Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

Frogs Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 11, 2015

Note: This film is currently available in the double feature The Food of the Gods / Frogs.

Rachel Carson’s 1962 tome Silent Spring was one of the first mainstream efforts to document changes to the environment, changes wrought by Man’s use of chemicals like pesticides. Environmental and ecological awareness only grew as the sixties continued, despite a number of other pressing issues like assassinations, Vietnam, and racial unrest. Perhaps surprisingly (at least given today’s polarized political climate—no pun intended), it was a Republican president, the otherwise infamous Richard M. Nixon, who created the Environmental Protection Agency whole cloth by (are you ready?) executive order in 1970, ushering in a new era of both general awareness as well as (to the consternation of some) government involvement. The late sixties into the seventies saw all sorts of ecologically themed “entertainments” appear in a variety of media, from kiddie fare like Saturday morning cartoons to more putatively adult outings like any number of feature films which broadly fit into a genre dubbed “eco-horror.” In many of these films, Man’s idiocy at sullying up his home planet leads to disastrous results of one kind or another. Scream Factory, the horror imprint of Shout! Factory, has now combined two of these seventies efforts into a surprisingly enjoyable (if often pretty campy) double feature.

Rachel Carson probably would have given Frogs a bit more of a pass than most critics did upon the film’s release in 1972, when it was soundly derided as a silly exercise in victims winning various “Darwin Awards,” all within the context of an isolated island (hmm. . .) which is falling prey to the effects of various pollutants (including pesticides) being pumped into the waters surrounding it. Once again a gaggle of folks is picked off, one by one, and if the animals, amphibians and insects in this outing aren’t giant sized like they are in The Food of the Gods, they’re no less deadly.

As the film opens, photographer Pickett Smith (Sam Elliott, sans his iconic mustache) is tooling around in a little canoe shooting scenes of wildlife and (portentously) lots of ugly polluted liquids being dumped whole scale into the waterways. A boating accident introduces Smith to the Crockett family, who have gathered on their private island hideaway to celebrate both the Fourth of July as well as the birthday of their patriarch, crusty and wheelchair bound Jason Crockett (Ray Milland). Jason, a kind of stand in for Howard Hughes, is not pleased by the incursion of wildlife around his mansion and is out to use some industrial strength “Raid” to clean up the premises.

Frogs actually has some gruesomely effective kill scenes, but it resorts to silly plot tactics which see one victim at a time setting off into the wild to meet their fate. Supposed romantic sparks between Smith and Karen Crockett (Joan Van Ark) are never developed sufficiently to really make anyone’s peril seem all that convincing, and the film simply plays out as a series of vignettes of various stupid people getting offed by things like spiders, lizards and (ultimately) frogs. The titular creatures are utilized repeatedly throughout the film in brief snippets showing them sitting around, croaking, supposedly menacingly, but the frequent cutaways to the largely somnolent creatures may strike some as unintentionally hilarious.

Frogs Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Frogs is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. While the elements used for this transfer have marginally more age related wear and tear than what is on display in The Food of the Gods, with some rather large chunks of minus density and other issues like dirt and scratches routinely on display, overall this is another nice looking transfer. Colors have retained a natural luster, with the kind of fetid, Southern Gothic ambience of the Crockett island looking appropriately dank. The bright outdoor sequences offer decent pop, with good detail and appealing depth of field. Close-ups offer acceptable if not overwhelming amounts of fine detail. Grain is fairly heavy throughout the presentation, and occasionally clumps in some of the darkest sequences.

Frogs Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Frogs features an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 mono track which offers good support for the film's dialogue and sound effects. Les Baxter contributes a somewhat restrained score (at least by typical Baxter standards) which also sounds fine. Fidelity is fine and there are no problems of any kind to warrant concern.

Frogs Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview with Actress Joan Van Ark (1080p; 10:08) is an enjoyable trip down memory lane, as the actress recounts her experiences in her first major role in a feature film.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:12)


• Radio Spot (1080p; 1:01) plays out over a reproduction of the film's poster.


• Photo Gallery (1080p; 2:49)

Frogs Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Despite a game and appealing cast (not including the menacing frogs), Frogs never quite works up much tension or anxiety. The frequent cutaways to frogs just sitting around croaking ultimately become kind of funny as the film progresses, but that said there are some gruesomely effective kill sequences for those who like that sort of thing. Technical merits are generally very good and Scream has added a few supplements to sweeten the pot (swamp?) for those considering a purchase.