Hell Comes to Frogtown

This is the Blu-Ray edition of 'Hell Comes to Frogtown' released by Vinegar Syndrome in 2019.*****IMPORTANT NOTE ON MY RATING***** The rating for this movie is based on the release, not the quality of the plot. The movie itself, is a low budget campy post-apocalyptic story starring 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper. This release was meant for fans of cult science fiction movies.There is nudity in 'Hell Comes to Frogtown'.BLU-RAY: The picture is a newly scanned and restored in 4k from the 35mm interpositive. The movie is shown in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. I think the picture looks good. It isn't spectacular but the original elements probably weren't spectacular. There aren't any imperfections. Bottom line is this is as good as this movie is ever going to look so if you want this movie, this is the edition to get.EXTRA'S:-There is an alternate cover on the inside sleeve of the Blu-Ray case.-Audio Commentary with director, Donald G. Jackson and writer/producer Randall Frakes - Jackson says he always thought this movie would become a cult classic. Everything you want to know about this movie will be told to you in this commentary. You have the two most important people for the commentary.-'Mean and Green: Creating Hell Comes to Frogtown' - This is a 55 minute video interview with the writer and producer of 'Hell Comes to Frogtown', Randall Frakes. Frakes takes you step by step through the process as to how the movie got made and where the ideas came for many of the scenes. He talks about how he got fired from the production and which scenes didn't make it onto the screen.-'Grappling with Green Gargantuans' - This is a 22 minute interview with 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper, the star of the movie. Piper talks about how he got the role and his relationship with the people involved. He believes that the director did not like him very much. He had taken no acting lessons and he didn't think the movie would do well. Ultimately, he says he was surprised that it became a cult classic and he doesn't know why he wasn't asked to do any sequels. He believes he wasn't asked for the sequel because they didn't like him. This appears to have been made in 1996.-'Amphibian Armageddon: Commander Toty Remembers Hell Comes to Frogtown' - This is a video interview with actor Brian Frank - Frank played Commander Toty. Frank discusses how he got the part in the movie and recalls his scenes in this 14 minute interview.-'Creature Feature Creator' - This is a video interview with the special effects artist, Steve Wang. This is a 15 minute featurette with Wang.-Extended Scene - This is a poor print of an extended version of the opening scene in the movie.-Theatrical Trailer-Subtitles*****WARNING - LOTS OF SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT*****PLOT/SUMMARY:The movie opens with an outdoor scene in which a 'frog person', who's face is wrapped, kills somebody and then makes a comment about how they shouldn't have guns.Sam Hell (Roddy Piper) is being interrogated by Captain Devlin (veteran actor William Smith). Devlin, the corrupt head of security, has been selling guns to the frog people but we won't find this out until later in the movie. Sam is a criminal, but is saved from more abuse at the hands of Captain Devlin by a group of nurses from a company called 'Medtech'. Medtech needs Sam because he is one of the few men left on earth that still has a sperm count high enough to impregnate women. A nuclear war has somehow made almost all men lose their fertility. In addition, most women can't reproduce.Medtech needs Sam's services to impregnate a group of fertile women in order to keep the human race going. The problem is that a group of fertile women have been captured by the Frog people.These 'Medtech' nurses also carry guns and can fight real well. Medtech attaches a 'chastity belt' to Sam. Well sort of... You see, the just want to make sure Sam doesn't take off. It has a flap so he can still use his... err... 'package'. If Sam tries to leave the area around Spangle (Sandahl Bergman), his privates will be electrocuted. But don't worry, the 'family jewels' are safe. It won't damage them. It will only cause them pain! If Sam doesn't cooperate, they can choose to send a shock to his 'package.' Along with Centinella, a very hot gunner, they take off into the wastelands heading for Frog Town.Once in Frogtown, it's up to Sam and company to find the missing girls. They find out that the girls have fallen into the hands of Commander Toty. In order to infiltrate, Sam makes believe that Spangle is his slave and takes her into Frogtown. The idea is for Spangle to be enslaved with the other girls, giving her a chance to free them. In order to get to Commander Toty, Sam will need the help of a strange character named, Looney Tunes (Rory Calhoun) and a frog woman, who wants use of Sam's services. You see, Sam's skills in the bedroom have earned him a legendary reputation. Even his captors want to see what all the fuss is about. Can Sam save Spangle and the girls? Can Sam save the day? Can he fertilize under pressure? Can he stop the evil Captain Devlin? Will he survive to do what he must for mankind? You'll just have to watch to find out!PRODUCTION: 'Hell Comes to Frogtown' was released in 1988 by New World Pictures.-The movie cost $1.6 million to make. The original budget had been $150,000.-The movie was supposed to have a theatrical release but ultimately it went straight to video. It was shown in one theater for 1 week. WHO IS 'ROWDY' RODDY PIPER?: Roddy Piper is the wrestling name of a Canadian citizen that was born Roderick George Toombs. Before Piper became a wrestler he won the Golden Gloves boxing championship in his weight division. He was also awarded the black belt in Judo. He began wrestling in the AWA. His name became Roddy Piper because he was supposed to be Roddy the piper (in reference to the bagpipes). He eventually worked his way up to the WWF. His 'War to Settle the Score' involving Hulk Hogan and Cyndi Lauper let to the very first WrestleMania. Piper got into movies and made them up until the day he died. His most successful movie was John Carpenter's 'They Live'. He continued to wrestle on and off for the rest of his life. Piper passed away at the age of 61 in 2015. WHO IS SANDAHL BERGMAN?: Sandahl Bergman is best known for her role in 'Conan the Barbarian'. She was born in 1951 and she got her start as a Broadway dancer. She got noticed as a dancer in 'All That Jazz' in 1979. In addition to 'Conan' she got a starring role as the villianess in 'Rod Sonja'. She has not acted since 2003. WHO IS RORY CALHOUN?: Calhoun is easily the most established actor in this movie. Calhoun was very well known in Hollywood and had a very long career. He made his name in Westerns of which he starred in many in the 50's and 60's. He also had many supporting roles in mainstream movies. He played a major role in two Marilyn Monroe movies in the 50's. He was nearing the end of his career when he took the part of 'Looney Tunes' in 'Hell Comes to Frogtown'. Calhoun passed away in 1999 at the age of 76. WHILE WE ARE AT IT WHO IS CEC VERELL!?!: Ok, so I'm putting this paragraph here only because I was interested in knowing. I have to admit it's not because of her acting ability. Cec had mostly minor roles throughout her career. Her biggest role was that of 'Silk' in the 1986 action film. She managed to get a few acting parts in mainstream television such as 'NYPD' Blue and 'ER'. Her name is pronounced as if the 'C's are 'S's. Cec is short for Cecilia. Other than that, I don't know much about her.COMMENTS:-How many movies do we see where a former wrestler's sperm saves the world?-You might wonder where the idea came for the frog people. Basically, the idea stemmed from 'The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'.-I know making critical comments in a movie such as this is pretty futile but Sam should have used a knife instead of a katana to kill Captain Devlin.-When Rowdy Roddy is handed a contract to sign, if you watch carefully, you see him dot the 'i' when he signs his name. Obviously there is no 'i' in 'Sam Hell'! Roddy points this out in his interview in the extra's. He was signing his name as 'Roddy Piper'.CONCLUSIONS:'Hell Comes to Frogtown' is a low budget movie and should be judged that way. It at least has some recognizable names for it's time period even if they are for 'B' movie actors/actresses.There are some decent sets and the 'frog people' look pretty good. The acting is at best average and the movie comes across as being quite 'campy' at times. There is quite a bit of comedy in 'Frogtown' and it definitely made me laugh several times.I'm giving this release 5 stars. This is an excellent release for a little known 'cult classic'.RATINGS/RECOMMENDATIONS:Picture: 9/10 or 4 1/2 stars - It's as good as it's ever going to get.Extra's: 9/10 or 4 1/2 stars - These are excellentPlot: 7/10 or 3 1/2 stars - This is being judged as a low budget movie.SFX: 6/10 or 3 stars - The frog costumes were decent enough.Overall: 4 1/2 stars which I'm rounding up to 5-Recommended for 'dystopian future' diehards.-Recommended for fans of Roddy Piper and/or veteran B movie actor William Smith.-Recommended for fans of Roger Corman produced movies.ARE THERE ANY SEQUELS?: There are two sequels, 'Return to Frogtown' and 'Max Hell, Frog Warrior', neither of which star Roddy Piper.

