Photographer Elliot, also an ecology expert, is taking snap shots of wild life, and especially pollution entering the river near a island swamp owned by millionaire curmudgeon Milland. It's 4th of July and Milland is having relatives(..mostly grandchildren and great-grandchildren)over for a birthday celebration which will be rudely interrupted by reptiles and other animal life disturbed by the poisons and pesticides he had used to kill off mosquitoes and vermin that were annoying/bothering them. It's up to Elliot to perhaps persuade the others to leave the island or else suffer the wrath of the animals who seem to be everywhere.

Using mostly natural sounds, Les Baxter's score is sparse but eerily effective, and the presentation, besides the hokey murders, is mostly understated and cold. While the movie might be titled "Frogs", the filmmakers use other wild life to attack and/or kill Milland's family, such as spiders, alligators, snakes, leeches, and birds...even a large turtle is shown closing in on a victim whose leg is trapped in the mud!

The dopey premise isn't quite played to it's campy potential..in fact the direction is rather subdued(..as are the cast, even though there are some emotional fireworks as the bickering between family members gets sometimes heated) though the kills themselves are often quite laughable.

Director George McCowan, cinematographer Mario Tosi, and editor Fred R Feitshans Jr make sure to establish the presence of frogs, even though they are merely ribbeting and hopping around, en masse, aggravating those attending Milland's gettogether. And, we get plenty of images of life surrounding the island such as snakes, lizards, and other reptiles always present as characters move about, startled by them when coming across these potential predators.

Like many other "when animals attack" genre movies, mankind seeks to harm them by poisonous means, met with retaliation when the creatures have had enough. Milland spends a fair amount of time barking orders at his family, or balking them for speaking "out of turn". Elliot remains zombie-like, and I'm guessing he doesn't exactly list this movie among the favorites in his impressive resume. Probably the most unpleasant death scene would be where one poor fellow is overcome by an alligator who catches him in the "death roll." A young Joan Van Ark(..pre-Knot's Landing)is Milland's beloved granddaughter who becomes a love interest for Elliot. Bad decision to market the film as a possible killer frogs flick..the title should've probably been different as well. Probably the weirdest scene has one dying from asphyxiation after lizards caused bottles of poisons to burst on the ground, with the victim unable to free himself from the greenhouse. Also strange is a scene where one victim shoots himself in the leg with a shotgun, and is subsequently accosted by spiders, "webbing" him afterward! Milland's incessant demands to remain on the island("I won't let anything interfere with today's schedule!")despite the obvious signs of real danger is rather mind-boggling.