Night of the Cobra Woman

NIGHT OF THE COBRA WOMAN stars Marlene Clark as the titular character, Lena. Joy Bang (MESSIAH OF EVIL) is UNICEF field researcher, Joanna, who seeks out Lena, and her mythical cobra in the jungles of the Philippines. Upon meeting Lena, Joanna steals a vial of the cobra's venom, leading to her being attacked by the snake.

Luckily, Joanna just happens to have a cobra-killing eagle, named Dirk! Oh, and she has a rather dense boyfriend, named Duff (Roger Garrett), for whom Lena has nefarious plans. And, there's a hunchback (Vic Diaz)! And a mad scientist! Annnd black magic!

Even by Filipino cinema standards, this is one weird, disjointed movie! Plot? What plot? Thankfully, there is ample nudity! Unfortunately, there's animal cruelty as well.

Actually, Lena's eventual rampage is the best part of the story. She's sort of a reptilian vampire, draining the life from her victims. The rest is mostly flotsam...

During World-War II, a nurse is bitten by a cobra in a cave. She survives, and is blessed with eternal life, beauty, and a highly lethal sexual prowess. She cohabitates in the cave with the cobra(which she has named "Movini"), and utilizes its powerful venom for all sorts of surprising practicalities...as a healing agent, fertilizer, nail polish remover, etc.

Flash to modern times(1972)...pretty, young Joy Bang(fetching ingénue of many films of this type during the 70s)is a UNICEF researcher working to develop antivenoms. She hears about the reclusive snake-lady, and naturally goes snooping around her cave. Things heat up when Ms. Bang's pet eagle(!) kills Movini, and her boyfriend becomes the serpentine seductress's new "boy toy". All hell proceeds to break loose in a rather insouciant and formulaic fashion.

This film's theatrical poster image and tagline deceitfully suggested a story involving a woman in lustful, taboo concupiscence with a large snake. So much for tantalizing prospects. It is, however, a sufficiently entertaining low-budgeter which might register as slightly above average due to some able performances and marginally higher-than-usual production values for a quickie flick of its particular feather. Despite these minuscule endowments, however, NIGHT OF THE COBRA WOMAN remains a very modest production, and a far-from-crucial viewing experience.

5/10

Night of the Cobra Woman (1972)

* (out of 4)

Really bad Filipino horror movie starts off during WWII when a nurse (Marlene Clark) walks into a cave and is bitten by a special snake, which makes her live forever as long as she has its venom. Flash forward several decades and the nurse has her snake killed by a studying student (Joy Bang), which means she now needs sex to live. NIGHT OF THE COBRA WOMAN is a really, really bad movie that has a few moments that are so bad that they at least keep you mildly entertained. I'm not sure where to start on this sucker because pretty much everything here is bad. I guess the lack of a screenplay could be the biggest issue because scenes just seem to happen out of nowhere and deal with things that really aren't necessary to anything else in the movie. The movie never makes a lick of sense and it appears that the producers were just making things up as they went along. Even worse is that the special effects are going to be some of the worse you've ever witnessed but these here do get some of the biggest laughs in the picture. Just check out the transformation scenes of the woman turning into the "cobra" and have yourself a good laugh. As far as the acting goes, it's clear that most people were never trained and if you check their credits it appears most never appeared in another movie. The best thing about lead actress Joy Bang is her name. Mrs. Bang would appear in a few notable films including PLAY IT Again, SAM but this here was certainly one of her only lead roles. Clark, who appeared in a few cult movies including SWITCHBLADE SISTERS, has several nude scenes, which certainly adds some appeal. The supporting cast members are all equally bad and forgettable. The film does offer up some cheap sex scenes and nudity, which might help keep some awake but there's really no defending a movie like this. It's beyond cheap and so poorly produced that you have to wonder what the entire point was.

