The Food of the Gods / Frogs Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

The Food of the Gods / Frogs Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 11, 2015

Note: The scores above are averages for the two films together. See the review links below for individual assessments of each title in this double feature.

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.

Individual reviews of the titles included in this double feature can be accessed by clicking on the following links:

The Food of the Gods Blu-ray review

Frogs Blu-ray review

The Food of the Gods / Frogs Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Assessment of the video quality of each release can be found in the above referenced reviews.

The Food of the Gods / Frogs Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Assessment of the audio quality of each release can be found in the above referenced reviews.

The Food of the Gods / Frogs Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Supplementary material included with each release can be found in the above referenced reviews.

The Food of the Gods / Frogs Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As sometimes tends to be the case with these Scream Factory double features, there's variable quality in the two films, though the link between them is at least a bit stronger than in some other two-fers. The Food of the Gods, while patently ridiculous, benefits from the fun element of giant marauding beasts (even if some of the special effects aren't exactly stellar). Frogs on the other hand is, well, a bit swampier, with some admittedly effective kills but a more lethargic pace and ultimately a less compelling storyline. Technical merits are generally strong on both releases, and Scream is to be commended for having gone the extra mile and assembling at least a few supplements for what are obviously niche titles.