Earth Day Horrors: Nature Strikes Back In Frogs (1972)

There is no better movie to watch on Earth Day than the 1972 eco-horror flick Frogs. In the seventies the country experienced an ecological awareness which in turn spawned many great ecological horror and science fiction films. Frogs stands as one of the best. Played strictly serious, Frogs brings attention to the pollution humans are producing and the ramifications on the environment and its diverse animal inhabitants. It’s a serious film that is often laughable but in a good way. Sam Elliott stars as a photographer who is taking photos of the pollution surrounding him as he canoes through the swampy waters surrounding a small island. On the island is a grand estate owned by the affluent Jason Crockett (Ray Milland).

Wheel chair confined Jason holds an annual Fourth of July birthday party for himself and 3 other family members. As Pickett Smith (Sam Elliott) photographs some of the effects of the pesticides being used by the island plantation, Clint Crockett (Adam O’Roarke) who is drunk as a skunk and recklessly zooming through the water in his speed boat nearly crashes into Pickett, overturning his canoe. Clint circles back and fishes Smith out of the water and takes him back to the island where he meets the rest of the family: grouchy patriarch Jason Crockett, Clint’s sister Karen (Joan Van Ark who played Valene Ewing on Dallas and Knots Landing), Jason’s sister Iris Martindale, Her husband Stuart (George Skaff), their sons Michael (David Gilliam) and Kenneth (Nicholas Cortland), Kenneth’s fiancee Bella Garrington) as well as Jason’s under appreciated staff, butler Charles and his wife Maybelle the cook as well as a man named Grover who Jason sends out to spray more pesticides to try to rid the island of an overabundance of frogs which are hopping around everywhere.

Pickett Smith later finds Grover’s body in the swamp covered in snake bites, Jason invites Pickett to dry off and stay for the birthday celebration. Jason takes him into his confidence due to Jason’s disdain for his relatives (and probably because no one there actually even likes him). The next morning Jason sends out Michael to check for a possible downed telephone line as the phones in the manor are dead.

For some reason, Michael brings a rifle with him which proves to be a bad idea after Michael shoots himself in the leg. Writhing on the ground in pain, he becomes entangled in some weird white moss hanging from the trees. As the moss continues to drop down on him so do a horde of tarantulas. Soon he is dead. And the frogs watch and croak.

The familiar formula continues as one by one nature strikes back at the Crockett family all the while with frogs looking on and croaking. Iris sends her son Kenneth out to the greenhouse for some flowers where tokay geckos and lizards knock over bottles of pesticides on the shelves and asphyxiate him. Again Pickett finds the body…this guy is going to wish he had a desk job! Something indoors away from nature. He reports the death back to Jason who shows an utter lack of empathy or sadness and demands the celebration go on.

Iris is chasing after butterflies with net in hand but freaks out at practically everything including birds, snakes, lizards and baby alligators. She trips and falls and gets covered in leeches and as she tries to pry them off it’s a rattlesnake that does her in. When Stuart goes looking for her the baby alligator’s mama shows up and wrestles with him. Alligator-1, Stuart-0.

By now, Pickett thinks it’s high time to get off the island but Jason is adamant about everyone staying. After they find a snake swinging around on the dining room chandelier having a good old time, Charles, Maybelle and Bella insist on leaving which is just fine with Jason. Ray Milland conveys a look on his face which belies a sense of racism within him. So Clint escorts them off but when he returns to his speed boat he finds the rope anchoring it to the dock has been chewed through and he sees the boat drifting off. When he tries to swim out to the boat he is killed by a cottonmouth in the water.

Clint’s wife Jenny watches in horror from the island side when she gets stuck in the mud and hen killed by a snapping turtle! Hey, they’re big turtles but still, not something you want in your obituary…”Killed By Turtle”!

Pickett and Karen along with Clint’s two kids head out on Pickett’s canoe leaving the stubborn Jason who refuses to leave. Pickett. Karen and the kids encounter snakes and alligators but eventually make it to the shore. A woman in a car stops and offers them a ride. “You’re the first folks I’ve seen in hours” she tells them.

Alone in the mansion, Jason starts to sweat. And the frogs move in.