Why So Blu?

The Food Of The Gods / Frogs – Double Feature (Blu-ray Review)

Scream Factory is going all “nature attacks” on us this month.  They’re releasing four films over the span of two double feature Blu-rays.  On May 26th, if you’re a fan of one of more of The Food Of The Gods, Frogs, Empire Of The Ants or Jaws Of Satan, then its your lucky day.  Scream Factory has said that 2015 would see a lot more double features from them, and this month is a special treat.  Not only do the double features themselves carry a nice them, but both of them together for the month all sort of carry that same levity and mission.  Nature’s most fierce creatures, you know, frogs, ants, snakes and (giant) rats will all be coming for you for four straight features tearing and gnawing at you!

The Food Of The Gods 

On a remote island, a mysterious substance is oozing from the ground. A farmer sees that it acts as a growth hormone and thinks his fortune is made. But when rats, chickens, worms and wasps begin sampling the potent substance, they morph into bloodthirsty giants! Now, it’s up to the island’s few residents and visitors to destroy “the food of the gods”… before the animals take over for good!

One of the funny recurring themes of aside from nature’s creatures attacking on this double feature, is that they have characters that are professional athletes.  In this one, its a couple of football stars that take a couple days off for some nature.  Its a bit of an odd thing, but dumb fun when it comes down to it and you realize who these heroes are.

This one is basically giant rats wreaking havoc on some people in the backwoods.  There are some fun grueling rat attacks that are almost zombie like in their executions.  There’s a nice mixture between puppetry and real rights destroying models and dolls.  I suppose that’s part of the charm with this one looking back.  There’s some solid moments, and the movie is certainly watchable, but its good to be paired with another in a double feature, which is smart on Scream Factory’s behalf.

Frogs 

Jason Crockett is an aging, physically disabled millionaire who invites his family to his island estate for his birthday party. The old man is more than crotchety… he’s crazy! Hating nature, Crockett poisons anything that crawls on his property. But on the night of his shindig, it’s nature’s payback time, as thousands of frogs whip up every bug and slimy thing into a toxic frenzy until the entire environment goes environ-mental.

The shocker of this one comes on my own behalf.  I spent a good long time waiting for Sam Elliott to pop up in this movie on to realize I was already watching him.  There is no mustache and his voice has yet to develop.  Apparently he hadn’t discovered Marlboro’s yet or wasn’t yet at the carton a day allotment.  Its a light voice, not even near like his deep grumping old west voice we’ve come to love today.

This one has a quote from 1972 comparing the film to The Birds.  Well, I guess in its idea, it wants to be that.  Instead of birds you get frogs that also get an assist from other amphibious creatures in nature.  This film did feature some nice make-up work, with some gross deaths abound.  Of all the films across the four in the double features, this one’s effects really hold up the best when all is said and done.

Video 

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1o80p

Aspect Ratio: Food Of The Gods – 1.85:1, Frogs – 1.78:1

Clarity/Detail:  Both films feature decent enough transfers, looking like the typical AIP films Scream Factory have brought to Blu-ray.  Detail on the nature things like trees, leaves, dirt paths turn out to actually be rather impressive on both films.  Frogs has some rather good detail on lizard textures.  Food of the Gods features some nice looks at surfaces, featuring some good wood grain and chipped paint in addition to some nice rat fur.

Depth:  Both films aren’t going to light the world on fire with their depth, but motion is smooth and the backgrounds look detached enough from the foreground to play a little loosely.

Black Levels: Black are decent.  Some detail can be hidden at times, on tree trunks for example.  No real crushing witness.

Color Reproduction:  Both films feature some decent color work.  Food of the Gods doesn’t offer much in the way of color but keeps a natural appearance.  Reds look pretty rich on Frogs and others like pink and blues come through boldly.

Flesh Tones:  Flesh tones look natural on both, with Frogs a hair cooler.  Detail on facial features in high in close ups and softer and smoother on medium and far shots.

Noise/Artifacts:  A nice layer of grain is present on both.  Frogs does have some compression issues, notable in a foggy scene where some blocking is present.  Both feature their share of specs and dirt on the print.

Audio 

Audio Format(s): English 2.0 Stereo DTS-HD MA

Subtitles: English

Dynamics:  These tracks are enough to do the trick.  Deep sounding effects aren’t a specialty of either’s audio.  However, sound effects do come across pretty distinct.  Some moments render flat, but for the most part its as you’d expect.  The 2.0 tracks carry the films pretty good and work well with the dialogue.

Low Frequency Extension:  N/A

Surround Sound Presentation:  N/A

Dialogue Reproduction:  Dialogue is nice and clean.  Some older analog adr sounding stuff is present at times on both, but that’s in the source.

Extras 

The reverse side of the cover features images of posters and lobby cards from other countries.

The Food Of The Gods

Audio Commentary

• With Director Bert I. Gordon

Interview With Actress Belinda Balanski (HD, 11:36) – The actress candidly recalls having to learn about having to learn how to give birth and her audition process.  She talks about working with the director and some arguments on set.

Theatrical Trailer (HD, 1:00)

Radio Spot (HD, :59) 

Photo Gallery (HD, ) – Montage set to the film’s score has posters, lobby cards, promotional images and magazine ads.

Other Scream Factory Trailers: Empire Of The Ants, Jaws Of Satan

Frogs

Interview With Actress Joan Van Ark (HD, 10:08) – The Knots Landing actress fondly recalls her first feature film.  She has many reasons why she “took it”.  One of them the “gorgeous” “class act” Sam Elliott.  She also mentions how she constantly gets pictures sent to her to autograph of the other blonde in the film.

Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2:12) 

Radio Spot (HD, 1:01)

Photo Gallery (HD, 2:49) – Set to some of the score, this montage rifles through posters, newspaper ads lobby cards, video covers and promotional photos

Summary 

Of the two double feature Blu-rays coming out from Scream Factory this month, I’d have to say this one is the winner, film quality-wise.  Food of the Gods and Frogs aren’t the greatest films, but I can at least see where the fun is at.  The technical merits of them in both the audio and video department are a little above average.  And hey, we get some new extras on both films, which is super cool.  For these films to not only get the jump to Blu-ray, but get some treatment like this no matter how light, is a tall order and well done by Scream Factory.