• Wide Release
• Director: Larry Cohen
• Written by: Larry Cohen
• Running Time: 93 minutes
• Language: English
• MPAA Rating: R - Restricted
• Cast: Michael Moriarty, Candy Clark, David Carradine, Richard Roundtree, James Dixon, Malachy McCourt, Fred J. Scollay, Peter Hock, Ron Cey, Mary Louise Weller, Bruce Carradine, John Capodice, Tony Page, Larkin Ford, Larry Pine, Eddie Jones, Shelly Desai, Lee Louis, Fred Morsell, Richard Duggan, Ed Kovens, Jennifer Howard, David Snell, Larry Silvestri, Perry Genovese, Gabriel Wohl, Nancy Stafford, Bobbi Burns

Okay, so there’s this cult, see, operating out of the Museum of Natural History in New York, and they’ve been running around town sacrificing folks and skinning their bodies all in the hopes that it might awaken Quetzalcoatl, a mythical half-lizard/half-bird ancient Aztec deity. Those crazy cultists… Oh, wait! Alongside the rash of skinless corpses turning up, rooftop sunbathers and high rise window washers have begin disappearing (or suffering much worse fates) at a frightening rate, leaving the eyewitness to recant how a giant flying bird swooped in and took the missing folks away. Ah, yes. You see where I’m going with this ramble? The two detectives assigned to the various cases, Shepard (David Carradine) and Powell (Richard Roundtree), smart cookies they are, promptly suspect that the skinless bodies and fresh missing people/big bird cases might be connected.

While all this is going on, a recently sprung small time crook, Jimmy Quinn (Michael Moriarty), finds himself drawn into a dangerous diamond heist, and, while he only volunteered to be a driver, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that all hell breaks loose inside the store, drolly named ‘Neil Diamonds’. Arising from the ashes is a dazed and confused Quinn charging out of the shop, a gun in one hand and a suitcase full of diamonds in the other, and all of his pals laying dead inside. In the chaos of the getaway, Jimmy not only loses the suitcase, but he also manages to bust up his leg pretty good when a car smacks into him. A split second decision to visit his attorney, located, apparently, at the very tip of the Chrysler Building, leads Jimmy to some good fortune… or bad fortune, depending on how you want to look at it. In an effort to avoid a pesky security guard, he finds himself scaling the half-constructed upper interior of the building, only to stumble upon what looks to be a gigantic bird egg as well as a freshly skinned human corpse. He doesn’t know exactly what this can of worm’s he’s just opened is, but crafty Jimmy will somehow figure out a way to exploit it. Staggering out of the high-rise, he seeks shelter at the apartment of his long suffering, deeply loving girlfriend, Joan (Candy Clark). She’s too good for him, and Jimmy knows it. His moments with her are filled with sweetness and humility. For an audience lost, such moments help add an extra layer of depth to this sleazy character. We understand him, sympathize with him, and yearn for him a little bit more each second we spend in his company, in much the same way normal prolonged human interaction between two people brings about a certain layer of understanding.

Anyways, upon learning of the big bird mass hysteria gripping the city, Jimmy puts two and two together, and comes away with a couple of corpses -- leading a pair of hoods - looking to collect from the heist gone bad - up to the top of the Chrysler building and feeding them to the beaked beast. As the bodies start to pile up around the city, Joan urges Quinn to tell what he knows to the cops, while Quinn slyly figures out a way to cash in on his big find. He visits on the city of New York a list of demands; in return, he’ll tell them where to locate the bird’s hide-out. Having done jail time for cocaine possession, something of which he insists was planted on him by a dirty cop, Jimmy feels as though he’s owed and he means to collect in a big way. Not only does he want money, he wants to be exonerated for crimes he has yet to commit. Hilarious! While Shepard gradually warms to jimmy’s antics, Powell, on the other hand, grows increasingly annoyed, eventually lashing out in an angry tirade which momentarily throws Jimmy off his game, revealing him as the blustery loser he is… and that he knows he is.

Culminating atop the Chrysler building, the ending, a reversal of RKO‘s “King Kong”, is pure cheesy goodness, as legions of SWAT cops face off against a giant plastacine stop-motion reptile/bird hybrid, repelling it’s attempts to protect its egged offspring by firing countless rounds of ammunition in its general direction. Lots of bodies and spent bullet casings will fall on New York before the credits roll, and if you’re not laughing hysterically at the craziness of it all, you probably shouldn’t be watching movies. Maybe you should be a film critic! Even better than that aerial exquisiteness is Shepard blasting into a hotel room in the nick of time to save Jimmy from a demented cultist, looking for his pound of flesh. Maybe Jimmy’s luck is turning? His last minute promise to better himself, if only to please Joan, sends the film out on just the right note. Although, a parting shot of something I won’t mention, will defintely bring a smile to your face.

Michael Moriarty’s virtuoso, method-acting casts a big shadow over the production here, in much the same way the giant flying serpent of the title looms ominously over the heads of unsuspecting New Yorkers in scene after scene. Such is one of the quirky joys of viewing Larry Cohen’s audacious, extravagant “big monster movie” homage - the fact that even in this mess of incoherent plotting and plastacine creature kookiness, a troupe of actors; Cohen alum Michael Moriarty leading the charge, could somehow conjure up something bordering on true entertainment. No doubt about it, this is Michael Moriarty’s movie - his chance to whip his dick out and rape every scene he appears in, in much the same way Christopher Walken did in “Communion”. Wide-eyed, forever smiling, staggering, chatting improvised dialogue to himself, and basically being loony as hell, this is Moriarty here and now… or then and then. David Carradine (2008’s “Treasure Raiders”) is pitch perfect as a savvy cop who seems to take everything in stride, even when it involves investigating a blood thirsty pterodactyl. Carradine is“Kill Bill” cool here and I loved it. Richard Roundtree turns down the “Shaft”, playing his detective role as an angry guy a couple years away from being kicked off the force for an assault charge. He’s great too!

For Larry Cohen devotees, an entire myth has developed around the origins of the production; everything from Cohen imagining a nest in Chrysler building to Cohen not wanting to lose the deposit on a hotel room he rented in New York, whichever, this shiftiness transcends the production as a whole eventually manifesting itself in the material, which seems to have this off-the-cuff feel to it throughout, beginning with Moriarty’s wide-eyed improve antics and ending with the film’s quirky, dark brand of humour and cheesy effects. The notion that such a film might have garnered a rather sizeable cult following over the years shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Check it out!