Cult of the Cobra

Richard Long, David Janssen, Marshall Thompson, Jack Kelly, and William Reynolds are four G. I.s on terminal leave in India. Looking for a souvenir, they bribe their way into the ceremony of a snake cult. When they are discovered, they are cursed with death, one by one, in the form of Faith Domergue, who follows them back to the US and kills them in the form of a cobra.

This is one of those 1950s Universal horror/scifi movies that, in the hands of someone like Jack Arnold, would turn out to have something sensible and even witty to say about the way we lived in that decade. In the hands of competent but uninspired Francis D. Lyons, it turns into a decent thriller which, if it had anything to say except "Don't be boorish", I can't see it.

In Asia, six airmen from the American Air Forces break in a secret cult of Lamians that worship a cobra goddess. However they are found in the temple and need to flee from the ceremony. They are cursed by the priest that sentences them to die, one by one. Back in New York, Sergeant Paul Able (Richard Long), who will marry the actress Julia Thompson (Kathleen Hughes), and G.I. Tom Markel (Marshall Thompson), who also loves Julia, are best friends and roommates. When Tom stumbles upon the mysterious Lisa Moya (Faith Domergue), they immediately fall in love with each other. Meanwhile their friends are dying and soon the coroner discovers snake venom in their blood.

"Cult of the Cobra" is an entertaining horror film with the storyline of a group of arrogant American G.I.s that breaks in a cult without any respect and are cursed by the priest to die. The gorgeous and exotic Faith Domergue is a goddess with the ability of turning into a cobra that travels to New York to revenge the worshippers. The negative point of the story is that she falls in love with one of the trespassers. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Maldição da Serpente" ("Curse of the Snake")

What's the first behavior rule when you're visiting a faraway continent – particularly Asia, Africa or South America – that culturally speaking differs a lot from your own? Duh, don't interfere with local religious movements and/or voodoo cults, because they WILL come after you and they WILL find you, even when you consider yourself to be safe back home again. "Cult of the Cobra" is a charming and fairly entertaining 50's occult thriller, but it's certainly nothing special or unique. In fact, the plot is quite derivative of the Jacques Tourneur/Val Lewton classic "Cat People" (undeniably one of the greatest horror milestones ever made), since both stories revolve gorgeous women living with the ability – or is it curse? – to transform into a deadly animal. Six American members of the same Air Force unit spend a few touristy days in an Asian country (my best guess would be either India or Malaysia) and bluntly pay a snake charmer big money to secretly attend a gathering of the infamous Lamian cult, of which the members supposedly change themselves in snakes and back. Naturally they get caught, when the dumbest boy of them all takes a photograph, and only narrowly escape. Unaware they've been placed under a curse, the six friends start being killed off one by one when back in the United State. Moreover, the mysterious accidents began simultaneously with Tom acquaintance with an introvert exotic beauty living across the hall. "Cult of the Cobra" benefits the most from Faith Domergue's performance as the oddly seductive Lisa (she's a lot better here than she was in "This Island Earth" or "It Came from beneath the Sea") and a couple of imaginative camera gimmicks, like for example snake POV shots and nice use of shadow effects. Unfortunately, there are also several overlong and tedious scenes and not a single one of the male protagonists deserves any of your sympathy. Especially Tom is a pretty loathsome guy, since his behavior is obtrusive and aggressive towards women and jealous towards his own friends.

The beginning when the snake charmer offers to show us "She who is a snake" for 100 dollars, followed by a well done and costumed dance scene, is good. The ending is suspenseful and quite good. Unfortunately, everything in between is mush. An effective performance by Faith Domergue as a cult leader who has the instincts to be more humanistic (but doesn't quite know how) cannot overcome the blandly directed, badly lit, overly padded middle hour-plus of this movie. Unfortunately the producers are too cheap to show any cult activity or morphing scenes during the long middle, instead all is only shadow or off screen except at the beginning and the very end.

The five future TV stars who portray potential cult victims are all capable and watchable but their efforts are mostly swallowed up in the long dreary middle of the movie. Many familiar faces are also present such as first class actor Walter Coy (The Searchers '56), and also Bing Russell and Ed Platt.

I expected more from a Universal horror movie. This film suffers from lack of style, imagination or excitement but you will be pleased to see the talented and enjoyable cast.

American G.I.'s who trespass in on a forbidden Hindu ceremony are relentlessly hunted down by a beautiful woman who has the power to metamorphose into a snake.

While the film gets a bit slow in the middle, the end is exciting and so is the beginning. What made this film great, for me, was the talented snake dancer from the cult. Her face is obscured, but her body is capable of amazing bends and twists.

One of the only really big drawbacks to the film is that the audience knows what is going on from the very beginning. We see the men try to solve a mystery we already know. The urge to yell "you are so stupid" is hard to suppress. And they really are not that stupid -- they simply have not reached the illogical conclusion we already know to be true.