Frogs

On a windswept island estate, a cantankerous aging millionaire invites his scattered family to celebrate his birthday, creating a tense tableau of old grievances and rivalries. Among the guests is a free thinking photographer documenting pollution for an ecology magazine, offering a counterpoint to the host's scorched earth sensibility. The patriarch despises nature, routinely poisoning plants and pests that intrude on his property, and he treats the island as a private fiefdom. As night deepens, the once tranquil grounds begin to push back against his cruelty. Frogs, insects, and other creatures become ominous witnesses to the cruelty of humans. The mood grows claustrophobic as the environment itself seems to exact a spiteful punishment and silence the party goers this night.

Directed by George McCowan, Frogs arrived in 1972 as a mid range eco shocker. It adapts ideas from Robert Blees and Robert Hutchison while boasting a notable cast led by Ray Milland, Sam Elliott, Joan Van Ark, and Judy Pace.

At the box office, Frogs grossed about 1.9 million dollars worldwide, a modest return for a creature feature of its era and budget, reflecting limited distribution across drive ins and selective theaters, appealing mainly to horror fans around the globe.

Frogs sits in the wave of 1970s ecological horror that used nature as a mirror for human folly. Its practical creature effects and island setting helped define a subgenre that paired social satire with thrills, earning a modest cult following among horror fans.

Critics treated Frogs as a campy but sharp take on wealth and nature, mixing practical creature effects with social bite. The film skewers environmental neglect and human arrogance, suggesting that the natural world can strike back when land is degraded, a theme that echoed through late 70s eco horror today.