Pro wrestlers ought to make great movie actors. They understand the act of creating a character, reacting to what others do during a performance, delivering their lines in a believable cadence and performing stunts. Sadly there are but a handful of pro wrestlers who have delivered when Hollywood came calling. For every Andre the Giant (The Princess Bride), The Rock and Jesse “The Body” Ventura (Predator, Running Man) delivering, audiences must suffer through the wooden and hammy thespian pain that’s Hulk Hogan (No Holds Barred, brother). In 1988 “Rowdy” Roddy Piper took time out of the ring to establish his acting chops in two memorable science fiction films. He's best known for John Carpenter’s They Live, as the only man in America to see the aliens among us. The film did well (as it should have) and the legendary fistfight was even riffed on a South Park episode. The premise was also lifted for a Simpsons Halloween episode. But it was the second film that became a bonafide cult ("cult" implying minority) classic - Hell Comes to Frogtown. This has him as one of the last fertile men on Earth.In the future, the Earth has been reduced to a radioactive wasteland thanks to a nuclear war that didn’t end after a few strategic missiles were launched. Not all of humanity was frizzle fried in the attacks. But sadly nearly all the men have become in fertile. Sam Hell (Piper) wanders the wasteland, but gets caught by an outpost of humanity when he hooks up with a local girl. He was in the process of being executed until the medical team discovers the woman is pregnant. Hell is given a choice, death or being an agent who will help repopulate the planet. Naturally Hell chooses the more fun option although it comes at a major price. The first is a weaponized codpiece to protect his precious fluids and make sure he doesn’t run away. The second is an assignment to head back to Frogtown where there’s rumors of women being held captive by the mutant amphibians. He’s assigned to be under the care of Spangle (the sexy Sandahl Bergman, Conan, Red Sonja, She), a military doctor who has been trained how to train and control a fertile man like Hell. She has a plan on how they’ll go into Helltown with him acting like she's’s his female slave that he’s eager to trade so they can get closer to the imprisoned human females. Things go right at first as Hell hooks up with his old wandering pal Looney Tunes (the great Roger Corman - and Francis Coppola - regular, William Smith). But as usual, the plan falls apart and Hell must improvise or humanity will fall to the empire of the mutant frogs.After the success of Mad Max and The Road Warrior, there was a wave of post apocalyptic scavenger movies. They pretty much had an outpost of humanity doing its best to survive on locations dressed to resemble Burning Man as if designed by the Fyre Festival planners. But none of those clones of Max had mutant frogs going against humanity which is what made this film so amazing. Certainly singular and wildly unique.Great performances by all: Piper is very likable, it's really a shame he wasn't utilized more often. His acting style here is not unlike Bruce Campbell's Ash in the Evil Dead series: Played straight with just a leeedle dusting of camp. None of that dreaded Fred Olen Ray garbage.The great Rory Calhoun (Angel, Avenging Angel, Motel Hell) is also terrific.Specs and extras:Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The 4K transfer is from the 35mm interpositive. The colors and resolution are excellent so you’ll see more of Roddy Piper and the mutant frogs. The audio is DTS-HD MA Stereo. The disc is subtitled(optional English).Audio Commentary with Cinematographer/director Donald G. Jackson (optical FX on Escape From New York) with writer/producer Randall Frakes goes in deep for how this joyful project came together. They trace their joining up creatively while working for Roger Corman to branching out making their own movies for New Line. Randall edited Aliens months before Frogtown. Both worked with James Cameron in various capacities from 1978 through True Lies (Frakes has a writing credit).Mean and Green (55:43) really explores the film with Randall Frakes. He admits they winged it and wanted it to mix underground comics with classic comics. He and Jackson met up while working on Galaxy of Terror at Corman. Their supervisor was James Cameron on that shoot.Grappling with Green Gargantuans (22:16) sits down with Roddy Piper. He never wanted to be an actor or an entertainer. But it happened to him. He said it was a tough movie to make because he didn’t get along with the director. He wasn’t even offered a chance to be in the sequel. He talks about getting serious about the movie after he got the script. He’s refreshingly candid about showbiz. He talks about his wife’s reaction to the role since he only told her he’d be fighting frogs. Sadly, Roddy passed away in 2015 and is dearly missed.Trailers and a SFX featurette as well.

