Producer, director, writer and special effects artist Bert I. Gordon (Mr. “BIG”) had furnished a number of mostly giant monster-themed classics for American International Pictures (AIP) in the late 1950s. After a hiatus of almost 20 years (and a number of assorted projects, fantasy and otherwise, for other studios), AIP released Gordon’s THE FOOD OF THE GODS, a return to the family territory of mutated and unusually large creatures, which become so through ecological tampering. This was Mr. BIG’s second stab at the H.G. Wells novel, as the satirical, rock and roll antics of VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS could be seen a decade earlier.

Football player Morgan (Marjoe Gortner) goes on a hunting excursion with fellow player Davis (Chuck Courtney from BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA) and PR man Brian (Jon Cypher). When Davis ventures solo on horseback, he is swarmed by giant wasps and his body is found completely swollen. After leaving the remote Canadian island where their friend was killed, Morgan and Brian quickly return to get to the bottom of things. A visit to the log-cabin farmhouse of God-fearing Mrs. Skinner (Ida Lupino) reveals a shed full of human-sized chickens – the result of consuming a goopy white substance that comes from the ground, which Mrs. Skinner collects in jars, calling it “Food of the Gods.” Soon after, greedy businessman Jack Bensington (Ralph Meeker) and his sensible assistant Lorna (Pamela Franklin) arrive to make a deal with Mr. Skinner (who is in grave danger somewhere!) for the precious “food.” The group is soon joined by a young couple with child (Tom Stovall and Belinda Balaski) who are forced to abandon their camper. The reason; they were ambushed by an army of enormous flesh-hungy rats who soon surround the Skinner home. It’s up to the rifle-toting Morgan to take command and conjure up a way to stop them.

With THE FOOD OF THE GODS, Bert I. Gordon revisits much of the fun ingredients that made his 1950s memorable, updating them for a 1970s audience with a bit more violence. Giant wasps, worms, chickens and most predominately, rats, are showcased throughout the film, which moves at a non-stop pace from one lively monster attack to the next. By the second half of the film, most of the attention is garnished on the giant rats, utilizing real ones superimposed against the actors, or seen ascending upon model cars, a camper and a log cabin. Some of these effects of course are not always the most convincing, but hey, would you have it any other way? When life-sized rats are attacking human victims, they’re shown as hairy mechanized puppet-like creations, for the most part the work of a young Rick Baker, and they look far more menacing than most of the overblown CGI effects of today. These rat attacks get pretty bloody, so sometimes it’s hard to believe the film got away with a PG rating.

The so-called “bad movie” antics of THE FOOD OF THE GODS are helped by a great cast of vets and younger performers who were no strangers to B-movie vehicles. Curly-haired ex-evangelist Marjoe Gortner was quite a celebrity during the decade, and he’s a pretty solid hero (sort of in the Doug McClure mode), and this could be his best leading role next to the previous year’s BOBBIE JO AND THE OUTLAW. Pamela Franklin had already acted for director Gordon in 1972’s NECROMANCY, and the British actress and former child star, who was in a number of genre-related efforts, probably has the biggest cult following of anyone in this film. Her character’s suggestion to Gortner’s Morgan that they make love on the spot when doom is approaching is unintentionally humorous. As the pregnant Rita, Belinda Balaski would soon be a fixture of director Joe Dante (including PIRANHA, THE HOWLING and GREMLINS), and here she plays a liberated woman who refuses to marry her child’s father despite his plea (an issue that couldn’t be farther than what a 1950s B-movie would embrace). Ida Lupino (who had juggled acting and directing chores during her long Hollywood career) was in THE DEVIL’S RAIN the year before, so her inclusion here as Mrs. Skinner comes as no surprise. One-time Mike Hammer, Ralph Meeker, was a steadily working character actor, and he really chews up the scenery here, causing friction with everyone else in the cast.