10 Horror Films Much Weirder Than You Remember

In Q: The Winged Serpent, a flying beast terrorises New York, compelling three plucky heroes to do all they can to destroy it. Although it's easy to misremember Q: The Winged Serpent as a cheesy stop-motion creature feature, it's bats**t crazy from beginning to end.

More specifically, the plot is far more complicated than it needs to be. Rather than just telling the story of a monster attacking the city, Q: The Winged Serpent centres around Neo-Aztec cult members committing ritual killings to resurrect the God of Life and Wisdom, Quetzalcoatl, aka the big, bad lizard.

With the kaiju tearing up New York, it's up to Detective Shepard (David Carradine), Sgt Powell (Richard Roundtree), and Jimmy Quinn (Michael Moriarty) to save the day. Even though Carradine and Roundtree play their roles seriously, Moriarty acts like he's in a different movie. Channelling his inner Christopher Walken, Moriarty has a unique way to deliver lines, occasionally throwing in indecipherable noises for good measure.

Although the ritual killing subplot and Moriarty's performance aren't awful, it's peculiar how they are the surrealist part of a movie revolving around a flying dragon.