Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)

63% of critics liked it
(19 reviews)
43% of users liked it
(1,442 ratings)

Genre pioneer Larry Cohen, who broke new horror ground with the killer-baby hit It's Alive!, takes a stab at the giant-monster scenario with this enjoyable low-budget exercise. The title refers to the winged Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, represented here as a dragon-like flying lizard (thanks to some… More Genre pioneer Larry Cohen, who broke new horror ground with the killer-baby hit It's Alive!, takes a stab at the giant-monster scenario with this enjoyable low-budget exercise. The title refers to the winged Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, represented here as a dragon-like flying lizard (thanks to some quaint but amusing stop-motion animation from David Allen), who decides to take up residence in the art-deco spire of the Chrysler Building, taking frequent jaunts in the midday sun to nip the heads off various hapless New Yorkers. The resulting bloody mess confounds detectives Shepard (David Carradine) and Powell (Richard Roundtree), who are already scratching their heads over a series of bizarre ritual murders linked to a secret Aztec cult. Into the picture comes the film's protagonist -- neurotic, sweaty, paranoid crook Jimmy Quinn (Michael Moriarty, in a tour-de-force performance), a two-bit wheel-man with aspirations of becoming a jazz pianist. After a botched diamond heist leads Quinn to Q's lair, his attempts to go straight take a side-turn as he decides to extort from the city an enormous sum in exchange for directions to the monster's nest. A few sneaky deals later, the location falls into Shepard's hands, and he leads a paramilitary assault on the Chrysler Building, where the creature's humongous egg is about to hatch. Rude, edgy, fast-paced, and peppered with witty dialogue (most of which can't be repeated here), Cohen's script retains the spirit of classic monster movies like The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, injecting it with tough, gangster-movie moxie. Moriarty's unbelievable performance -- one of three collaborations with Cohen -- finds him chewing acres of scenery as a contemptible, loud-mouthed goon who's too funny to hate; Moriarty also composed and performed two schizophrenic piano numbers for the film. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 32 min.
Directed By: Larry Cohen
Written By: Larry Cohen
Genres: Drama, Horror

In Theaters: Sep 8, 1982 Limited
On DVD: Nov 25, 2003

Critic Reviews

Pat Graham, Chicago Reader
Cohen's obviously having fun with the cheesy clay animation, and Michael Moriarty delivers an inspired, whacked-out performance as a small-time operater who tries to turn the monster into his own private bonanza, but the rest... is disengaged and sloppy.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
The only movie in which you may ever see a gnawed, bloody skeleton wearing a gold charm bracelet.
Sarah Boslaugh, Playback:stl
...an inspired bit of madness from exploitation writer/director Larry Cohen...
Ian Berriman, SFX Magazine
Q works because Larry Cohen plays it pretty straight. Guerrilla filming on the streets of NYC helps create a sense of verisimilitude, and the characterisation is both unusual and strong.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Larry Cohen once again proves himself to be among the most creative, original, and intelligent American horror film directors in this bizarre masterwork.
, Time Out
We have no hesitation in awarding Oscars all round.
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
A freewheeling homage to both King Kong and producer Samuel Z. Arkoff's 1950s creature features that's slyly infected with marrow-deep societal tensions.
Kim Newman, Empire Magazine
Enjoyable monster movie with some pretty decent performances.
Anton Bitel, Movie Gazette
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's... nope, it's a bird, in this talon-sharp exploitation flick.
Jonathan W. Hickman, Entertainment Insiders
Odd creepy special effects (the kind we don't see anymore) combine with a great performance by Moriarty to make this worth seeing.
Bob Bloom, Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)
A wonderful throwaway B movie about New York menaced by the title character. Campy at times.
Luke Y. Thompson, New Times
Nifty creature design, and Michael Moriraty's fun, but the rest doesn't add up to much.
James Rocchi, Netflix
It's not devoid of kitschy pleasures.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Cheesy and a little bit sleazy -- just the way a 1980s Larry Cohen picture should be.

Read all 14 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

AJ V

Now this is a modern dragon tale! It's got blood and gore and a giant dragon flying around a major city, I love it.
Ken S

Richard Roundtree (Shaft of Shaft) and David Carradine (Bill of Kill Bill) fight a winged serpent in Manhattan with machine guns. That not awesome enough for you? Add boobs, decapitations, stop motion animation and a decent amount of gore, and you've got yourself a great Saturday… More
Richard Roundtree (Shaft of Shaft) and David Carradine (Bill of Kill Bill) fight a winged serpent in Manhattan with machine guns. That not awesome enough for you? Add boobs, decapitations, stop motion animation and a decent amount of gore, and you've got yourself a great Saturday afternoon movie.
Adam M

About an hour in, Morarty goes off the rails and Cohen gives up on plotting and good dialogue. But until then, it's one of the most unique genre movies ever, taking a totally different angle of storytelling, in the plot, in the kind of dialogue that carries us from scene to… More
About an hour in, Morarty goes off the rails and Cohen gives up on plotting and good dialogue. But until then, it's one of the most unique genre movies ever, taking a totally different angle of storytelling, in the plot, in the kind of dialogue that carries us from scene to scene, in the shots of parts of New York City that create the whole, in the super high and low angles and aerial shots that are all different than we've seen before and all perfect for pulling the characterizations and the monster threat together. The other half of what makes Q unique is the adventurous, voracious performance of Michael Moriarty. If Ratzo Rizzo was over-thought-out acting which Hoffman's second thoughts would have turned down a notch, here we get urban lowlife Jimmy Quinn and the opposite mistake. It's a method-like performance that is totally feeling driven, and might reach too much into Morarity's own reserves as an eccentric gone crazy. For a while, Quinn ( -- starts with "Q" -- ) is a amazing creation, and since he's more ordinary guy than crook, he has our empathy, and we like when he becomes a bit of a kook -- it's the common man's way of being Danny Kaye. But Quinn gets more selfish and annoying and resentful of how life has treated him, and empathy distills into pity, which is half chore. I started empathizing with the monster, who was too majestic to get shot down like Edward G. Robinson and had the whole city against him, even Jimmy Quinn.
Anthony V

A nice little 80's treat.