King Cobra

King Cobra

An explosion at a government lab mixes behavior modification chemicals with a gene-spliced African king cobra/diamondback rattler, leading to "30 Feet of Pure Terror!" as the highly aggressive hybrid grows to mammoth size and escapes. Two years later, just in time for a small town's "lager festival" the snake emerges in the woods with a sudden urge to sink its teeth into innocent townspeople. It's up to a doctor (Scott Brandon), a female deputy (Kasey Fallo), a snake expert (Pat Morita) and others to track to beast down, but naturally they're opposed by townspeople who don't want to cause a big commotion. There's too much blurry POV camera-work and this entire film is completely contrived and predictable (right down to the local redneck posse trying their hand at capturing the fanged fiend), but the production values and cast are good, and this is a well-crafted direct-to-video flick. The model snake (designed by the Chiodo brothers, creators of CRITTERS and KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE), raises up on it's rattling tale, breaths, consumes prey whole and is actually much better than the one used in the bigger-budgeted ANACONDA. And love that Erik Estrada cameo.

One of the absolute worst man-against-wildlife films I have ever seen. What we have here are a couple of characters obviously ripped from Arachnophobia and Jaws with cliched personalities confronted by some really big snake from out the blue in a small rural town. Sweet, it's the premise from Arachnophobia as well. Speaking of hacks, it's wonderful how the writer decided to go steal lines from the Temple of Doom when his characters began to enact their moronic plan to capture the big snake. What does he think; the audience is that stupid? One thing that puzzled me after watching this monstrosity... the tube or whatever gas chamber they used against the snake... it looked to be about half the length of the Cobra, yet they made it impossibly long somehow when bad actor decided to lure the snake into it by crawling in. I guess this is called drama. Anyway, the snake realizes its foolishness, and backpedals to escape. ????????? Bad actor and actress realize themselves, they are unable to seal off the other end because they won't have enough time (even though it would have taken probably a few seconds to cover the distance). Instead they took the time to push it into a tree. WHY???

The Hillenbrand's present one of the most frightening and intensely horrifying reptile films ever made. With incredible suspense and unrelenting thrills, the story of a huge hybrid snake wreaking havoc simply explodes across the screen. Pat Morita is superb as Hashimoto, the snake expert who recognizes pure evil in the unholy beast. Scott Hillenbrand is also excellent and certainly proves his acting prowess. Hoyt Axton is especially powerful in the role of the town's mayor and gives one of the best performances of his career. The entire cast is quite good in this terrifying motion picture and the direction is taut and creative. The sudden attacks by the snake, its stealth and menace, are almost to much to endure and represent some of the most frightening moments ever committed to film. Overall, this is giant snake cinema at its most visionary, epic in scope yet intimate in its moments of personal terror.

This is a very sad excuse for a horror film. Flimsy story, lousy cast and just plain bad. It is hard to find anything good about this flick. Well, Pat Morita and Hoyt Axton are the life of the cast...if that means much. Weak, low budget and just about forgettable. This is bad enough to bring about laughter. A mutated king cobra, with a rattle no less, escapes a lab and causes problems for a small town trying to be more than a stain on the map by having a "Brewfest". Also in this ill fated project are co-writer/director Scott Hillenbrand, Casey Fallo and a very weird cameo by Erik Estrada. Mr. Estrada probably went into hiding after doing this. If you are a fan of low, low budget movies...this is for you.

King Cobra is a very good film that has a good cast which includes Pat Morita, Scott Hillenbrand, Casey Fallo, Hoyt Axton, Joseph Ruskin, Courtney Gains, Eric Lawson, Arell Blanton, Jerry Kernion, Michael Leopard, Erik Estrada, Nick Jameson, and Cedric Duplechain. The acting by all of these actors is very good. The thrills is really good and some of it is surprising. The movie is filmed very good. The music is good. The film is quite interesting and the movie really keeps you going until the end. This is a very good and thrilling film. If you like Pat Morita, Scott Hillenbrand, Casey Fallo, Hoyt Axton, Joseph Ruskin, Courtney Gains, Eric Estrada, the rest of the cast in the film, Giant Snake Films, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thrillers, Dramas, and interesting films then I strongly recommend you to see this film today!

