← Back to Reviews
in
Hell Comes To Frogtown (Donald G. Jackson & R.J. Kizer 1987) - Trash rating
Being British I don't really know that much about Rowdy Roddy Piper except that he was a big time wrestler who went on to make a few action movies - most famously John Carpenter's minor cult classic They Live (1988). Hell Comes To Frogtown was one of his first forays into what we might loosely call 'acting'. The film was directed by Donald G. Jackson & R.J. Kizer, the former having since delivered some of the worst B-movies ever made - including three awful Frogtown sequels and the imaginatively titled Lingerie Kickboxer (1998). Kizer has mainly worked as a sound editor since, though back in 1982 he was associaste producer and editing supervisor on Arron Lipstadt's underrated Sci-Fi flick Android, and in 1981 worked on special effects for John Carpenter's Escape From New York - Let's hope he wasn't responsible for that paper wall. Frogtown was written by one Randall Frakes who also worked on Jackson's 'other franchise', his Rollerblade movies. Looking at the picture above you might think this was a parody of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, though whilst the frogs may vaguely resemble Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's creations, Hell Comes To Frogtown as whole is quite different.
Being British I don't really know that much about Rowdy Roddy Piper except that he was a big time wrestler who went on to make a few action movies - most famously John Carpenter's minor cult classic They Live (1988). Hell Comes To Frogtown was one of his first forays into what we might loosely call 'acting'. The film was directed by Donald G. Jackson & R.J. Kizer, the former having since delivered some of the worst B-movies ever made - including three awful Frogtown sequels and the imaginatively titled Lingerie Kickboxer (1998). Kizer has mainly worked as a sound editor since, though back in 1982 he was associaste producer and editing supervisor on Arron Lipstadt's underrated Sci-Fi flick Android, and in 1981 worked on special effects for John Carpenter's Escape From New York - Let's hope he wasn't responsible for that paper wall. Frogtown was written by one Randall Frakes who also worked on Jackson's 'other franchise', his Rollerblade movies. Looking at the picture above you might think this was a parody of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, though whilst the frogs may vaguely resemble Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's creations, Hell Comes To Frogtown as whole is quite different.
After an amusing opening sequence involving a masked croaking gunman, we're once again told how there's been a nuclear war and the world has been ravaged leaving women in charge. Not only is there nothing left but california desert and dusty warehouses, but radiation has caused evolved mutations, and the population has been rendered infertile; all except Sam Hell (Piper looking like Steve Irwin) that is. No sooner are we introduced to our hero than he's captured by the female government who need him as a stud service. Poor Sam (or lucky depending on your outlook) is fitted with a male chastity belt doubling as a bomb set to go off should he stray more than a hundred yards from his captors. Yup Sam's crown jewels are government property and he's given a mission to locate and impregante a hareem of fertile women being held captive by mutant frogs. To help and keep him in check along the way are two female body guards, love interest Spangles (Sandahl Bergman) and tough chick Sentinella (Cec Verell) who looks like a Lara Croft prototype...
Hell Comes To Frogtown is one of those ludicrously titled 'aiming for cult status' B-movies played entirely with tongue firmly in cheek. It's incredibly cheap looking, with what appears to be a pink Morris Minor (or it's American equivalent) with an M60 mounted on top serving as Sam's main mode of transport. Locations consist of one abandoned industrial estate out in the California desert, as most of the miniscule budget was undoubtedly spent on the better than average frog makeups. But for all it's budgetary shortcomings Hell Comes to Frogtown manages to be highly watchable and charming thanks to Piper's likable on screen persona, and some witty interplay with Bergman's sexy Spangles (did I really just say that?). I loved the exploding chastity belt idea and couldn't help laughing at the thought of Hell's unmentionables orbiting the nearest planet should his mission fail. It's lowbrow stuff indeed that often verges on soft porn - there's actually no nudity save for a pair of briefly glimpsed breasts - but carried off with such verve that it's hard not to go along with the fun. The film does drag in places with action scenes a little too few and far between, but such is the chemistry between Piper, Bergman and Verrell that the somewhat uneventful story is forgivable. What action scenes there are are slapdash and amateurish at best, this is most evident when an air bag can clearly been seen in shot towards the end of the film. Overall Hell Comes to Frogtown is really only recommended for goofy B-movie enthusiasts and Piper fans. It's not a gore movie, and there's hardly any real violence on offer if that's your thing. But if you like B-movies and think this looks like fun, chances are you'll enjoy it.