When I realized a young (28) Sam Elliott starred in this campy early-70s um, “horror,” movie, I was almost convinced to watch it. With a tagline of “Today the pond, tomorrow the world!” and Variety’s review stating “A shocker reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds,” I was sold!
Set on a tropical island during a crazy wheelchair-bound millionaire’s family birthday and July Fourth celebrations, we soon learn the water around the island is full of toxic pollutants thanks to the old man’s non-existent moral compass. As family members arrive to be chewed out by the old goat for this or that, we also learn that every single person at the party can handle wearing long sleeves, turtlenecks, corduroys, scarves, and jackets in the mid-day July sun without batting an eye. But I digress.
Soon, tension tries to ramp up as family members are taken out one by one by mutant spiders, snakes, lizards, and yes, frogs, while dying-cat synthesizer music beefs up the 70s-era special effects. All the while, tight blue jeans-clad Elliott – a photographer researching the pollution who is invited to stay after a drunk family member capsizes Elliott’s canoe with his speedboat – takes the lead to save a very young Joan Van Ark and two characterless kids from the encroaching horror. But can he take off his shirt and paddle them away from the island in time?
- Top Scare: Van Ark’s yellow bodysuit
- Heartbeats: 1/4 out of 5
- Gore Factor: 1 1/2 out of 5
- Suspense Factor: 1/2 out of 5
- Recommended for: 13 and up
This movie hits close to home for us Floridians.