Q

A giant winged serpent has taken up residence in a New York skyscraper, and the city is slow to understand what is happening. Workers on high buildings vanish or turn up dead, while the police investigate a separate string of killings in which the victims have been flayed. Detective Shepard comes to see the murders as ritual sacrifices tied to the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, whom the ancient sources depict as a feathered snake.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Quinn, a small-time crook on the run after a bungled jewel robbery, stumbles onto the creature's nest. He sees a chance to profit from what he knows, though a modern Aztec cult is also watching, and his scheme puts him within reach of the monster.

Larry Cohen wrote, produced and directed the film, which followed his earlier features Black Caesar and It's Alive and came before The Stuff. Michael Moriarty plays Quinn, with Candy Clark as Joan, David Carradine as Shepard, Richard Roundtree as Powell, James Dixon and Malachy McCourt in supporting roles. Cohen made the film for about one million dollars. On IMDb it holds 6 out of 10 from roughly eleven thousand votes, on TMDB 5.7 out of 10 from about five hundred.