Larry Cohen’s notorious kaiju flick Q (1982) follows a smalltime hood and a police investigation into a series of ritual murders until both plots collide and the deity of Quetzalcōātl is revealed. Cohen’s film is frantic with more plot than its meager ninety minute runtime can handle. It’s this energy and the cast’s commitment to the outlandish premise and cheesy effects that have made Q a cult classic.
Personally I love the Michael Moriarty character. He’s a low class criminal with ambitions of being a professional jazz pianist. Only Cohen would make room for such characterization in what is a monster movie. The result is that we the audience care about this loser and invest in his relationship with Quetzalcōātl.
Of course nothing Moriarty does in Q can overshadow the duo of David Carradine and Richard Roundtree. These two giants of the B-Movie elevate their material and become the toughest costumers in this campy romp. Their presence allows the audience to take serious the rather cartoonish threat of the Quetzalcōātl.
Cohen’s use of actual locations makes Q a grimy snapshot of New York in the early eighties. Cohen uses his location photography to create a milieu of cluttered urban spaces that ground Q in a tangible reality. Cohen’s eye for New York and his feel for the energy of the city make the location as much a character as any of the cast.
But the real star is always the stop motion monster. It looks bizarre and cheesey like the aliens in Laserblast (1978). But it is this DIY quality that makes Cohen’s monster movie not just appealing, but endearing. Cohen combines his cartoonish monster with ample amounts of gross out gore to deliver a veritable Kaiju feast.
