Snake Dancer

"Snake Dancer" is a semi-autobiographical tale of a young South African woman who dabbles in exotic dancing to help pay her way through college (and yes, she occasionally incorporates a large snake into her act), running afoul of repressive South African authorities and a disapproving fiancé.

While the star, Glenda (playing herself), doesn't lack for enthusiasm during her routine, watching a skinny, average-looking woman wave her gangling arms around and thrust her pelvis out repeatedly like a bad go-go dancer doesn't exactly float my boat. Erotic, her act ain't. Is "Snake Dancer" a potential candidate for bad movie fans? Well, there are a few risqué moments (in spite of the bad dancing, her routines later in the movie got my attention at times), and fans of terrible disco music and tacky mid-70s hair and fashions won't be let down. The film is shoddily-made, slightly naughty, and a bit ridiculous, but never quite enough to push the material over the top.

Full-frame, the Mondo Macabro DVD presentation isn't too bad (using what appears to be a tape source for the last reel, as mentioned in the movie's opening disclaimer), and includes a couple of interviews, some background information on the film and its star, and the usual promo reel.

I'm always on the look out for a good sleazy film and "Snake Dancer", sounded about right. Biography of South African woman Glenda Kemp shows us a bit of life as a child and some of the adversities with family and those close to her as she pursued doing what she enjoyed best, dancing. The film follows Glenda briefly as a child and moves on quickly to adulthood just enough to get a background of key points in her life. We watch as her love for dancing grows throughout the film and her experiences shape her character into the woman she becomes. There are many good scenes of Glenda performing her exotic dance routines on stage in front of audiences. I thought the biographical portions of the film were shot quite nicely and I felt for Glenda as she fought adversity to follow her dreams against adversity. The exotic dancing were very good with using puppets and snakes with much ingenuity and energy. The only thing that I didn't like about the film was the last minute of the film. I won't spoil it for you but lets just say I had expected a better ending than the one portrayed in the film.

Glenda Kemp, a real-life snake dancer, delivers a C minus lead performance in this presumably semi-biographical South African sexploiter. The schmaltzy story concerns Kemp finding true love in her life, and having to choose between it and her career as a...*ahem*...exotic stage dancer...*cough*...who uses live snakes in her act.

Although a few stretches of boredom disqualify this oddity from "all-time classic sleaze" nominations, there is still enough poky appeal to curb most fans of strange, art-void cinema. The spasmodic placement of a perfervid soap-suds romance within the glamorous, sub-rosa world of reptile pole-dancer pageantry was certainly a one-time-only concept, a novelty even further itallicized by the film's literal and serious elucidation. This self-composed approach to such drooling indelicacies may put some viewers off...and leave others to sneer with delighted schadenfreude.

4/10