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2004 - 80m.

I thought the days of people dressing up in cheesy monster suits were reserved for Halloween parties and haunted houses. After growing up on a steady diet of classic monster movies, I often look back on those films with fond memories of a more innocent time. It seems as though a few of today's low budget filmmakers also have a nostalgic imagination and recent years have brought us The Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra and now Frog-g-g! While Lost Skeleton is completely aware of what it is, Frog-g-g! doesn't want to commit to seriousness or send-up.

Kristi Russell stars as Dr. Barbara Michaels, a lesbian EPA agent who is out to investigate a chemical company in small town America. After the standard run-in with the chemical plant owner, Barbara tries to continue her investigation while pissing off the locals. After a couple of nude scenes, Barbara and her lover are in an accident when a giant frog runs in front of their car. The amphibious villain takes it upon himself to rape the sheriff's daughter, disrupt the high school football game, rape another girl under the bleachers, and he finally ends up at a Catholic school for girls (complete with Catholic school girls in lingerie). It is up to Barbara, her girlfriend, the sheriff named Buford (who was awesome and reminded me of Buford Pusser), and a couple of yokels to put an end to the toxic menace.

I really, really wanted to love this movie and I totally thought I would. Director Cody Jarrett did a splendid job of capturing the feeling of an old-school B-movie but the problem was that at times I was a little bored. There was a lot of uninspiring exposition in the first half and the frog did not even make his first decent appearance until the 40 minute mark. Another problem was that the film was played almost entirely for laughs and I didn't find the frog posed too much of a threat. For a movie like this to work on a higher level than B-movie wackiness, you need at least a little bit of suspense. This would have been a lot better if it was not trying so hard to be funny.

That being said, when the frog was on the screen, every second was pure gold. The way he moved, the sound effects, and the look of the creature were both bizarre and hilarious. The actor who played the frog, John Ponzio, saved the film. He really made the character something other than just a guy in a suit and created a love child of Kermit and a cheerleader who is high on ecstasy. There was also a decent amount of nudity (although somewhat restrained), no CGI, and where else are you going to see a giant frog defile a woman while ribbiting? I also want to mention the awesome theme song which was about the title character. I wish more filmmakers would do stuff like that.

I am very curious what Cody Jarrett will come up with after this film has run it's course. I am hoping he can learn from his mistakes because I think he has the potential to really make a mark on the world of B-movies. He just needs to think more about his audience and how it will play out to them. He should also keep in mind that if you are going to make a homage to exploitation movies, you had best be exploiting things. Look for cult movie legend Mary Woronov (Hollywood Boulevard, Death Race 2000) as a doctor and also look for an extremely brief cameo from actor James Duval (The Doom Generation) as a potential rapist.

Visit the official website for more info! (Josh Pasnak, 9/22/05)

Directed By: Cody Jarrett.
Written By: Cody Jarrett.

Starring: Kristi Russell, Ariadne Shaffer, Rob Brink.