New World Pictures released Hell Comes to Frogtown on 1 January 1988.
It is an odd little film. It is both a 13-year-old boy’s sexual fantasy and also a feminist statement. Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death is similar in this way. It makes me wonder. Were men in the late-1980s trying to come to terms with the expanded roles of women in society? It was decades late but welcome nonetheless!
Hell Comes to Frogtown has a very dark view of humanity. The government is trying to repopulate the nation so it can destroy its enemies. Sounds like the humans I know!
Of course, the film ends in the most conventional way possible. Sam Hell (Roddy Piper) finally drives the car away with Spangle (Sandahl Bergman) smooching him from the passenger seat. You know, like God intended!
The mutant frogs are really well done here. And by that, I mean they work really well. They look ridiculous. Freddie the Frog from New Zoo Revue would fit right in! But that’s part of the charm.
Many have noted that Hell Comes to Frogtown is a rip-off of Mad Max. That’s true in a general sense. It is a post-apocalyptic road film. But the plot is actually way more interesting than the original film.
Its connection to Mad Max: Fury Road is much more interesting. You could say it is a reworking of Hell. But all the problems with the earlier film are fixed. Of course, it has no frog people. And it isn’t even a comedy. But I think the two would make a hell of a double feature!
Hell Comes to Frogtown via Wikipedia under Fair Use.
