Q (film)

Q: The Winged Serpent
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Larry Cohen
Produced by	Larry Cohen
Written by	Larry Cohen
Starring	Michael Moriarty Candy Clark David Carradine Richard Roundtree James Dixon Ron Cey
Music by	Robert O. Ragland
Cinematography	Robert Levi Fred Murphy
Edited by	Armond Lebowitz
Distributed by	United Film Distribution Company (UFDC)
Release date	October 29, 1982 (USA)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.1 million

Q (also known as The Winged Serpent and as Q – The Winged Serpent) is a 1982 dark fantasy-horror film written and directed by Larry Cohen and starring Michael Moriarty, Candy Clark, David Carradine, and Richard Roundtree.

The Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, a winged, dragon-like, female lizard, decides to take up residence in the art-deco spire of the Chrysler Building, taking frequent jaunts in the midday sun to devour various hapless New Yorkers. The resulting bloody mess confounds detectives Dt. Shepard (David Carradine) and Sgt. Powell (Richard Roundtree), who are already occupied with a case involving a series of bizarre ritual murders linked to a secret Aztec cult. Meanwhile, Jimmy Quinn (Michael Moriarty), a cheap, paranoid crook who wishes to be a jazz pianist, takes part in a botched diamond heist that leads him to the creature's lair atop the building. This causes Quinn's attempts to settle down and turn over a new leaf from crime to be in vain as he decides to extort from the city an enormous amount of money in exchange for directions to the creature's nest, which houses a colossal egg.

The details of the location fall into Shepard's hands, and he leads a paramilitary assault on the Chrysler Building. First, they shoot the egg, the baby attacks and is killed. Later, the creature comes to the tower. After the showdown, the creature, riddled with bullets, falls onto the streets of Manhattan. Finally, Shepard also apprehends and shoots the Plumed Serpent's crazed priest as he prepares to ritually murder Quinn to resurrect his "god". In the final scene, an egg hatches at a different location as the screen fades to black.

Q was shot on location in and around New York City's Chrysler Building and uses the interior of the building's tower crown as a primary location.