Final Girl Film Club: Food of the Gods (1976)

Comic Book Edition!

Ah… The Food of the Gods, based on a portion of the novel, The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth by H. G. Wells, is a cautionary ecological horror tale from 1976 as adapted and directed by Bert I. Gordon. We start off with an ominous intro, it’s a cold harsh day crossing the ferry and Morgan leads us into the story by quoting a phrase that his father once told him, “One of these days the earth will get even with man for messing her up with his garbage. Just let man continue to pollute the earth the way he is, and nature will rebel. It’s gonna be one hell of a rebellion. …You never know when and where it’s gonna happen. Once it starts you never know how and when it will stop.”

Morgan and Brian must have had a fashion show on the ferry before they got to the island, but to hell with continuity, our budget is stretched out so thin as it is.

Morgan, Davis, and Brian are out hunting as soon as the weather clears up. *snicker* Morgan and Brian decided they were fine with what they were wearing before they changed on the ferry. Before they know it, Davis meets the business end of a giant wasp.

Morgan goes for help when he is assaulted by a rooster with a pitchfork sticking out of its neck! Oh wait, its gone now. But only until Morgan stabs the giant rooster in the neck with a pitchfork! Shazaam! Morgan then finds Mrs. Skinner who needs some help with some detective work, and she reveals the secret to raising giant chickens. I’ve been trying to figure out what the initials, F.O.T.G. on the mysterious jars of super food could stand for, here’s my list of guesses:

• Found On The Ground
• Farm Oil That’s Good
• Feed Only To Grow
• Fry Over The Grits

I dont know, it seems like I’m close, by none of those seem quite right… Also, why would they decide that if something spewing out of the ground isnt oil, that it must be good to feed to the livestock?

No matter, what I am surprised to see is how quickly this “F.O.T.G.” is accepted as the cause for the mutant growth. Usually, in films under similar circumstances, the actual cause is denied vehemently until the end of the movie when it’s too late to do anything about it.

Something that bugs me a couple of times throughout the movie is when Mr. Skinner is talking to one of the ferrymen, and when he mentions “giants”, the ferryman decides to stop talking and walk away without saying anything. It happened again between two other characters but I cant remember where it was at to reference it.

Speaking of bugs, Mrs. Skinner gets attacked by some jar-opening carnivorous caterpillar’s. Just thought I should point that out. Cut to- ferry padding shot #5821433 complete with car unloading.

Poor Mr. Skinner, all of that brainwashing you did on Mrs. Skinner will never pay off.

Back on the mainland, Brian reports to Morgan that the coroner concluded that Davis was stung by no less than 250 wasps. Yet, failed to mention whether or not the coroner found the giant wounds from the giant stinger. Nevertheless, they are on their way back to the island of doooooom.

Jack and Lorna are already en route, however, and despite passing a doorless car surrounded by body parts, a stranded pregnant lady, and arrives at a barn that has almost been demolished, he gets super upset when he has to get out of his car to open an unlocked gate.

As Jack and Lorna are walking through the Skinner’s house, there is a mysterious shadow of an unknown figure that appears on Lorna just before she enters the kitchen, but is nowhere to be found when Lorna turns to find the bloody caterpillars. I suspect this unknown assailant planted them there to frighten her, just before disappearing. Then, from out of nowhere, Mrs. Skinner attacks with a meat cleaver, but stops just before hacking Lorna in the face. “Im sorry miss, I thought you was. well, I dont know what….” THE UNKNOWN FIGURE!!? We’ll never know….

We will find out, however, that the little chickens got “ette” by the big chickens. Morgan and Brian finally make it back to the ferry so they can cross over to the island.

Just in time, too, as they’ve come baring arms and go all resident evil on the active-camo wasps. Um ,hello, where is the rogue scientist whose primary objective is the preservation of mutant creatures in the name of science!?

Their main concern is killing the wasps off, so while they’re takin care of that, Lorna falls in a mouse hole, putting the worst rescue ever, into motion. Not sure why Morgan had to go down into the hole to tie the rope around Lorna who was perfectly fine, but as fate would have it, he is down there after the cave-in to help her get out alive. By breaking the butte of his shotgun against a rat’s face.

Morgan sure is bossy. It seems like Brian is starting to get tired of his bullshit until Morgan proves triumphant with his defense experiments over the rats. But he’ll never be able to express his true feelings, before his head gets chewed off.

To make matters even worse, Jack sends Morgan over the edge and ends up meeting his impending demise.

The survivors, thus far, board themselves up in the cabin and we’re subjected to a sub par retelling of what happens when people try to come with terms that they’re now trapped in the survival horror portion of the movie.

And so, the final battle between man and beast erupts. This dramatic conclusion can only be told through that of comic frames…

All looks grim for our survivors, until Morgan drowns all the rats with a super flood. The rats are exterminated and Morgan leaves us with his closing thoughts. Only for the film to reveal that little kids are now drinking the FOTG and will soon become giants that will live dampened lives in a world built for average size people.

The End.

Extra Feature! – Never before released deleted scene:

- Wes Fierce