The island of the monsters
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The island of the monsters |
| Original title | The Food of the Gods |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1976 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Bert I. Gordon |
| script | Bert I. Gordon |
| production |
Samuel Z. Arkoff Bert I. Gordon American International Pictures |
| music | Elliot Kaplan |
| camera | Reginald H. Morris |
| cut | Corky Ehlers |
| occupation | |
| |
The Isle of the Monsters is an American horror film from 1976 . Directed by Bert I. Gordon , who also wrote the (adapted) script. The film is very loosely based on the novel by HG Wells The Giants Are Coming! (Original title: The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth). The German-language premiere took place on January 13, 1977.
action
The film takes place on a remote island in the Canadian British Columbia . Mr. and Mrs. Skinner discover a thick liquid coming up from the earth, which turns out to be nutritious. They interpret this as God's gift and feed it to their chickens as a feed additive. Their offspring grows to horse size due to this food additive. Rats, wasps and worms also feed on this food source in the wild. Morgan, a professional football player, is on the island with friends Brian and Davis to hunt. Davis is killed by a gigantic wasp in the absence of the others. When Davis is found, it is believed that his death came from a bad fall. When Morgan seeks help at the Skinners' farm, he is attacked by one of the giant chickens, but is able to kill it. Mrs. Skinner present shows him the liquid mixed with the chicken feed, but is convinced that the death of the friend in the forest has nothing to do with it. Morgan and Brian, who is skeptical about the cause of death, bring Davis' body off the island. Both initially return to their everyday life. Mr. Skinner wants to commercialize the liquid. While on the way home one night, he is attacked and killed by giant rats in the forest. Morgan doesn't let his friend's death rest. When the investigation of the body finally reveals that the friend did not perish in a fall, he decides to return to the island with Brian to investigate the matter further. The couple Thomas and Rita, who are pregnant, are also on the island and are stuck in the mud with their camping vehicle. The businessman Jack Bensington, who is interested in the liquid, and his assistant, the biologist Lorna Scott, are also on their way to the Skinners on the island and meet the couple on the route. Bensington ignores their call for help and drives past without stopping. Morgan and his friend follow the same path a short time later, stopping at the couple's house and promising to help later. Meanwhile, Mrs. Skinner, waiting for her husband, is attacked in the house by huge worms, but is able to defend herself. When Bensington and his assistant arrive, the rats have already been with the Skinners and have eaten the chickens. Bensington, however, only has eyes for the profitable liquid and wants the business rules in this regard, but Mr. Skinner is missed for the signature. Mrs. Skinner shows Bensington the source of the liquid. Shortly afterwards, they are attacked by a swarm of huge wasps, but are able to flee into the house. Bensington dares to go out and tries to drive the animals away with a shovel, but he does not succeed. Morgan and Brian arrive and chase away the giant insects just in time with their rifles. Despite the narrowly escaped death, Bensington continues to hold on to the liquid. Morgan and Brian go to a huge wasp nest and destroy it. Meanwhile, Lorna is endangered by the giant rats, after having plunged into a tunnel system. The rushing Morgan manages to push the rats back and saves Lorna. The situation with the camper van comes to a head after it is surrounded by the giant rats. The couple leaves the bus to the voracious animals and flees towards the farm. Morgan wants to check the situation with the rats. His friend Brian warns him to drive better with the closed Bensington vehicle, but then lets himself into the joint drive in the open jeep. Morgan wants to defeat the giant rats with an electrified fence, which initially seems to be successful. The rats hit back, however, dragging Brian out of the open jeep and killing him. In the meantime, Bensington secures the liquid in containers, while Lorna tries to talk him out of it. When Morgan returns without Brian, he is laughed at by Bensington. Morgan then destroys the containers filled with the liquid while the giant rats, led by a large white rat, reach the farm. With the exception of Bensington, the rest of them flee into the house again and try to defend themselves with rifles. Bensington dies outside trying to save some of the liquid. Morgan makes several explosive devices and shoots his way to the jeep with Thomas. While the two are on their way to the dam, the three remaining women are attacked by the giant rats in the house. Ms. Skinner dies in one of the attacks. Morgan and Thomas finally blow up the dam and drown the giant rodents. The growth-promoting liquid food is partly washed away in the remaining glasses to new banks, where it is consumed by the local cows on a nearby farm. The food enters the food chain of school children via the milk of the ruminants.
background
The novel deals with the subject of genetic engineering very early on. However, the script reduced the plot to the theme "Nature Strikes Back Film". Bert I. Gordon directed the film Village of the Giants for Embassy Pictures back in 1965 . Here, too, he wrote the script based on the same novel Wells' - albeit very loosely. In this work, giant teenagers terrorize a city.
success
The film was the most successful film of the year for AIP. This led to a whole series of other film adaptations of the novels by HG Wells (1977: The Island of Dr. Moreau and Empire of the Ants).
criticism
Regardless of its financial success, the film received very bad reviews. Among other things, the film received the Golden Turkey Award for the worst rodent film of all time . cinema.de described the film as cheap, awkward horror junk . Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film one of four possible stars. On September 7, 2018, the film was presented in the series The worst films of all time (SchleFaZ) on the German broadcaster Tele5 .
continuation
In 1989 the continuation of the film The Food Of The Gods 2: Gnaw (German title Die Hour der Ratte ) followed. It only had the same English title for marketing reasons and nothing in common with the first part or the novel in terms of content. Only the giant rats, including a white one, appear in it.
Trivia
- In the episode "Of Rats and Men" of the television series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , a larger group of giant rats appears.
- As early as 1959, the subject of genetically modified rat-like giant mice was taken up in the film The Night of the Eerie Beasts , which was continued in 2012 with the film Mega Rats - Attack of the Giant Rats .
Web links
- The island of monsters in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Island of Monsters in the All Movie Guide (English)