The Food of the Gods
The Food of the Gods is a horror film from the year 1976. It was directed by Bert I. Gordon, so it naturally has people fighting against (badly done) giant things.
Loosely based on a H. G. Wells novel The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth, the film follows football player Morgan who, on a trip with his friends to an island near the British Columbia, encounters giant wasps which kill one of his friends. He later discovers that the insects got huge due to a weird substance which is bubbling from the ground and any offspring of whichever eats it will grow into giants. Unfortunately, rats have eaten the stuff and their litters are also growing into unusual sizes....
In 1989 the film got an In Name Only sequel Food of the Gods 2.
Tropes used in The Food of the Gods include:
- American Gothic Couple: Copy of the painting can be seen on Mrs. Miller's wall.
- Applied Phlebotinum
- Attack of the Killer Whatever
- Attack Pattern Alpha
- Behind the Black: Shown in one scene when Mr. Skinner encounters the rats in the dark.
- Berserk Board Barricade
- Big Creepy-Crawlies
- Bullet Time
- Closed Circle: The island.
- Damsel in Distress
- Dangerous Windows
- Death by Materialism: Jack Bensington's fate.
- Don't Go in The Woods
- Dramatic Thunder
- Everything's Better with Chickens: Big ones!
- Everything's Better with Cows: Normal sized cows appear at the end.
- Everything's Worse with Bees: These "wasps" look more like mosquitos.
- Forced Perspective: Most of the rat effects.
- Fun with Acronyms: The jars containing the size-altering substance are labeled as F.O.T.G.
- Gaia's Vengeance: Morgan mentions in the opening narration the time when his father warned him about this.
- Hollywood Darkness
- Huddle Power: Shown in the opening football game.
- Impending Doom POV
- In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It
- Kill It with Fire: Morgan destroys the wasps by setting their nest on fire. The fire somehow vaporizes the whole thing without leaving anything behind.
- Kill It with Water: A dam is blown up to drown the rats who, due to their size, are unable to swim. It is notable that the dam is next to the ocean and water level on the island rises above the sea level.
- Molotov Cocktail
- Numbered Sequels: Food of the Gods 2.
- Pistol-Whipping: Morgan kills the leader rat by bashing its brains in with the butt of his shotgun.
- Rodents of Unusual Size
- Too Dumb to Live: When our protagonists board up the house, they somehow forget the door.
- Touch of the Monster: As seen above.
- The Swarm
- Window Pain
- The X of Y