Cult of the Cobra

Rating: ***/*****, or 5/10

Fairly entertaining but unremarkable horror film of the Fifties. A group of American G.I.s on leave somewhere in the “mystic East” secretly watches a religious ritual forbidden to outsiders. Though noticed, they manage to escape and arrive safely back in the States. Soon though, they're hunted down and murdered by a mysterious beauty (Faith Domergue, a cult favorite of Sci-Fi aficionados, having worked on This Island Earth (1955) and It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), among others) one by one. Unfortunately for the remaining survivors who are about to share their friends' fate, the woman has the ability to take a serpentine shape and thus evade getting caught by the authorities. Can any of them survive before the wrath of the shady Cobra Cult reaches its lethal conclusion? Can they hope to reason with their slippery assassin? Though high on atmosphere, the movie never manages to fully draw in the spectator due to its silly portrayal of eastern religion, the predictable succession of murders and the unconvincing special effects involving the snake transformations. And someone please explain to me why this horror/fantasy movie is featured in the Universal Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection set of films?

Starring: Faith Domergue, Richard Long, Marshall Thompson

Directed by Francis D. Lyon

USA: Universal Pictures, 1955

Anaconda

Rating ***/*****, or 7/10

Fun creature flick with a surprisingly good cast considering the fairly typical subject matter. A film crew heads deep into the lush Amazon rain forest to document an indigenous tribe, but on the way stumble on a seemingly lost poacher (Jon Voight performing with a rather silly accent). It soon turns out the guy intends to capture a giant anaconda snake alive and has no moral qualms about sacrificing the documentarists one at a time to achieve his goal. With both the ever more violent poacher and the supersnake (a clearly but effective combination of puppets and CGI) picking the crew off, can camera woman Jennifer Lopez save the day? Though the movie offers little narrative surprises and has an obviously artificial creature as the major threat, it makes up for it with decent acting, solid action and a damn fine score. This movie got no less than three totally unnecessary sequels.

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, Ice Cube

Directed by Luis Llosa

USA: Cinema Line Film Corporation, 1997