Some films have titles that are too good to be true. I mean, who doesn't want to see a cobra woman - a scaly half-human, half reptile with snake eyes and a flicking tongue? But this being a low-budget Filipino B-movie, we just know that what we'll get won't be that great. Sure enough, the titular creature is simply actress Marlene Clark with arms and legs coated in a thin layer of latex to make her skin look rough. Occasionally, she can be seen mid transformation with stupid looking large eyes slapped over her real peepers. The effect is terrible.

Of course, a lousy monster can be easily forgiven if the story is great, but NOTCW fails big time there: the plot feels like it was made up as it went along, and is not going to be easy to summarise. I'll give you the gist...

During WWII, nurse Lena Aruza (Clark) is bitten by the fabled Firebrand Cobra, endowing her with eternal youth, so long as she keeps herself topped up with venom. Decades later, and Lena is still going strong, her scaly pal Movini providing her with the necessary life-giving secretion. When UNICEF worker Joanna (Joy Bang) pays a visit to Lena, looking for help with making an anti-venom, she is turned away, so she sends her boyfriend Duff to see if he can have better luck (Roger Garrett). Quite the opposite... he's bitten by the Firebrand Snake, and only survives when Lena sucks out the poison.

Joanna goes looking for Duff, and while waiting for Lena at her home, notices a sample of Firebrand venom in a pot, and so half-inches it and leaves. When Lena realises what Joanna has done, she sends her snake Movini after the girl, not reckoning on her having Duff's pet eagle Dirk with her. The eagle kills the snake, leaving Lena no option but to feed on the life-force of young men by having sex with them, starting with Duff...

What follows is extremely sloppy storytelling, with zero concern for logic, terrible pacing, animal cruelty (a monkey is strapped to a table and snakes are killed) and very poor special effects, all leading to a downbeat ending in which Duff chooses to stay with Lena (who is in permanent snake form). Joanna walks away dejected, pausing to pluck a venom-infused mango from a tree.

On a 'scale' of 1 to 10, I give thissssss a 3.5/10, generously rounded up to 4 for the nudity (both Bang and Clark get naked for the camera), the hidden pig (I thought it was a rock, and then up it popped!) and for cult Filipino favourite Vic Diaz as a hideous hunchback.

I'd already given up to find Night of Cobra Woman when decide take a look on Youtube, to my dismay appear there two options over the movie, a VHS print subtitled in Spanish and last one fully restored in Spanish language no subtitled at all, of course I've chose with last one, thanks Youtube to allowed me once more a hard to find picture whereof I did watched in far off 1981 at my teenager years.

The plot is a slight confused to figure out at first glance, set in WWII on Philippines when a couple of nurses enter in a cave where the rock wall there a several figures displaying a big snake, one of them leaves the spot and another keep there and has been bitten for this snake, henceforth she doesn't died, meanwhile out of cave his co-worker is rapped by a Japanese soldier and has been shot afterwards, the bitten nurse Lena Azura (Marlene Clark) healed the wound of Francesca (Rosemary Gill) such snake poison somehow stop the ageing process on Lena that keep young forever, jumping to year 1972 when arrives a couple from Unicef the young girl Joanna (Joy Bang) and her boyfriend Stan Duff (Roger Garrett) on survey and find out an antidote for some kind of snake.

On the Institute Joanna receives an information about Lena that lives on rural area surround by dense forest with several snakes around, Duff bought a Eagle taking her there, on the meeting with Lena the Eagle attacks the special snake called Movini killing at once, Lena stays furious due this snake's poison keeps herself younger, thus she has making love with Duff and others men steadily to maintain young or Lena becomes into a snake, worst each man she makes love have a fastest ageing process, now she walking on the city and others places catching younger men aiming for keeping her human body.

A sort of exotic sexploitation blended horror, it's worth emphasizing the amateur make up whichever be part of the body, whether in skin, faces and eyes, really a bad work, that said the picture is fuzzy even pointless, displaying cockfighting and others off topic things, the special effects are in same level as well, anyway it was an average experience to see this weirdo and off color picture again, sad to know about the lead casting Joy Bang dropped out her career afthmaths.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1981 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 5.