Halloween Movie Madness '13: Q: The Winged Serpent

It's October!  The doorway to not only the start of the greatest food season (early October to Christmas), but also to sexy nurses, zombies, and grown men dressing up like ponies.  That also means it is time once again for Halloween Movie Madness!  This year, I'll be taking a look back at the movies of my youth.  Every movie this year was released before I turned eighteen.  These are the Halloween movies that shaped me into the man I am today.  Some of them are scary.  Some are funny.  Some are fantastical.  Some are just weird.  And not all of them are good.  But to me, they are all Halloween movies.  Now, stand back, for your own safety!  

Q: The Winged Serpent
1982

A giant monster movie based on the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, starring Kwai Chang Caine, Shaft, and Assistant District Attorney Benjamin Stone.  The movie tagline is "It's name is Quetzalcoatl... just call it Q, that's all you'll have time to say before it tears you apart!" Sounds awesome, doesn't it?

My memories of this movie are few, but strong.  I remember at least one decapitation, something bad happening to a rooftop sunbather, someone in a rooftop pool, and the fact that the creature was done with stop-motion animation.  It's almost like I'm going to be watching this for the first time, so I'm really looking forward to this.

Things start out normally, with a window washer creeping on some lady in her office.  He gets his though, because Q comes along and rips his head off.

I'm glad it happened though, because the sound of the squeegee on the window was like nails on a chalkboard.  That alone warranted his death.

I love the little pffft of blood at the very end there.  It even makes that sound.

We get to see the cops not being able to figure out where the head went, and then we cut to a scene of some guys in a restaurant, with someone standing there cutting the skin off some meat.  I can't pinpoint why, but I seem to remember this scene bothering me.

Anyway, the guys eating are planning some kind of heist, and trying to talk Michael Moriarty into being the wheel man.  He said he would think about it, and then we get another shot of the meat.

Okay, now it's a maid... she's screaming... and there is why the meat skinning scene was so disturbing! There is a guy who was skinned.  And we actually see a guy getting his cheek sliced off!  Ew! However, nice foreshadowing!

So, now we have a cult flaying(that distinction is made known) people.  That makes three intertwined stories.  

Since you know how I am about spoilers, so I won't go any further into the story.  I will divulge that the sunbather is topless, so there you go.

Now, here are a few more gifs with no context.

Q: The Winged Serpent is better than I remembered.  It is by no means a good movie, but it is a lot of fun.  Well, unless you don't want to see ritual sacrifices where people get flayed.  You know, that's kind of a fun word to say.

Flayed.

See you tomorrow for Innocent Blood.