Movie Review: The Food of the Gods (1976)

Synopsis: After one of his hunting buddies is stung to death by giant wasps, a professional football player discovers a farm with giant chickens. He learns the farmer has been feeding the chickens a mysterious substance that bubbles up from the ground. Unfortunately, it isn't just the chickens eating it and, eventually, the island becomes infested with giant rats and other deadly creatures.

Who's in it? The movie stars Marjoe Gortner, Pamela Franklin, Ralph Meeker, Ida Lupino and John McLiam.

Review: I came across this film a couple days ago and, being reminded of similar films I've enjoyed, like Night of the Lepus and The Killer Shrews, I decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, this film turned out to be a bit of a disappointment.

I think the thing this movie proves is giant animals aren't enough to make a movie worth watching. One of the biggest problems with it is the human characters weren't all that memorable. The film ends up killing off more than one person just minutes after they are introduced and the others don't have much in terms of personality. Even the star of the movie, Marjoe Gortner, never comes off as anything more than a generic jock.

The plot is also extremely predictable, which makes the film kind of dull as a result. The Killer Shrews at least threw in a twist involving the creatures also being mutated to the point they had a deadly venum while the killer rabbits in Night of the Lepus had the ability to pop out of the ground underneath people. This movie was basically "look at these scary large animals and be frightened by them because they are so large."

To be honest, even the overall plot seemed a bit forced. The movie starts out with a man being killed while hunting but the authorities were never called in to investigate? That would seem like a logical course of action (it's not as though there wasn't evidence of giant animals on the island) rather than having a football player, who was nearly killed himself, choosing to return to the island to investigate more.

Final Opinion: To be honest, it isn't the worst movie I've seen and there are some legitimately intense moments. I just feel, compared to other similar movies, this one did lack something and, as a result, just isn't as memorable.

My Grade: C