30 feet of pure terror! So proclaims the jacket ad. The monster snake is actually a Cobra-Rattlesnake creation, the result of genetic tinkering. After the obligatory lab explosion, it escapes and settles down in a small rural town to make life hectic for the hicks, who call in snake-expert Pat Morita (from Happy Days and the "Karate Kid" movies). This flic is rather low-budget and must have went direct-to-video. I'm not really sure how much of it is unintentionally funny or tongue-in-cheek (especially the climactic battle between Morita & the Monster, who, by the way, is named Seth). But, it comes off as entertaining in a goofy, lopsided manner, hearkening back to all those monster flics of the 1950s (and the 1970s, come to think of it). There weren't that many giant snake movies back then, however, instead mostly giant insects and an occasional lizard. Then we got "Anaconda" in '97 and the rest is history - the Sci-Fi Channel has a sub genre load of these by now. The snake-monster itself in "King Cobra" is fairly well executed, showing that even with a very low budget, FX can be done in a reasonable fashion these days. Lucky us.

Snake movies are the worst. And this one is the equal of any. A King Cobra/Rattlesnake hybrid has escaped from a lab wrecked by two of the most insane scientists in film history. The scene was brief, but possibly the most entertaining in the film. The monstrous mutation has claimed a small, rural town as its territory. Of course they are about to have a festival a beer fest no less! And will the Mayor cancel the festival because a couple of people are killed? What do you think? The acting in King Cobra is remedial at best. Even Pat Morita cannot make is role entertaining. The stoic Casey Fallo was a pretty good reason to keep viewing. She was nice to watch in what little she was given to do. Everyone else was just not in attendance. Perhaps the major problem for me in the film is that a snake was able to outsmart one-and-all homo sapiens throughout most of the film. And the two ton beast seemingly appeared and disappeared with all the velocity of a mako shark. He wafted through the delicate branches of trees with the grace of a ninety pound ballerina. A trained deputy is cornered against a tree by the rampaging reptile, and she panics, seemingly forgets she has a pistol in her hand, and screams for the hero; who drop-kicks the lightnening-fast saurian without even getting bitten. One must always suspend belief to some extent in order to enjoy a monster film. However, the director created such a "super snake", and such inept humans, that King Cobra far surpassed my ability to stretch reality.This mess eventually became boring and predictable. That is the only real sin a monster film can commit. And it is terminal in King Cobra. But it just might be that the worst faux pas of this film was the beer recipe recited by the supposed artisan brewer. If you are able to muster the gumption to watch this snake calamity, listen carefully for it. This "master brewer" is concocting a classic American mass-produced, tasteless near beer; not a sapid, artisan brew. After all, snakes are a dime a dozen, but a really good beer is sacred. I cannot recommend this film, unless one is in traction and cannot reach the remote. However, perhaps enough good beer could make it tolerable?

It's true. Pat Morita ("Happy Days;" the "Karate Kid" series) plays a herpetologist* recruited to help capture a genetically-engineered reptile. Why genetically engineered? Well, Joseph Ruskin plays a biochemist trying to find a neurochemical cure for hyperviolent aggression (like that exhibited by serial killers, I guess). But, he can't experiment on humans, right off the bat. And, normal wild animals aren't aggressive enough (unless, of course, you cruelly provoke them). So, he creates Seth. And, here is where the zoological accuracy goes out the window even worse than it did in "Anacondas!" The Eastern diamondback is a genuine species of rattler . BUT, THERE IS NO SUCH SPECIES AS THE African KING COBRA!! Oh, the scientific name (Haemachates haemachatus) was pronounced, correctly. That belongs to a _very_ aggressive species of South African spitting cobra known as the "ringhals." The proper scientific name for king cobras, however, is Naja hannah. AND, THEY ARE NATIVE TO SOUTHEAST ASIA! So, was Seth's biological daddy a gene-spliced hybrid, himself? Perhaps. In any case, before you become a professional snake handler (like Dr. Hashimoto), maybe you should take out a life insurance policy with Mutual of Omaha. *Herpetologists, btw, study reptiles _and_ amphibians, in general. A zoologist who specializes only in snakes is technically an ophiologist. "Here endeth the lesson." (Sean Connery, "The Untouchables")