20 Bizarre Photos From the Set of “The Food of the Gods” (1976)

The Food of the Gods is a 1976 American-Canadian science fiction horror film, written, produced, and directed by Bert I. Gordon. Starring Marjoe Gortner, Pamela Franklin, Ralph Meeker, Jon Cypher, and Ida Lupino, the film was loosely based on a portion of the 1904 H. G. Wells novel The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth. The film reduced Wells’ tale to a “nature revenge” plot, common in science fiction films of the time.

Joseph E. Levine first purchased the film rights to H. G. Wells’ novella The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth (1904) in 1965 and hired Bert I. Gordon to direct and produce a partial adaptation of it as Village of the Giants (1965) at his studio Embassy Pictures. Nine years later, American International Pictures announced another partial adaptation of the novella directed and co-produced again by Gordon.

Production of the film began with special effects shots in Montreal in November 1974. Gordon created a special effects process that would create the illusion of humans interacting with massive animals by splicing together footage of animals shot by second-unit crews. Special effects designer Thomas R. Burman created rat costumes that allowed for the giant rats in the film to be played by child actors, including his own son. The rest of the film was shot on location in Bowen Island, British Columbia. Shooting was delayed by two minor earthquake and a blizzard. The film had a $900,000 budget.

The plot of the movie differs from Wells’ novella in that the “food” is a man-made substance in the novella and the action takes place in England, not British Columbia. It was Pamela Franklin’s last film, although she made television appearances for another five years, before retiring from acting altogether in 1981.

The Food of the Gods was nominated for the Best Horror Film by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films in the 4th Saturn Awards in 1976. The German movie satire show Die schlechtesten Filme aller Zeiten (“The Worst Movies of All Time”) showed the movie on TV in 2018. Michael Medved’s book The Golden Turkey Awards named the film Worst Rodent Movie of All Time.