In the 70's "Nature Runs Amuck" horror flicks were fairly common and Frogs fits completely into the sub-genre and actually manages to be a pretty solid, if tame, drive-in flick.

A young Sam Elliott (who it seems would become typecast later in his career as either a cowboy or military man) plays a freelance photographer who ends-up at the island of crotchety old, wheelchair bound rich matriarch Ray Milland after his canoe is tipped over by Milland's grandson. He's asked to stay for lunch and join in on their festivities as they're holding an annual July 4th/Birthday party but soon enough things start to go awry when it turns out all the creatures in the surrounding area decide to go after the human race as revenge for pollution (a standard plot device in this type of film).

While it's hard to feel menace from things like turtles and the title creatures (who despite the movie being named after them aren't responsible for any of the deaths - and are usually just shown in close-ups croaking away) and the entire thing feels pretty soap operatic due to all the characters endlessly bickering and some stilted dialogue; this gets some fuel from its steady direction, a decent cast (Elliott does fine with Milland being the stand-out here), Les Baxter's good minimalist score, and enough silliness to make it watchable.

It's just too bad that the best parts of Frogs happen to be its tagline ("Today the pond, tomorrow the World!") and lurid poster art (a frog with a human hand in its mouth). (Chris Hartley, 1/18/05)

Directed By: George McCowan.
Written By: Robert Blees, Robert Hutchison.

Starring: Ray Milland, Sam Elliott, Joan Van Ark, Adam Roarke.