MARIO GAUCI
A notoriously troubled production, firstly because of the number of volatile actors involved (especially Klaus Kinski and Oliver Reed) but also because original director Tobe Hooper quit after the first week of shooting (which footage, according to replacement Haggard, was subsequently scrapped)!As I have often said, I am terrified of snakes: the last time I saw one was in my own backyard when my usually quiet but large (and much missed) dog grappled with and killed a garden reptile! Consequently, uneasy as I was about watching the film, I opted to view it on an even-smaller-than-normal-sized TV screen rather than on my choice 40" monitor! Thankfully, though the snake was certainly utilized throughout, it occupied much less screen-time than I had feared! Anyway, the film is enjoyable simply for its marvelous cast which, apart from the two legendary hellraisers already mentioned, also featured Sterling Hayden (in his last theatrical role), Nicol Williamson, Sarah Miles, Susan George and Michael Gough (whose recent passing is the reason I got to check out film now in the first place) – a heady brew, sure enough, and it was an added treat seeing them try to upstage one another and, let us not forget, the black mamba itself!The plot presents a surefire suspense scenario as the already tense situation of an asthmatic child kidnapping is exacerbated by the shooting of a policeman (which obviously brings the law upon them) and even more so when a harmless pet snake gets exchanged with a specimen of the deadliest species which naturally goes on the rampage before long! The gang comprises chauffeur Reed, maid George (who gets to parade in her underwear early on!) and her foreigner boyfriend Kinski, a wanted criminal; Hayden is the boy's elderly but larger-than-life grandfather, a former safari guide; Miles is an authority on snakes (to whom the mamba was originally destined), while Gough is the zoo handler brought in to re-capture it (though, of course, he never does and his part is, in any case, quite brief); Williamson, working around his essential immobility by overdoing his natural accent(!), is the cop negotiating with the gang – still, he sets his colleagues the task of procuring maps of the area to see from where his forces can infiltrate the building concerned.George is the snake's first victim and her convulsions are quite convincing, after which the reptile slithers away first foraging for food (the boy's other animals falling prey to it) and then moving about through the ducts in the house – in perhaps the film's biggest shock, it is found halfway inside a drinking cabinet from which the atypically distraught Reed goes to 'pick himself up'. Later on, when he takes Hayden and the boy down to the cellar, it emerges from the top of a rack just as Williamson (dressed up as a motorcycle cop to dupe the kidnappers!) breaks through the wall of an adjacent house and manages to shoot down Reed. One thing that I thought let the film down, however, was the clean nature of its progression: with this I mean that it seems the snake was on the side of the heroes, since it only turns up to menace and kill the assailants – similarly, much is made out of the necessity of applying Miles' anti-venom instantly to avert a horrible death but it is never administered (even her character's supposed mutilation at the hands of the villains is not really carried through): now if, say, the boy had been bitten...Incidentally, all three death scenes are quite outrageous: George's by way of the sheer number of bites she receives, Reed's because of where he gets his (no prize for guessing!), and Kinski's due to the melodramatic fashion in which it happens…not to mention that he takes the creature with him by shooting its head off!; the finale, then, presents a twist which has since been done to death. The film also benefits from a pretty good Michael Kamen score that is evidently superior to the pulpy material it is accompanying. I have to say, however, that the poster on the Blue Underground DVD is misleading not only because of the size of the snake but even the color is nothing like what we are dealt on-screen!The disc includes an Audio Commentary in which the director chronicles the woes that befell the project early on, how he was brought in to salvage it as best he could but also that, consequently, it proved an impersonal film for him (since he had to work with a ready-made – and, admittedly, unsubtle – script, sets, cast, and crew). He does recount a bit of trivia such as how the enmity shown by the characters of Kinski and Reed was merely an extension of the two actors' – most amusingly, their biggest brawl occurred when the Guinness family, the film's financiers (whereas the distribution company was George Harrison's Handmade Films), happened to visit the set! We are also told here that Kinski turned down RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) – ironically, another film to feature snakes prominently – in order to make this, since the paycheck accorded him was bigger!Another film I remember watching in which this type of snake had a central role was a latter-day "Euro-Cult" offering from Italy simply called MAMBA (1988) which, similarly to this one, it was let loose in an apartment where it menaced the one person inside, a girl played by Trudie Styler (Mrs. Sting). By the way, Oliver Reed would shortly after VENOM appear in another snake-related picture, the even more maligned SPASMS (1983), which I also own but have yet to check out. Finally, I should mention that I have watched (and own) another British horror film by the same title, made in 1971 and directed by Peter Sykes: concerning the arachnid brand of poison, it also emerges as the superior effort of the two (if the lesser known).
