Thunder of Gigantic Serpent

I'm sure Ian Curtis's soul can rest in peace knowing that "I Remember Nothing" has been used in a Godfrey Ho film. Did anyone tell Edgar Froese how much coverage Tangerine Dream have in these films? Both Phaedra and Logos turn up in this one. And what sounds like Throbbing Gristle? Weird.

This film is kind of like E.T. if E.T. was a snake who kept getting bigger every time it came into contact with electricity, who also loved a little girl so much that it was willing to kill everybody else in China to be with her. Such is love in the world of Godfrey Ho.

So Ting Ting (the girl) and Moslar (the snake) are buddies, and I immediately burst out laughing when a real live snake with a bonnet on it's head was forced to nod by some invisible wire. Thankfully we don't get much of this as when Moslar grows he's replaced by a rubber snake. Which makes things ever funnier.

The snake helps the girl win races, plays beach ball with her, and saves her from the hordes of gangsters who want the formula that made the snake grow in the first place. This film would be almost sweet if it wasn't for the gangsters and police graphically gunning each other down for most of the fist half of the film.

Luckily Moslar becomes truly giant and that's when things become proper mental. Godfrey must have been laughing all the way to the bank with this one because he hardly had to lift a finger to film some crappy tack-on white guy stuff. This film didn't need it. It's a truly insane classic of some kind.

Well, this is pretty insane stuff even by IFD standards!

The plot concerns the Thunder project which has produced a formula that can increase the physical proportions of both plant life and animals to between 300 and 1000 times their original size! Of course, such a scientific breakthrough inevitably attracts the nefarious attentions of a terrorist group led by a chap named Solomon who needless to say, promptly orders his cronies to procure the formula by any means necessary.

As it happens, the attempted seizure of the breakthrough is a failure and the formula ends up in the hands of a little girl......and her intelligent pet snake(!) Well, you can probably guess what happens next..... Yep, said snake grows.....and grows.....and GROWS! By the end of the film the bloody thing is as big as a skyscraper and has caused untold damage to everything around it.

In between all these giant snake shenanigans we find another sub plot i.e. newly edited in footage, involving Pierre Kirby of Full Metal Ninja and Zombie vs Ninja fame trying to track down Solomon; Cue a few fun to watch shoot outs and martial arts scenes as our man takes out Solomon's lackeys first.

If it sounds strange on paper then it's nothing compared to how it transpires on screen! Whilst this is far from the most enjoyable output to spring forth from the IFD stables, it certainly figures as one of the most absurd (which is saying a lot!)

Fellow bad movie fans take note!

Very cheap, sometimes boring, but also sometimes charming low-budget giant monster movie about very big snek that get more big as film go on.

There are some very slow parts, especially in the first half, but when the snek get really big, this is movie magic.

• Snek: is big
• Special effects: cheap
• Dubbing: atrocious
• Consistent editing and smooth scene transitions: non-existent
• Fun when big snek is on screen: immeasurable.

You get exactly what you think you'd get out of a movie called Thunder of Gigantic Serpent here. If you think that title sounds awesome, you should watch this, but if you think it sounds stupid, maybe it's best to find another movie to watch.

Intrigued over a new chemical formula, a terrorist group launch an attack on a secret facility to acquire it only for the strange formula to inadvertently cause a young girls' pet snake to grow into a monstrous giant and terrorize the city forcing a special agent to stop the creature.

This version of the film was quite an enjoyably cheesy effort. One of the more entertaining aspects here is the fact that this one relies on such over-the-top action that mixing it all together creates such a fun experience. From the beginning, which has a great start here with the absolutely insane series of gunfights featuring the terrorist group coming to attack the facility with the guards forced into defending the escaping scientists into the woods, the second battle in the woods when the commando goes into action to rescue the formula and several later military ambushes with the commando where he sets out to stop the terrorist gang from getting ahold of the formula with the family. This action is compounded by the full-on monster movie fun to be had once the creature gets exposed to the formula. Going through several size stages, from a forty-to-fifty foot creature that gets involved with the girl helping her to get revenge on her bullies or help save the family from the terrorists once they find out the snake has been affected. Lighthearted and completely against the tone of the rest of the footage here which has this resorting to the kind of extravagant monster-on-the-loose scenarios complete with scenes of the military attacking the creature, miniature cityscapes resulting in plenty of cheesy spectacle and the kind of action-packed fun that normally results from seeing a goofy, silly monster movie. These here are what make this fun over its flaws. Those flaws, though, are mainly based around the manner of how the film was constructed. It's quite well-known that the film is edited from another movie and has additional footage inserted into the final release, and it's quite obvious how that occurs here. The footage of the Caucasian commando that adds nothing to the film and really looks to be shoehorned into the beginning and ending while completely disappearing from the rest of the movie which accounts for the majority of footage taken from the other movie. The wackiness of the material is something to get over as well, and the constant tonal shifts from goofy family comedy to straight action and then cheesy monster film which all come from the original film all combine into a rather chaotic and disorienting experience. Otherwise, there's not much else about the movie itself to really dislike.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.