Customer Reviews

Hell Comes to Frogtown [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Meet Sam Hell. Life for this poor guy has never been the same after the world fell apart. Before the apocalypse wiped out most of humanity, Hell was just another bloke trying to make it with the ladies. After the end of the world, he suddenly found himself in great demand. Why? Sam Hell has the unique distinction of being one of the only-if not the only-men on the planet capable of fathering children. This ability is a big deal in a world where fertility is a highly prized commodity for both men and women. Radiation rendered most of the lads and lasses incapable of bearing children, so if the human race is to once again thrive and eventually rebuild the planet, the right man must meet the right women. Besides, our side needs more children so they can raise good little soldiers to continue fighting the Russians (or whoever it was who turned America into a desert). Fortunately for this barren world, and for lovers of low budget trash cinema, Sam Hell just happens to be former wrestler turned actor "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. I can sleep better at nights knowing Piper made more films before and after his memorable turn in Carpenter's "They Live."

Hell's adventure begins when a group of scientists working for something called Med Tech (or some such thing) save his life from a sadistic soldier, a Captain Devlin (William Smith), bent on killing the fertile fool. It seems Sammy impregnated this guy's daughter and attempted to mosey on down the road, something the soldier finds reprehensible. As part of the bargain for rescuing Hell from an early demise, Med Tech insists that he sign on to a most peculiar mission. He must rescue a bevy of fertile women from the clutches of humanoid frogs. Just in case Sam attempts to run away from his duties, the scientists saddle the hapless dupe with a rather painful looking chastity belt that will explode should he attempt to remove the device or flee. Heading off to Frogtown with a sexy scientist and a punk rock looking bodyguard, Hell and company spend most of their time schlepping around the desert making crotch jokes. Predictably, his two female companions hit on him, the chastity belt inflicts pain on several occasions, and the trio picks up a ratty looking girl in the desert. If you're not laughing so hard by this point that your sides hurt, you can keep watching for more hijinks as Sam and his gang stroll into Frogtown.

From the moment Hell walks into a bar inhabited by numerous mutated frogs, the film takes on a weirdness and utter ridiculousness I have rarely witnessed in any other movie. There's a vivacious frog stripper with eyes for male humans, a sadistic thug frog who seeks to do humans harm, and Rory Calhoun as an elderly miner named Looney Tunes. Lots of chase scenes, "exotic" dancing, and explosions follow as Hell attempts to free the women and fulfill his contract. Tricking human sized frog creatures bent on controlling the human race is never easy, but Piper and the rest of the cast sure give it the old freshman try. The movie tries hard to have a twist ending, but by the time Count Sodom and his cronies arrive on the scene I began to divorce myself mentally from the proceedings. Regrettably, the man called Sodom shows up at the end of the film, meaning I actually paid attention for most of the movie. It's not that "Hell Comes to Frogtown" is a bad B budget film; rather, the problems I had with the picture seemed to revolve around the fact that I watched it while I was awake. My bad.

It's easy, too easy in fact, to bash this movie for its cheesy production values, ridiculous eighties haircuts, and ludicrous plot. It takes a hardy soul indeed to overlook the myriad flaws in this film. I found the experience more bearable when I concentrated on the familiar actors and actresses parading across the screen. You've got Sandahl Bergman, of "Conan the Barbarian" fame, playing the role of Spangle, the sexy scientist charged with guarding Sam Hell on the trip to Frogtown. William Smith plays the dual roles of Captain Devlin and Count Sodom with his usual gravel voiced charm. Don't spend too much time scratching your head over the appearance of Rory Calhoun as the oddball Looney Tunes. This actor, whose career stretched back into the Golden Age of Hollywood, was apparently willing to take any role as he entered the 1970s and 1980s. He's probably best known to B movie lovers as the grinning Farmer Vincent in "Motel Hell." His appearance here is ample proof that earning a paycheck in the movie business beats working a real job any day. Really, the only redeeming quality of "Hell Comes to Frogtown" is Roddy Piper in the lead role of Sam Hell. Piper isn't a great actor by any stretch of the imagination, but there is always something fun about watching him tackle a part. He's much, much better in "They Live," of course, but his presence helps this movie immeasurably. Piper's ability to keep a straight face here should win him some sort of award.

Amazingly, the picture quality of this DVD is quite good. It's even in widescreen. The only extras are a trailer and a commentary track from the director and writer. Why they didn't let Piper make a few remarks is a mystery and a sad omission. Seriously, most fans of cheap science fiction will want to give this one a watch if for no other reason than to see giant frogs with human attributes pummel Piper senseless. Watch it as a double feature with "They Live."

