PANAMA CITY, Fla. – It’s Halloween time yet again in Central Florida, and there are few things like a scary movie to help get in the spirit of things.
Of course, there are plenty of pop-culture horror icons, such as Freddy Kreuger, Jason Vorhees, and the killer shark from “Jaws.”
But what about frogs?
That was the idea behind this 1972 eco-horror film — aptly dubbed “Frogs” — which was filmed in a few locations across Florida: Walton County, Panama City and Eden Gardens State Park.
The movie featured Oscar-winner Ray Milland and 28-year-old Sam Elliott, who would later go on to star in other noted films like “The Big Lebowski” and “The Quick and the Dead.”
As for the plot of the movie? The state archives sarcastically summarize it as follows:
“The plot involves a young photojournalist searching for answers as to why so many amphibians seem to be congregating around an old plantation and its dysfunctional residents.
By coincidence (or maybe not?) the family patriarch is in the pesticides business, and has been busily spraying his property to kill every insect on the place. Everything seems peachy until he invites a crowd out to the house for his birthday celebration.
That’s when the frogs begin showing up.
Bunches and bunches of hungry frogs with something of a grudge against the man who denied them their flies and ‘skeeters.’ The rest is so terrifying, we’ll have to let you watch the movie yourself to find out about it.”
Florida State Archives, “Creepy, Crawly, Froggy Florida Filmmaking”
As a horror movie, “Frogs” flopped hard, being panned by many critics of the time.
“The film has little of value to offer. Theoutdoor photography is fairly competent; the indoor photography less than competent. The dialog is silly and insipid, the acting likewise,” a critic for The Evening Independent wrote at the time of release. “The horror is mediocre and the gore almost nil.”
Oddly enough, the frogs in the film aren’t actually the lead killer. That role belongs to the other wildlife — snakes, tarantulas, lizards and more — that appear in the movie.
But the strange camp has caused “Frogs” to garner a sort of cult-classic status for some.
“‘Frogs’ is wild. It’s hilarious. It’s the horror movie you didn’t know you needed,” another critic for The Week wrote in 2018.
But unlike the film, the Wesley Mansion where it was filmed has much more history.
According to the state archives, the now over 100-year-old mansion was named for the timber family that built it in 1987, and it sits along the Tucker Bayou next to Choctawhatchee Bay.
It was eventually sold in 1955 and began to fall into disrepair. But in 1963, retired journalist and heiress Lois Maxon bought the property and had it fixed up.
A short time later in 1968, the property was taken over by the state and converted into Eden Gardens State Park, where “Frogs” would ultimately be shot.
Want to read up on more strange stories from across the Sunshine State? If so, visit News 6′s Florida Fables page here.
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