*contains spoilersIn a world devastated by nuclear war, fertility [or lack of it] has become the most important thing because how else can you re-equip an army with soldiers to carry on fighting? The wartime radiation has made most of the men shoot blanks so the burly, not-so-smart, Sam Hell [wrestler, 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper] is a precious commodity. You see, old Sam shoots and scores. Every time. He's young, dumb and full of, you-know-what. His thingy is so important he has to wear a futuristic, chastity belt [with hatch] as he's literally, the future of the human race. A race of Roddys, what a thought. As some fertile women have been captured and taken to Frogtown, the lithe, attractive, bespectacled, Dr Spangle [Sandahl Bergman] and butch, no-nonsense, Centinella [Cec Verrell] together with Sam set out on a mission to rescue them. Why, they need him to go along is a bit of a mystery. Surely, if he's so important you'd leave him and his knackers behind. Travelling in their camp, pink van [yes, really], they reach Frogtown [an old factory by the looks of it] and meet up with grizzled, uranium prospector, Looney Tunes [50's western star, Rory Calhoun]. As its name suggests, Frogtown is populated with amphibians, the result of mutations caused by the radiation. With help from an embedded spy, Arabella [Kristi Somers], Sam and Spangle set out to free the girls from the evil clutches of Commander Toty [Brian Frank]. Made by cult, film-makers, New World Pictures [a few years after Corman has gone], it was directed by Donald Jackson and RJ Kiser. Although, Corman had vacated the scene, the finished film is still very Cormanesque in appearance. It would appear - at least, according to sfx artist, Steve Wang - that there were problems on the set and that Jackson's role became more diminished at filming continued. Piper claims in the interview, that the director hated him and never wanted him. Which director he meant is unclear. Filmed during 1987 at the dusty landscapes of 'Indian Dunes', Southern California, it came out a year before Piper's more famous turn in Carpenter's, They Live [1988]. I have no recollection of this film at the cinemas so I guess, it was a direct-to-video release. OK, this is ridiculous. I'll go further, this is probably the most ridiculous film I've ever seen. That doesn't make it the worst film I've ever seen though because you know what ... it's good fun. And, sometimes you need that. It's actually quite well made considering its limited budget and the cast carry it off with just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek. Roddy is no actor but he suits this material very well and he's obviously enjoying himself. Which means that we enjoy ourselves watching him. The impressive creature effects by Wang are a bonus. Of the rest of the cast, Bergdahl comes across best and it's nice to see an old hand like Calhoun again. Under the make-up, Frank and Somers give character to their respective roles. Given its silly premise, it is full of quotable lines that you'll be saying long after you've watched it. If you don't like this then you have no heart, if you really love it and it's your favourite film then you've probably got no brain. As you would expect, this is another top notch Arrow release. The image has a layer of light grain which makes it look very cinematic. The only blemishes are the usual black spots and flecks of dust and dirt on the film. They are hardly noticeable. The sound could probably do with a boost because some dialogue is difficult to discern. The extras include a 21 minute interview with the amiable Piper, a 15 minute interview with Wang discussing his mechanical frog's heads and the actors within and a 13 minute interview with Brian Frank. No English subtitles.

