Spasms

SPASMS tops my list for the best killer snake movie out there. Jason Kincaid (Oliver Reed) has this massive serpent captured and brought to the US because it killed his brother and he now shares some kind of psychic link with it (!). He enlists the help of psychologist Tom Brazilian (Peter Fonda) to study the animal and the mental connection, but they don't count on a group of snake worshiping Satanists (!!!) to complicate matters by accidentally setting the beast free. Amazingly, director William Fruet (FUNERAL HOME) gets the cast to play this entirely straight with Reed - who shot the snake themed VIPER (1981) the same year - really throwing himself into his crazy part (even if he seems to be whispering every line). The attack scenes are really well staged (a sorority house siege being the highlight) and DP Mark Irwin makes the movie look way better than it should. Dick Smith handled the gooey special effects; the bursting bodies are great 80s bladder effects but the snake is kept offscreen for the most part. Tangerine Dream supplied the "Serpent's Theme" for the soundtrack.

A gigantic serpent from hell is captured on a remote island and shipped to an American college for some sort of scientific experimentation.An American scientist played by Peter Fonda tries to help wealthy Jason Kincaid(Oliver Reed),who has some kind of telepathic link with ghastly serpent.Snake called N'Gana Sunbu escapes from scientific laboratory and promptly begins killing people.It's up to Fonda and Reed to stop satanic snake from hell...I must say that William Fruet did some great exploitation thrillers like "Death Weekend","Funeral Home" or "Trapped".On the other hand,"Spasms" is his stab at animal attack sub-genre.The special effects are cheesy and the snake looks ridiculous.Still there is enough campy fun and bloody violence to satisfy any self-respecting fan of 80's horror cheese.7 serpents out of 10.Vastly enjoyable piece of trash.

Spasms stars Oliver Reed as Jason Kincaid, a wealthy big game hunter who, while hunting in the jungle of a remote island, becomes cursed by a demonic serpent. Since the encounter, the hunter is telepathically linked to each attack done by the snake by way of an all-blue color perspective. The serpent is eventually captured after a vicious rampage against the island's native inhabitants and smuggled to North America for research when it escapes it's handlers. From there all hell breaks loose setting up a final, fateful confrontation with Reed's character. Spasms is a fairly decent suspense movie that will keep you riveted as you follow the snake's indiscriminate path toward each doomed victim it encounters. Special effects are generally good for it's time, showing some of the damage impact of the serpent's poison on it's victims but shots of the rarely shown snake itself does reveal some limitations due to lack of budget...this movie would be a good candidate for a CGI enhanced remake with increased budget to tie up the original's loose ends; mainly the believability of the snake itself. The movie is loosely adapted from the novel "Death Bite". Spasms is an increasingly hard to find title which so far is only available in it's out-of-print VHS format.

Nothing qualifies such bad reviews of a movie called "Spasms". It's about a giant snake and Oliver Reed shares telepathic powers with it. What more is there to expect? Not likely another early 80s director with a diminished Canadian budget could have done better. There's lovely gore effects, some effective shocks, and Oliver Reed emotional and tormented by his predicament. Unfortunately, there is also Peter Fonda and his terrible female costar. But at least one man undergoes such massive spasms he first tranforms into Robert Z'Dar, then pops. Not much more I can ask for than that. For all its sloppy editing and a plot which contains too much unresolved material, the movie delivers its share of drive-in quality thrills. Plus, the Tangerine Dream end credits piece rocks.

Underrated thriller about a serpent that is shipped off to a college for a rich trophey hunter (Oliver Reed), but the serpent escapes and begins murdering people. Reed also has a psychic link to the serpent and witnesses the murders through the eyes of the serpent. Scary, exciting thriller with a good cast and some good shock effects. Rated R; Graphic Violence, Nudity, and Profanity.