand simply to be killed.  Frogs would be absolutely sublime if there was more of a story in regards to the family.  Jason is an old, rich man who’s going to die, whether at this 4^th of July party or soon after.  Why not have the children and grandchildren backstab each other for his inheritance?  Family drama against the backdrop of nature knocking them off one by one could actually make an interesting statement about whom the real monsters are.

Frogs has no such aspirations.  It is simply another assembly line production from American International Pictures (AIP).  But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  If any of the aforementioned creatures of the swamp make you shiver, then you’re naturally going to be anxious when they appear on screen.  It stands to reason, then, that any competent director could manipulate the footage even slightly to send you over the edge.  I think veteran TV director George McCowan does it here.  OK, so maybe lizards aren’t scary.  But when they knock over bottles of poison, they can be.

In Frogs, Sam Elliott plays Pickett Smith, an environmentally conscious photographer who gets stranded at Jason’s party.  Like any other plot point in the movie, there’s a hint of romance between him and Joan Van Ark, who plays Karen Crockett, Jason’s granddaughter (I think).  I don’t want to be inappropriate here, but I have to point out that with the tight jeans of the 1970s, there’s a different kind of snake featured in this movie.  Just take a close look at Elliott’s crotch area in this scene from Frogs.  I don’t know if Van Ark is afraid of snakes, but she should be of this one:

The killings in Frogs aren’t nearly as creative as the circumstances that get people in positions to be killed.  These aren’t super-frogs (or snakes, spiders, lizards, alligators and butterflies).  But if you think about it, death by any of these creatures would be pretty gruesome.  As for the frogs themselves, the sound of them croaking all day and night would be enough to drive me crazy.  The movie soundtrack seems completely filled with the noise and every scene seems to be intercut with an image of them hopping closer to the house.

The make-up in Frogs is pretty good, especially the decaying body of the first victim that is discovered face down in the swamp.  And the music by Les Baxter is appropriately schlocky, particularly the abrupt stinger during the penultimate shocker.  I particularly like the ending.  Using creative close-ups, camera angles and sound, it’s effective without being silly.  I mean, it could really happen as shown.  In a movie like Frogs, you keep waiting for them to do some damage.  But sometimes simply hopping on top of an already dead body is damage enough.

Tomorrow:  Dracula vs. Frankenstein!