Project Viper

A nasty security agent (Patrick Muldoon) and a sexy scientist from NASA (can you imagine Theresa Russell as a scientist?) try to find out what happened to a creature generated from human DNA and chip and raised in Mars that eats human flesh. This is an average and full of clichés action/ sci-fi movie, with some reasonable special effects. Theresa Russell as a fatal woman, whore, or detective character is acceptable, but as a NASA scientist seems to be too much for me. Forgettable and recommended only for a rainy day without any other option. My vote is five.

I don't remember much of this movie, since I was watching it on vacation in Greece at like 3:00 in the morning. The fact that I couldn't bring myself to finish it even though it was the only English-language program on should tell you a lot right there. I do remember a lot of shockingly bad camera-work, editing, and acting... camera-work especially. It honestly looks like they gave the camera to a 6 year old and told him to follow the adults around. I remember in particular a chase scene through a hallway where the camera-work is so bad the characters aren't even in the frame half the time (this same chase scene, incidentally, is a good example of the awfulness of the plot, since it's started when a lady walks right up in plain view of a guy she's trying to spy on, then defends herself by saying she was "going for a walk." Hmm, yeah, I spend a lot of time going for walks in my living room too).

If the choreography isn't bad enough for you, there's also the lighting coming from bizarre angles in places where there shouldn't be any light, the cartoon CGI tentacles that pass for a monster, etc. As a movie, it's really boring, but it's a great example of not NOT to direct. If you are an aspiring director and want to improve, my advice is watch this movie. You could sit there for hours and take notes of what the director is doing wrong.

You could use the same technique to brush up on your acting skills. The actors here are vomit-inducingly awful. All of them just seem bored (understandably), even when something bad is supposedly happening to them, like tentacles going into their mouths and coming out their stomachs (by the way, user Billy Lovelady's comment about "tentacle hentai" is one of the funniest things I've ever read. Thank you, sir). Some of them are also plain weird, like the crazy hick neighbor and the sheriff who looks like Freddie Mercury at age 70.

Unless you're using this for study as I've suggested, avoid it at all costs. It's mindless and boring. There are millions of better things to do than watch this movie, such as looking out the window, which is what I did for the next hour after I turned it off. It was a hell of a lot more productive than waiting to see who killed the Viper.

This is the same old story about an alien being taking over the earth.

I see this type of stuff each week on the X-Files done much better. Without telling any details for those who want to see it, there is nothing original about this. The CGI work to create the monster was the worst that I have ever seen. Patrick Muldoon who was the male star was possibly the worst actor that I have ever seen. I watched it because of the reputation of Theresa Russell but she looked lost in a very stupid movie. I watched it on the Sci-Fi Channel which had more commericials ever and lots of bleeps. This movie might have been passible as a late night movie on tape or dvd but not with edits, cuts and commercials.

An outspoken security agent(Patrick Muldoon)is forced to team with a sexy NASA scientist(Theresa Russell)to capture a murderous creature on the loose. The snail-like creature was created from a fusion of human DNA and computer chips and seems to have a hunger for human flesh. This sci fi pictures orignal also stars Tim Thomerson, Billy Kean and Curtis Armstrong. I expected stronger and more interesting F/X. Pace of the story line is sustained by suspense. Recommended viewing. Catch it on the Sci-Fi Network.

Project Viper could have been much worse than it was, and there have been both worse and better movies. There are redeeming qualities certainly. Theresa Russell does bring some charisma and grit to her femme-fatale sort of role as well as showing beautiful looks. The music doesn't really sound all that original, I agree that it was reminiscent of Alien, but it was memorable, it was haunting and it was suspenseful(a shame that the movie didn't live up to it). A couple of effects are decent, though both are crude and bizarre looking, but the ones in the opening scene and the viper chasing the jeep through the caves were not bad at all. However, I never found Project Viper thrilling or really all that unsettling either. The very derivative(there are scenes that do look as though they were lifted out of better stuff like It, Air America and Species) and disjointed storytelling, the talky and overly-serious in tone scripting, the laborious pacing, the clichéd and underdeveloped characters and haphazard filming really undermined any atmosphere Project Viper could have had that the music promised. Apart from Russell the acting is not great at all. Tim Thomerson is not too bad actually but is saddled with a stereotyped sheriff character that you just don't care for at the end of the day. Patrick Muldoon is the worst, he manages to be both annoying and bland. All in all, has its redeeming qualities but didn't do all that much for me. 3/10 Bethany Cox