NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (August 2024): Kino have transferred Bert I. Gordon's The Food Of The Gods to Blu-ray for their 10th title of their sub-label. In 2015 we reviewed the Shout! Factory Blu-ray HERE, that was paired with Bert I. Gordon's Frogs on a single disc. The Kino provides the film with its own dual-layer housed transfer with a sub substantial rise in bitrate over the older Shout! Factory. Like Empire of the Ants there is another uptick in image quality improving with richer, deeper colors and more subtly defined contrast. The superiority is quite mild but does exist. Bottom line is that it is better, if only modestly.

NOTE: We have added 36 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (24-bit) in the original English language. The Food Of The Gods has animal aggression - mostly rodents and a rooster but it comes in conjunction with a wildly scattered camera. Not much challenge for the bass abilities. There is a score by Elliot Kaplan (Strange New World), sounding unremarkable but there is consistent dialogue in the lossless transfer. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers two commentaries, The first is new by film historian John Harrison, author of WILDCAT!: The Films of Marjoe Gortner. Gortner ('Morgan' in The Food Of The Gods) was a former evangelist preacher but had an acting career from the 1970s to the 1990s.The name "Marjoe" is a portmanteau of the biblical names "Mary" and "Joseph". Fascinating information is shared about his life. Harrison provides plenty of details and his Aussie accent was easily discernable. The second commentary is the previous one with "Mr. Big" Bert I. Gordon, hosted by Kevin Michaels, that was on the Shout! Factory Blu-ray. It's fairly placid but informative about the achieving some of the enhanced creature effects. The supplements also repeated a dozen-minute interview with actress Belinda Balaski ('Rita' - also in Matinee as Stan's Mother) four radio spots, 2 TV spots and a theatrical trailer. The package has alternative artwork via a reversible cover (see below.)

Bert I. Gordon's The Food Of The Gods was shot in Canada but is more famous as a clunker than a decent adaptation of H.G. Wells science fiction story about a food that accelerates growth. It's weak but kind of fun with serious performances - a good concept but cheesy effects. I always think of 1977's Day of the Animals. Some will recognize 58-year old noir icon Ida Lupino (Woman in Hiding, While the City Sleeps) slumming it as "Mrs. Skinner" in The Food Of The Gods. There was also a Food of the Gods II made in 1989 and directed by my good friend's brother-in-law. The Kino Blu-ray raises the bar for the package advancing on it's previous release and has a very interesting new commentary. To each his own.

Gary Tooze