Pro Wrestling's "Rowdy" Roddy Piper makes his second film appearence in this silly but fun Sci-Fi adventure. Roddy is one of the last fertile men left on a post-appockolyiptic earth. He is captured by an all fremale scince group who forcew Roddy to impregnate all the fertile wild women they come across, and while not in action, roddy is forced to wear an explosive coddle belt (to prevent him from escaping). Guess what happens if Roddy (Hell) gets farther away than a specified distance to the Science group's van? One of the important women to the science group is captured and held in Frogtown (a town full of half human/ half amphibian mutants), and now Mr. Hell must penitrate the main group of mutants to save her. Actually, this movie is a lot more entertaining than it sounds. As expected, it is a low budget sterling flick, but it's vastly entertaining in it's action and humor. If you've nevver seen this film, it's worth seeing at least once. If you liked "They Live", Roddy's other film, buy this one. It's an underground classic!

HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN is a little seen gem. After nuclear war, almost every man on the planet is impotent and frogs have grown to human size. One of these frogs, Commander Toty, has kidnapped some fertile women because of their value to humans. Sam Hell (Rowdy Roddy Piper) has the highest sperm count of any man on the planet and he is called in to save the women from Frogtown and get them pregnant. The DVD of this film is good, but doesn't have nearly enough extras. The trailer, production notes booklet and commentary (by Donald G. Jackson and Randall Frakes) are good but this release could've been helped by more extra material.

Actually I got to participate for 3 days in the shooting of this fiasco.
I was one of the frog guards (not credited). I got to meet Rowdy Roddy Piper who was very friendly and Sandahl Bergman who asked me where she could get some coffee. The frog puns were flying a mile a minute on the set and some were unbearable. Also note the green beer made of 7-up and Palmolive. Three nights in a warehouse was too much for me and I refused to continue in a heavy frog costume in Death Valley in May-June of 1987 even though they promised me a credit.

It's already been said by everyone else. This movie is so bad its good. I bought it for 3.99 on a closeout rack. In the DVD menu they even mis-spelled the word "start," as in "STRAT movie" and how can anybody not love Roddy Piper from "They Live" fame?

But whatever you do, do NOT pay the 22 dollars these shmucks want for it. Unless of course you bought "Jackass: The Movie" or "Freddy vs. Jason". Then, well, go ahead. You deserve to be ripped off.

I saw this at a "midnight movie" screening at a local "arty" movie house, and that's definitely the best way to view this goofy cult classic. Yes, the plot is ridiculous, the costumes are silly, and there are continuity errors ... but there's a lighthearted goofiness to it all that makes it fun to watch, especially with a crowd of late-night cult movie fans. After all, where else will you get to hear the line "Eat lead, Froggies!"

Not only is it a movie about a guy with a bomb strapped to his crotch killing frog people, it's probably the best movie ever made about a guy with a bomb strapped to his crotch killing frog people. I uh...I don't believe that this was a remake of anything by Shakespeare, I'm not sure if there was some deeply implanted philosophical statement about the struggles of humanity, but it was a darn good guy-with-a-bomb-strapped-to-his-crotch-killing-frog-people movie. Also there's a scene where a guy falls off a small cliff and you can clearly see the mat he lands on giving a little bounce. This is the movie people with low expectations thought "They Live" was going to be. Both are worth watching for their own charms.

Great old cult classic. Sexy, surreal. I first saw this on TV, but this is the uncut version. If you like campy B-movie scifi (think MST3K), you'll like Hell Comes to Frogtown (and they are frogs).

Don't let the title of this review mislead you. I am a HUGE fan of this movie! It's the fact that this particular version of the film looks HORRIBLE! The picture quality sucks! The images are all dark and it's set up for standard format, unlike the Anchor Bay version, which I wound up ordering after I saw this version.

The DVD menu looks like my 9 year old put it together! This has to be some sort of foreign version or something, but this particular DVD version is crap. Even watching it on an HDTV won't help. The quality of this DVD is awful. Went to a video store and got a few bucks credit trading it in for another movie.

Make sure if you're going to by this movie that it is the distributor is ANCHOR BAY. Very disappointed.

This was one weird movie. Piper is in some crazy stuff, but this took the cake. A future with frog people and women that need to have children by a man that is not effected by radiation was bad enough, but they put a chasity belt on him and take him to the women while they also wanted him was weird. Then the frog woman also wanted him. The acting was really bad in this movie and the story could have been a lot better. This should be a do over.