SSSSnake, le cobra

Pretty silly horror movie about Dr. Carl Stoner (Strother Martin) who has perfected a drug that turns men into King Cobra snakes. (Yeah--I know it's ridiculous). WHY he wants to do this is never fully explained. He wants to use it on young David Blaine (Dirk Benedict)...but his daughter (Heather Menzies) is falling in love with him.

OK--the story is more than a little silly but this is fairly watchable. They used real snakes in the film (as a statement at the beginning tells us) and just watching them is pretty interesting. The story itself moves pretty quickly and (science aside) is pretty involving. The acting helps--Martin is actually not bad as the doctor; Benedict (so young and handsome) is also pretty good as Blaine and Menzies overdoes it a little (particularly in an argument with Martin) but she's not bad. There's also some fairly impressive (for the time) makeup and special effects. It's OK.

Trivia: Flashes of nudity (mostly from Menzies) are inexplicably "covered up" in the prints now in circulation. Strange--it was OK for a PG in 1973.

We saw it back then in the seventies and were promptly scared to death by it. Set up like a mystery, you don't know what is in the back of the truck at the beginning and the gawking at the carnival freaks was pretty chilling too. Reb Brown's fate and his treatment of the pet snake were both something that made us sit up and take notice. And then there was the nosy neighbor/professor person and his destiny. The snake-handling looked very professional. Then I saw it years later. The daughter's shrieking and weeping could set your teeth on edge, the concealed nude swim scene is pretty amusing now with cartoon leaves, Benedict is completely naive and if you have no idea what to expect, you may even be rooting for him. Strother Martin was very believable as the mad doctor up to his confrontation with "Royalty". My brother said the hysterical daughter went on to pose for Playboy.

Hated her very seventies hairdo.

A doctor who specializes in snakes develops a way to turn a human being into a king cobra! Will he use this on the college student who has just became his new assistant?

Sssssss (love that campy title, that's seven S's folks) is an above-average man-becomes-creature horror film. The film is very well made and despite its seemingly cheesy premise actually creates itself an effectively serious tone. The story is intriguing, thanks largely to the likable and well-rounded characters, and builds to some terrifically chilling scenes as well as a nice show-down finale. The makeup effects are solidly created and genuinely creepy. The lovely music score by Patrick Williams is also a highlight.

The cast is definitely one of the films best features. Veteran actor Strother Martin is excellent as he balances his performance between fatherly teacher and sinister scientist. Young Dirk Benedict is charming as Martin's young assistant and attractive Heather Menzies delivers a sincere performance as Martin's daughter, and Benedict's love interest. Also Reb Brown makes for a good bully.

So, you don't have to like snakes to enjoy this intelligent old-fashioned horror tale. It's definitely one of the best of its kind and well worth catching for fans of old school B horror.

*** 1/2 out of ****

A college student becomes lab assistant to a scientist who is working on a serum that can transform humans into snakes.

This film is far from perfect. It could use a few more horror or science fiction elements, perhaps. Where it excels is with the use of real snakes and the knowledge that the professor has. I am not a herpetologist, and would not claim to be any sort of snake expert. But when the professor is explaining different things about snakes, it sounds very real, like he really knows what he's doing. So, well done on the script.

The premise is a bit silly, but not overly so. This seems like the sort of thing that might be in a 1950s movie rather than a 1970s film from Universal. Director Bernard Kowalski (1929-2007), perhaps not surprisingly, is a veteran of such Roger Corman-produced films as "Night of the Blood Beast" and "Attack of the Giant Leeches". (Kowalski was director on both, but you can imagine that Corman had his fingers in the pie.)

The film deals a mad doctor(Strother Martin),his former helper has disappeared and he asks to University professor(Richard B. Shull)a student. A young man called David (Richard Benedict)looking for employment is hired by the scientific.The doctor works a secrets experiments on snakes.Meanwhile David falls in love with his daughter(Heather Menzies).Then the ¨mad doctor¨ injects him a serum into becoming a King Cobra snake causing a horrible transformation.

The motion picture packs horror,romance,shocks and is quite entertained. In the film appear known actors from the 70s and 80s as Dick Benedict(¨Galactica Battlestar,A Team¨),Strother Martin(Peckimpah's usual player:¨Wild bunch¨),Heather Menzies(Robert Urich wife and little girl actress in ¨Sound of music¨)and Reb Brown(a beefcake who played many hunk men vehicles). John Chambers provides a deliriously imaginative make-up ,he won an Academy Award by the classic ¨Planet of Apes¨and made the sequels among others films(Phantom of the paradise ans Island of Dr. Moreau).Executive producers are Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown ,short time after they produced the successful ¨Jaws¨to Steven Spielberg. The motion picture is well directed by Bernard L. Kowalski who worked with Roger Corman.Slick film aimed at youthful audiences and terror lovers.