ALL SCI-FI

[Bogmeister]

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______________________ Anaconda (1997)


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One thing I always wonder about after seeing a movie such as this. Why is this giant snake such a problem now? Did it take reptile steroids recently? Is it a mutation or affected by alien forces?

Before the events of this film, my impression is that this snake was slowly going through its life like any other big snake — which is why no one was aware of it. Why all of sudden now, when a documentary crew chooses to investigate a part of the Amazon jungle, does this super snake decide to show off its super-duper stalk & kill abilities?

See, maybe it's just me, but I don't think real giant snakes behave this way: faster than running humans, able to catch 'em in midair as they jump to 'safety' — there are certain laws of nature & physics that just cannot be simply ignored.

And I can't believe this clever snake was also so clever as to wait for some foreign visitors (Americans) to pay the jungle a visit before publicizing its ultra powers.

But that's the outrageous aspect of such monster-on-the-prowl pictures, and you go with the flow or you just don't go. The main thrill is waiting to see which of perhaps a half-dozen stock B-pic characters make it to the end. Will half of them make it?

Two?

Just one?



The other cheap thrill is watching Jon Voight ham it up as an evil poacher. He's picked up by the hapless crew near the beginning and very soon manipulates everything towards his goal of capturing an Anaconda alive (for the money).

Voight wears an evil sneer throughout the entire film to make sure we understand he's evil, and basically gives the snake a run for its money as to which is the more dangerous of the two.

This was Jennifer Lopez just before she hit diva status in perhaps her first starring role (she'd been in supporting parts before this). Ice Cube as the cameraman mostly growls his dialog and scowls a lot. Eric Stoltz, as the leader of the expedition, gets incapacitated early.

One other point emphasized is that such snakes like to vomit up their meals soon after swallowing, for the joy of eating it again. The FX, a combo of digital and robotics, aren't too bad. Overall, this has an old-fashioned sense of monster scares. One can't deny this spawned a bevy of imitations in the direct-to-video (King Cobra) and Sci-Fi Channel markets. There's been giant cobras, rattlers, and pythons since — all traced back to this flic.

Its own sequel didn't arrive until 2004, with different characters.

BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10

Shedding Trivia: Early roles for Kari Wuhrer and Owen Wilson as part of the crew. Wuhrer never got beyond B-Movie roles but Wilson became a pretty big star a few years later.


BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ During the filming of one scene, the controls for the animatronic anaconda shorted out, causing it to completely lose control. Some of the footage is included in the movie.

Note from me: I wonder if the actors knew they were working with a robot snake that had gone berserk!

~ The film makes mention of the Candiru, a tiny catfish (also known as the Vampirefish) which has been attributed with the peculiar behavior of swimming into the human body through the urethra (in men) or the vagina (in women), where it lodges itself with its spines.

This is not as common an occurrence as the film implies. Only one such incident is known to have happened to a man where a small catfish travelled into the urethra while he was urinating in a river. This account has been corroborated by Jeremy Wade in River Monsters - Amazon Flesh Eaters.

Note from me: I realize that this catfish is extremely small, but under the circumstances it seems to qualify for the name . . . Moby Dick.

~ The Amazonian film shoot was occasionally disrupted by the fact that several cast members were deathly afraid of snakes.

Note from me: I wonder if they developed that phobia after fleeing in terror from the rampaging, out-of-control robo-snake!

~ The CGI for the anacondas cost $100,000 per second.

Note from me: No wonder they often moved to fast! They were trying to save money.

~ Just after Sarone falls in the water and the character goes back to bed having saved the day, the boat moves off the rocks as the waterfall goes backwards (yes, up).

Note from me: The director apparently thought that audiences wouldn't notice this little detail . . .

~ The anacondas in the film attack the humans, but not each other. In real life, anacondas practice cannibalism. Female anacondas (which are larger) are known to consume smaller male anacondas.

Note from me: This must be why, in South America, they have what's known as an "anaconda divorce". The wife gets everything — and the husband is never seen again.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)