I think this is a great B-movie with quite interesting production values and a hilarious and cheesy plot that makes up for a extremely entertaining and unassuming post-apocalyptic flick.I do not quite understand if many a wannabe critic has in the back of their minds films like Mad-Max 2, Escape from New York or...Return of the Jedi, but for me Hell comes to Frogtown is competently enough directed, edited, acted and produced overall.Some say Troma would have done a better product overall having been behind Donald G. Jackson's outing but, having seen almost all of the Troma output I can rightly say that the Frogtown we actually have just outclasses any tromatic feature.As for the Arrow blu-ray edition I can only say that it is fantastic. Terrific. Another five-star release. Once again. Bravo

This review is for the U.K.ARROW release on blu ray.The late great Roddy Piper's 2nd best known role as Sam Hell in his first movie,which wasn't written for him to show off his sports skills,when he gets hit he falls,he bleeds.The next best thing about the movie is his leading lady Sandahl Bergman,a very lithe figure and gets to wear very little in a few scenes.No commentary but interviews with Roddy (22 mins) Brian Franks/frog leader (14 mins) & Steve Wang/frog animatronics-masks (15 mins) all conducted by Callum Waddel.The picture quality was very bright but the colours weren't as vivid as expected for a HD transfer.So not a top notch release for extra's/transfer loses it a point for me.- no "f bombs" in the film but a few strong words in each interview.

Very far from being the world's greatest movie. It's kinda dumb with fairly laughable acting and script - but it's still entertaining in its own way. This bluray from Arrow is a nice upgrade from my old DVD. The image is a a big grainy in the darker shots but is passable. My only real disappointment is the lack of subtitles (useful for late night viewing when I can't turn the volume up too loud.

The item came really fast, in perfect condition.Everything is as described. The story is great - real classic exploitation from 80's,picture quality is perfect.100 % entertainment.The price is cheap, but that's hard-to-find title so, don't hesitate - BUY IT NOW!