SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

mark.waltz I have mixed feelings about this TV movie which on one hand is a silly look at the lives of some pathetic creatures in rubber suits who live in desert mountain caves and only seem to roam the earth when one of them ventures out and is killed by man, just so they can retrieve the body and seek vengeance on the guilty parties. A prologue informs the audience that gargoyles are earthbound creatures of Satan out to mankind harm, so this appears to be along the supernatural lines. But as the movie develops, it is quickly revealed that this is nothing more than a sand set "Creature From the Black Lagoon" where one of the gargoyles (Bernie Casey) actually talks, philosophizes and tries to make their abducted victim (Jennifer Salt) aware of their motives. Her father (veteran actor Cornel Wilde) is a research scientist determined to get the skeleton of a 500 year old gargoyle to his university to either prove its existence or prove that its a fake. Legends of the natives of the area claim that they indeed are real, so Wilde is determined to find the truth.While, at just 75 minutes, this flies by and is quite entertaining, there are mixed messages coming from the film's theme. The gargoyles can be quite violent and deadly when one of their own (even a 500 year old skeleton) is killed or in the possession of the evil human. They can fly onto rooftops, rip the tops of cars and doors off, and cause fires with their incredible strength, yet they can also feel pain and grief like humans can. When Salt is kidnapped, one of the gargoyles strokes her face with great affection, and parts like that are quite haunting. Just free from her many roles on the gothic soap opera "Dark Shadows", Oscar nominee Grayson Hall is pointlessly wasted (both in the quality of her part and her character's constant need for a drink), and I longed to see and hear more of that sensational gravely voice of hers. Wilde seems a bit too old to be Salt's father, and she isn't a very interesting young heroine to begin with. That leaves the acting to rubber faced Casey who is a combination of Maurice Evans from "Planet of the Apes" and James Earl Jones from "Star Wars", yet there isn't enough time to fully develop his character so you really can get to know what these strange mythical creatures are all about.

Sam Panico When I was a kid, I remember asking my dad what movies he thought were scary. He answered Night of the Living Dead and Gargoyles, so I was always nervous to watch this movie. It just looked strange and in the late 70s, it wasn't like I could on demand find it. Even today, it's hard to find on DVD (but YouTube is a whole different story).]Originally airing on CBS on November 21st, 1972, it was directed by Bill L. Norton (Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend, More American Graffiti) and written by Steven and Elinor Karpf (Devil Dog: The Hound from Hell, The Jayne Mansfield Story), Gargoyles may be uneven, but has moments of pure joy.It's one of the first films Stan Winston (Terminator, Aliens) worked on, providing a variety of gargoyle makeup. The look of the creatures is wonderful, as they don't all look the same. And the leader (Bernie Casey (Felix Leiter in Never Say Never Again, UN Washington in Revenge of the Nerds) has the perfect look that balances a regal bearing with an otherworldly aura. You can see why this won an Emmy. It's big budget worthy work on a shoestring budget.Speaking of budget, the film was shot with just one camera over 18 days; a fact that chased away the original director. Temperatures at the Carlsbad, NM location baked the cast and crew, reaching 100 degrees or more the entire shoot. So it's amazing that what emerged is so interesting.Read more at http://bit.ly/2xXAaGS

Scott LeBrun The Gargoyles of legend hatch en masse every 600 years or so, and their time has come again. Dedicated to wiping out mankind in order to ensure their own survival, they start attacking the residents of a small desert community. An anthropology professor named Mercer Boley (Cornel Wilde) and his perky daughter Diana (Jennifer Hall) come to this place to meet with a curiosity shop proprietor, Uncle Willie (Woody Chambliss), and soon realize the nature of the situation when the shop is attacked and Uncle Willie is killed. The local police chief (William Stevens) rounds up a gang of dirt bikers who he assumes are the ones who killed Willie, only to end up needing their services in order to combat the winged creatures.'Gargoyles' is never really scary, but it is suitably eerie in spots and has a touch of style to it, with director Bill L. Norton employing some slow motion in the Gargoyle action scenes. The use of locations and the photography (by Earl Rath) is excellent, and the music score by Robert Prince is quite enjoyable as well. Certainly you can't go wrong with this top notch cast that also includes Grayson Hall as a motel owner, Bernie Casey as the head Gargoyle (this man sure has a presence on screen), Scott Glenn as heroic biker James Reeger, and Vic Perrin supplying the voice of Casey's character. This being a TV movie of the era, it has a short & sweet running time, with a story (concocted by Steven & Elinor Karpf) that moves along quite nicely, although that brief running time also means a rather rushed conclusion. The superb makeup (which earned an Emmy) was supervised by Del Armstrong and executed by Ellis Burman Jr. & a young Stan Winston.Recommended to all fans of the made-for-TV horror films of the 1970s.Eight out of 10.

freejack man I was 8 years old when this came on TV. I have not seen it since, and I ran across it on Youtube this morning. I'm watching it right now. And I now realized I forgot a lot of it. But the scary scene out in desert with the shadow of the gargoyle was creepy and scare today.Now the father and daughter are out in desert in evening and there is something on the roof of car. It's scary.I'm tired of people trashing movies because really its about poor CGI.I like "trashy" cheap movies, like the Asylum, because it's not about the special effects.I watched Jack the Giant Killer and it was lifeless, just special effects.I'll take a so-called trashy movie any day of the week.This movie is good. Somewhat poorly acted, but it's kitsch.