Directed by Bert I. Gordon
Welcome to the final day of Rat Week! We’ve had some highs and lows, some very low lows, but we’re ending with a cult classic that hopefully lives up to the hype, Food of the Gods! Unlike our other movies this week, this one is based on a book by HG Wells, who wrote many science fiction horror stories that became classic movies, like The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, and The War of The Worlds. That gives me a lot of hope, but movies often pale in comparison to their books so lets get rid of our expectations for a moment and give Food of the Gods an unbiased first look.
After a few professional football players go on a wilderness trip ahead of their next season, they find themselves on a remote island engaging in wholesome activities, like horse riding and deer chasing. The first bit of trouble happens when a giant wasp attacks the group, the fallout of which causes the group to prematurely end their vacation and return to the mainland. Against all logic and reason, the group returns to investigate the island, learning about the mysterious Food of the Gods, and they, predictably, become embroiled in the rapid growth effects it has on animals, particularly rats.
I completely forgot to mention the opening narration where our protagonist, Morgan, goes into a long monologue about how when man continues to abuse and pollute the earth, one day nature will fight back. It’s incredibly on the nose and I would usually complain about that sort of heavy handedness, but it fits perfectly here because Food of the Gods is not subtle in the slightest. Part of why this works is frankly because it’s not wrong, these things that were said to be truths in 1976 are even more true 50 years later. When the corporate representative who shows up to make a profit at the expense of everyone else, we don’t complain because of how on the nose this is, we complain because the reality is even worse than what they’re showing. But I digress.
What I loved about Food of the Gods is just how much effort went into making everything work on as little of a budget as they had. They used every old school method they could, composite shots, miniatures, this weird almost cellophane looking effect to make the wasps, even putting people in giant animal costumes to make the close ups look better. These effects often seem hokey and silly today, but I have to applaud all the different ways they tried to make the best most believable effect possible to show off this horror tale. In a lot of ways this is the grand daddy of movies like Rat Scratch Fever, they both used every trick in the book to make their effects work on a cheap budget, but Food of the Gods had a bit more studio knowledge to work with. It’s extremely charming, especially when you get moments like when someone is swinging a shovel wildly at giant wasps and you realize that he was swinging angrily at literally nothing and he had to keep a straight face during that whole sequence.
Food of the Gods isn’t scary. That’s not a secret or even a criticism, it’s just a consequence of how movies like this have aged. It does have some surprisingly gnarly rat attacks, but those kind of get lost in the sea of miniatures. Still though, it’s a fast paced movie that doesn’t overstay it’s welcome, it has some decent performances, an exciting climax, and a great ending. If you like old school monster movies or animal attack movies, this is a good example of those. And keep an eye out during the RV attack scene, when the rats are overwhelming the vehicle, there a shot where you can clearly see that the rats are all over it because it’s covered in peanut butter.