Predatori letali

Living and working in Tokyo has some advantages, one of them being the fact that Channel 12 runs movies every afternoon -13:30-15:30- Monday to Thursday; some of course boarder on the inane but I just saw Silent Preds today and it's as fine a TV film as there is. Good camera work, nice production, solid acting and a realistic dialog, for a TV movie budget Silent Preds hits an easy 6. I personally wouldn't put it in the genre of B movie either, it doesn't have the feel or themes of a B movie, for a start Silent Preds uses real snake shots, not overly obvious rubber nasties flopping around as a muscle bound wanna be hero 'fights' them. This is no Ed Wood production and I found myself looking out for snakes where I'd seen them in this film. Watch, enjoy, creep yourself out!

We know right from the opening seconds of SILENT PREDATORS, when we see a truck hauling a huge crate marked: "Danger... Handle With Extreme Caution... Venomous Reptile", that we're in for another killer snake movie. When the obvious happens, and the creature is unleashed, we know we're in for a treat.

20 years later, the citizenry of a small desert town are under attack by an army of slithering super snakes. Could it have anything to do with the new housing development that's being constructed nearby?

Harry Hamlin stars as the new Fire Chief, barely able to settle into his position before the deaths begin. Mr. Hamlin plays his part in a low-key fashion, which lends a calming effect amid the growing chaos. Shannon Sturges plays the love interest, and employee of the loathesome real estate developer (Jack Scalia). Also, watch for Patty "The Bad Seed" McCormack as the local pet shop owner.

Based on an early screenplay by John Carpenter, this TV movie isn't bad. In fact, it's an above-average entry in the "animal attack" subgenre. The rattlesnakes are suitably scary, and their "snake vision" shots are effective. There's also the obligatory, greed-driven cover-up to help keep the goodguys on their toes.

Highly recommended for fans of this subgenre...

"Vic Rondelli" (Harry Hamlin) is the new Fire Chief for the small town of San Catalona and on the first day at his job a teenage boy is bitten and killed by a rattlesnake. Although the rattlesnake managed to escape Vic is surprised at how fast the venom took effect. Not long afterward six or seven rattlesnakes are found in the crawlspace of a new home but before Vic has a chance to examine any of them a real estate developer named "Max Farrington" (Jack Scalia) has them killed and quickly burned. Concerned about this sudden appearance of such aggressive rattlesnakes Vic attempts to take certain proactive measures but is thwarted at every opportunity by Max-even as the death toll rises. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that, although the plot greatly resembled the film "Rattled" which was produced three years earlier, this was a still a decent movie none-the-less. It had good suspense and some solid performances by Jack Scalia, Shannon Sturges (as Max Farrington's assistant "Mandy Stratford") and Harry Hamlin. Again, while this movie was hardly unique it still wasn't too bad and for that reason I rate it as about average.

SILENT PREDATORS is your usual monster-of-the-week TV movie with snakes being the menace of choice this time around. As a typically sanitised television movie this offers up few scares and even fewer thrills, instead happy to plod through TV-level inanity for the most part; everything is predictable, clichéd, and well-telegraphed in advance.

The only thing of note about this film is that John Carpenter had a hand in writing the story, which in any case is entirely derivative. Folk in a small town discover that some killer foreign snakes have been breeding in the area and are now killing the townsfolk. A smarmy property developer (Jack Scalia) tries to cover everything up while loner hero Harry Hamlin (once of CLASH OF THE TITANS fame) strives to save the world.

SILENT PREDATORS is a film populated by ageing TV stars and features a non-threatening menace, although I'm happy that real snakes were used instead of stupid CGI creations. The PREDATOR-style snake vision is a step too far, though, and the attempts to create an exciting climax fall flat.

When I first saw this movie, I only caught the first half hour of it, but it was enough. I had seen enough of these formulaic, made-for-TV movies to know how it was going to end. Two months later, the curiosity of the accuracy of my predictions got the best of me, so I rented the movie and finished it this time. And I can say that with my guesstimation abilities, movie companies should hire me to write formulaic, made-for-TV movies. Everything happened that I anticipated: the progression of the plot, the introduction and killing off of characters, the role each character plays in the movie, it all was there.

If you've seen one of these movies, you've seen them all. Movies like this one, Marabunta, The Fury Within, Nightscream, Burial of the Rats, they are all the same. Watch one movie, replace the aggressive animal with a different animal, and enjoy.

Scott says: For a movie of silent rattlesnakes, the snakes sure broke script a lot.