And they want me to wear this creepy wig, too!
It can be a bit unsettling when a movie combines traditional horror schlock with some actual quality elements, and Gargoyles (1972) does that. It postulates that the gargoyles found on buildings from the Medieval period are actually a reference to a race of creatures competing with humanity for mastery of the planet. Set in the late 20th century, the story revolves around the suggestion that the lifecycle of the gargoyle race is that they are an egg-laying race in which the eggs can lay unattended for long periods of time, and then hatch. In our story’s case, the setting is the Southwest desert of the United States, in and around the small town of, well, I forget.
A local man, Uncle Willie, who specializes in oddities of nature, has discovered an unusual winged skeleton in the desert and contacted a naturalist, Dr. Boley, offering to sell it to him. The naturalist shows up with his adult daughter, Diana, in tow, but as they discuss the skeleton, the house is assaulted by unknown forces and caves in, killing Willie, and then catches fire. The skull of the skeleton is saved, and Dr. Boley and Diana escape the inferno. However, their car is damaged by the unknown forces, and they can only make it back to town, where they put their car in for repairs and take a room at the little hotel.
The next day they report the incident and return to the scene with the police. There they discover some trouble making dirt-bikers, who the police blame for the trouble. That evening, though, their hotel room is broken into, they are assaulted, and the skull is stolen by men in rubber suits leathery creatures. Making their escape, one of the two creatures is hit a semi and killed. Dr. Boley deems swapping the skull for the body of his attacker to be a fair deal and begins examining it. Harassed by the proprietor of the hotel, Dr. Boley and Diana decide to leave with their prize in their repaired car, but, delayed by Diana’s failed attempt to free the dirt bikers, they are intercepted by more of the, uh, leathery guys, who rip the doors off their car, tip it over, pull out the body of their fallen comrade, and finally kidnap Diana, the latter effected by a winged creature.
Dr. Boley discovers the lair of the monsters is a nearby cave system, and is briefly captured but breaks away, and now it’s time for your good old-fashioned monster hunt, complete with yelping dogs and guys with guns; the dirt-bikers also volunteer to help. One on one, the critters’ claws outclass mankind, mostly, but guns even the odds, and in the end all but two of the creatures are dead in a heap – the last two flying off to breed and keep up the clandestine battle for the world.
For all that this fits into the hokey sub-genre of monster movies, of the “there’s more to history than you might guess” variety, there are some competent elements here. The chemistry between Dr. Boley and his daughter Diana is warm and relaxed. Dr. Boley himself is written as a believable character, doggedly logical in his approach to the skeleton and the creatures which appear; he only gives in to manly hysterics when his daughter disappears. Unfortunately, the cops and the dirt-bikers add little to the story; Uncle Willie, as well as the proprietor of the hotel, give us a little more gristle to chew on, although they’re clearly not central characters.
And the gargoyles themselves, for all that their costumes are sometimes too obviously rubber suits, are given some thought by the storytellers. They display concern for each other, they shower affection on their young, and their actions towards humans, given the history of genocide between the two races, makes sense. It wasn’t just a bunch of guys in costume running around caves killing each other.
Still, the miasma of bad horror movies tends to cling to this movie in the persons of some of the supporting characters and elements of the plot itself, not to mention the occasional plot hole. I certainly don’t recommend it, but simply note that there are some thoughtful elements present.
