Les Crapauds

Original title: Frogs

1972
PG
1h 31m

IMDb RATING

4.4/10

8.3K

YOUR RATING

Play trailer2:10

1 Video

91 Photos

B-Horror Dystopian Sci-Fi Horror Mystery Sci-Fi Thriller

A group of helpless victims celebrate a birthday on an island estate crawling with killer amphibians, birds, insects, and reptiles.A group of helpless victims celebrate a birthday on an island estate crawling with killer amphibians, birds, insects, and reptiles.A group of helpless victims celebrate a birthday on an island estate crawling with killer amphibians, birds, insects, and reptiles.

Director
- George McCowan
Writers
- Robert Hutchison
- Robert Blees
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

4.4/10

8.3K

YOUR RATING

Director
- George McCowan
Writers
- Robert Hutchison
- Robert Blees
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination total

Videos1

Trailer 2:10

Frogs

Photos91

+ 85

User reviews184

4.48.3K

Featured reviews

6DC Flim

Effective despite premise and budget

While it's pretty obvious that this film was done on a low budget (i.e. the same shots are repeated over and over and over) this is a pretty effective horror movie and deserves a look. The death scenes are well executed (and the end is quite chilling), the music is appropriate (it's sounds almost like an "angry swamp"), and the locations are put to good use. It's definitely a b-movie and is not at all "great cinema", but it's still a minor classic and should have some kind of cult status.

6gridoon

Frogs on the warpath.

If this movie ultimately fails to be scary (and it does), it's not because the filmmakers didn't try; they did their darnedest to make those frogs look as menacing as possible. But it was all for naught, because frogs are fundamentally un-vicious creatures and, well, they cannot be trained to look mean. They don't care about us annoying humans! They just want to hop around! So this movie can't hold a candle to, say, "The Birds". That doesn't mean it's not enjoyable though - it is, in a schlocky way. It's colorful, it's beautifully photographed, and Sam Elliott is rather cool, as 70s leading men go. (**1/2)

lee_eisenberg

shadows & frog

The 1970s was the era of disco, blaxploitation, and eco-horror (aka nature's vengeance). George McCowan's "Frogs" is considered the first eco-horror flick. A young Sam Elliott (more recently known as the narrator in "The Big Lebowski") plays a photographer who visits a southern estate where the patriarch (Ray Milland) refuses to live in harmony with nature. The old man sprays chemicals all over the swamp with absolutely no regard for the plants or animals. So it only makes sense that the frogs -- in collaboration with the snakes, alligators, spiders, etc. -- are out to dispense some justice! On the plot's value alone, there's no reason to interpret "Frogs" as any kind of high-quality movie. We could interpret it as a warning about messing with the Earth (when you battle nature, you ALWAYS lose), or we could just view it as a plain old fun movie. Whatever the case, it's a pretty enjoyable flick, silly though it may be.

All in all, just be a little more respectful the next time that you meet any plant or animal, especially an amphibian of the order Anura.

3JoeB131

eco-thriller from the 1970's

Actually had good actors in it, but I think the directors of the early 1970's were just taking too many drugs.

So a decent ecology journalist scoring extra Politically Correct points is taking pictures in a swamp in Florida when he falls in with a family of rich industrialists browbeaten into obedience by a wheelchair bound Ray Milland.

A bunch of menacing frog direct reptiles to engage in a series of attacks requiring a lot of ineptitude by the character actors who are picked off. I don't think the frogs actually kill anyone, they just keep looking menacing... maybe they were co-ordinating the operation as the other reptiles did all the hard work.

Bonus point.. Joan van Ark in a tight-one piece showing a lot of leg.

3bkoganbing

Amphibians and Reptiles go to war

Ray Milland's career was tanking real fast when he agreed to do this one for American-International. The story behind Frogs is similar to the plot of the Elizabeth Taylor less than classic Elephant Walk. That's the one where Peter Finch's father built his mansion in Sri Lanka where the elephants used to trod. Eventually they trod there again.

In Frogs Ray Milland has a large old plantation estate on an island in the Everglades and he's been expanding it for years crowding out the swamp life. It's not just the frogs but all the swamp critters want their turf back.

And when do they pick to begin their war? On the 4th of July which coincidentally enough is Milland's birthday and he's thrown a party and he's got his kids and grandkids with him. And a stranger played by a young and beardless Sam Elliot.

The movie gets the title Frogs because they seem to be directing the battle. One by one Milland's family and help are picked off. Only a few manage to escape.

Frogs is done kind of tongue in cheek and Milland grumps and groans his way through the film like a man with a bad case of hemorrhoids. Maybe being confined to a wheelchair in the part gave him a case. He had to be wondering how his agent talked him into this.

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Many of the 500 Florida frogs and 100 South American cane toads purchased for use in the film escaped during production.

Goofs
When Pickett Smith is wandering around the island, he sees Grover lying face down in a marsh, where he was killed by being bitten by a venomous snake. Grover, however, is clearly still breathing.

Quotes
Jason Crockett: Karen... and everyone else... this conversation has ended!
Pickett Smith: No, it hasn't, Mr. Crockett. Look, with Grover and Kenneth dead, I don't know what's going on around here... or if it is happening anywhere else... but we are a bunch of damn fools not to face the fact that we are in a hell of a lot of trouble! And we're gonna have to get together to fight it!
Bella Garrington: Keep talking Mr. Pickett, 'cause you are the only man around here who's saying anything!
Pickett Smith: First of all, we're gonna have to try to find Iris, Stuart and Michael. But to be very honest with you... I don't think we will. Not alive anyway. But whether we find them or not, we've got to get off this damn island! All of us, now! We'll take the power boat. If we have to, we'll tow the canoe.
Jason Crockett: And leave this house empty and deserted... on the Fourth of July?
Pickett Smith: I don't really think there's gonna be anybody around here to worry about today. Maybe if you didn't notice, but there hasn't been one boat out on that lake all day!
Clint Crockett: Do you think this is happening everywhere, Mr. Smith?
Pickett Smith: Well if it is, I think we'd stand a better chance if we all get out of here together.
Jason Crockett: Well, I forbid it! I control these people, not you!
Bella Garrington: Nobody controls me, Mr. Crockett! Now I'm asking for your permission to get off this island, by myself or with anyone else, I just want to go!

Crazy credits
After the closing credits fade out, an animated frog hops onscreen with a human hand hanging out of its mouth, after which it turns to face the audience and slurps the hand into its mouth, then it turns away from the audience and hops off-screen.

Alternate versions
In the film's pre-release prints, Iris (Holly Irving) dies by being forced into a quicksand pool by a giant butterfly and then drowning in it rather than dying by snakebite. The scene, however, was thought to be too silly-looking and, thus, it was cut. Clips of the cut scene can still be glimpsed in the film's theatrical trailer, however.