Ribbit!

 

 (imdb)

FROGS-1972-Photographer Pickett Smith (Sam Elliot) is nearly run down in his boat by beer guzzling speed boat riding Clint Crockett (Adam Roarke) and his sister Karen (Joan Van Ark). They invite Smith to their granddaddy's estate that's being overrun by frogs. Gramps (Ray Milland), is a self-righteous SOB who seems bothered by his whole family. While exploring the island, Smith finds the dead body of a worker. The frogs seem to be taking over. Snakes and salamanders too. A particularly gruesome scene is the death of gramps' flaky butterfly collecting sister-in-law Iris (Hollis Irving) by leeches. Her husband is done in by a crocodile. 

Although there is death and aggressive animals all around, Gramps wants to continue with the 4th of July festivities. Everyone is eventually killed except for Smith, Karen and grandkids. Gramps regrets his decision to stay behind. The frogs don't kill anyone (despite the famous movie poster) but it seems like they are in charge.

This eco-horror from AIP is mostly talk with a death thrown in once in a while. The ecology and "nature fights back" themes were very popular in the 1970's. Director George McCowan worked mainly in TV but also directed THE MAGNIFCENT SEVEN RIDE! the same year as FROGS. He later made THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME (1979).

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Primal

PRIMAL-2010-Somewhere in Australia, 6 people explore some ancient cave paintings. A woman in the party gets bitten by a rabbit with extremely long teeth. Leeches and bugs plague the camp. The woman becomes an animistic cannibal and she kills and eats a kangaroo. Later she terrorizes her remaining live ex-friends until most of them are killed. But one guy she kills comes back to life and joins her in eating and screwing. The climax is stupid and drawn out with a nasty scene featuring a pregnant woman disemboweling herself and the sole survivor violated by some kind of worm blob. Director Josh Reed as of this writing has yet to venture into another feature film production.

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Giant Leeches

ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES-AIP-(1959)-Enjoyable nonsense produced by Roger Corman and written by actor Leo Gordon. Giant leeches terrorize a swamp and capture locals. They are taken back to the leech lair and sucked dry of their blood. The monsters are kind of hysterical looking, like sleeping bags with suction cups but Yvette Vickers (from ATTACK OF THE THE 50 FOOT WOMAN) gives a great performance as the local swamp slut. Her cuckold husband is played by low budget vet Bruno Ve Sota. A pretty dull hero (Ken Clark, who'd had a role in LOVE ME TENDER and later worked a lot in Europe) tries to figure it all out. TV actress Jan Shepard (also in KING CREOLE with Elvis) and Tyler McVey help out. Gene Roth and George Cisar co-star.

Director Bernard Kowlaski made NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST the year before for AIP and later directed movies like KRAKATOA, EAST OF JAVA and MACHO CALLAHAN while also working on several TV shows including THE UNTOUCHABLES and THE WILD WILD WEST.

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