eatfirst
I've just had the pleasure of re-acquainting myself with this forgotten gem of early '80s British horror which scared me half to death as a little kid."High concept" years before the term was invented, the plot ostensibly hangs on a series of belief-stretching co-incidences which result in a hostage siege taking place in a posh London home, with the police camped outside and a deadly (as we are repeatedly reminded) black mamba snake loose in the heating ducts.Made many years before CGI came along and gave us bloated nonsense like Anaconda and Snakes on a Plane the film-makers had to be fairly economical with their beastie's screen time. Going down the Jaws route , Venom makes highly effective use of POV camera shots, shadowy lighting and an unsettling score (an early work from the much missed composer Michael Kamen; and no, I have not forgotten that he was also responsible for that Bryan Adams monstrosity) to suggest the snakes' presence. When the creature is fully revealed it is more often than not the exceedingly dangerous real thing; borrowed from London Zoo, and provoked into getting the hump in the direction of the nearest camera by their, at the time, resident reptile expert Michael Ball (who gets both an un-credited cameo in the film, and himself played by a cranky Michael Gough in to the bargain).However, all of these slithery shenanigans are a mere aside to the real terror on show here. The casting of the infamously intense and insane Klaus Kinski opposite the famously drunk and antagonistic Oliver Reed. By all reports these two hated each other on sight and spent the whole shoot at war with each other, with Reed referring to Kinski as a Nazi at every possible opportunity. However, what must have a nightmare situation for director Piers Haggard (parachuted in after Tobe Hooper walked with shooting already under way) as they share virtually every scene together, paid off in dividends as the warring actors enthusiastically pour every ounce of their scenery-chewing one-oneupmanship onto the screen. Stir into this mix a few more well-renowned "difficult" actors: Nicol Williamson (The famously OTT Merlin from Excalibur) getting his Sweeney on, Sarah Miles, and Sterling Hayden among them; and what results is a glorious bombast of angry intense thesping, that grabs this would-b-movie by the balls and drags it into "forgotten classic" territory. A daft, wonderful, guilty pleasure. Seek it out.
Coventry
Terrifically entertaining (yet heavily flawed) Brit-thriller with a downright sensational cast and not one but TWO very competent directors. Tobe Hooper, still very popular and reliable those days, started the assignment but he got fired and replaced by no less than Piers Haggard. The latter made one of my personal favorite horror films during the early 70's ("Blood on Satan's Skin") and really knows how to bring tension to the screen. The plot of "Venom" is very simple and perhaps even a bit stupid, but the action sequences are far too exciting for you to care about that. Two dubious servants and one internationally wanted criminal plot to kidnap the sickly son of a rich English family, but face a very venomous obstacle. For you see, the boy was supposed to receive a harmless snake as a gift from his grandfather, but the pet store messed up and 'accidentally' delivered him a Black Mamba; the most dangerous and aggressive snake in the world. The reptile escapes and prevents the kidnappers from leaving the house while police forces gather around outside. The lethal-snake-on-the-loose concept results in a handful of very claustrophobic suspense sequences, while its violent attacks are well shot and providing the film with some jumpy moments. Horror and/or Creature Feature-fanatics shouldn't expect a lot of gore, but the make-up effects following a snake bite are effectively unsettling and gruesome. Demigod Klaus Kinski is just as petrifying as a poisonous snake and gives away a superb performance as always. Oliver Reed occasionally overacts as the sneering & nervous sidekick Dave, but he also has a couple of highly memorable scenes. Bringing these fine actors together in one film is already quite an accomplishment, and then there are still supportive roles for Nicol Williamson, Sterling Hayden and the natural beauty Susan George. "Venom" even stars British veteran Michael Gough in a neat cameo appearance! I could also mention some of the dramatic story lines that are clichéd or the twists that are implausible, but I merely just wish to emphasize that "Venom" is a fun flick and an excellent thriller-choice to watch when you're in an undemanding mood.
