Director – Luis Llosa (Sniper)
Starring – Jennifer Lopez (The Cell), Ice Cube (Ghosts of Mars), and Jon Voight (Zoolander)
Release Date – 1997
Rating – 3.5/5
Tagline – “When you can’t breathe you cant scream”
As the 90s were winding down most people were throwing out their VCR and picking up the brand new DVD players that were just released in 1997. That was not the case for me. Though I am an avid DVD collector now it was hard for me to jump from collecting VHS tapes to DVDs but over time I did. However, once I finally moved over to DVD I still would rent and watch VHS and one film that I would often rent is the 1997 Anaconda.
Most of my friends at the time expressed a lot of hatred for the film but for some reason I really liked it, flaws included. I rented this movie more times that I cared to count and would even watch it when it came on Cinemax. For some reason I never actually bought the film on VHS or DVD and over the year I have faded away for it until recently when Mill Creek announced they were releasing it on Blu. This is one of the instances where I had to check it out on Blu and Mill Creek was nice enough to send it to me.
**Spoiler Alert**The film follows a group of documentary filmmakers as they travel down the Amazon River filming a documentary on the Shirishamas. While making their way down river they come across a stranded snake hunter (Voight) and offer to help him out. He is an expert in navigating the area and offers to help them out for a ride.
However, this smooth talking mother fucker has something else up his sleeve. He sabotages the scuba gear and when someone puts it on to go in the river he is stung by a very poisonous wasp. The snake hunter is able to stabilize him but convinces the crew to go down a river stating it is a quicker route to the hospital. Once they head down that path things turn ugly when his true intentions are revealed when they discover that is he trying to trap a man-eating anaconda to sell. This turns deadly when they run out of fuel and encounter one.**Spoiler Alert**
I typically dislike the “when animals attack” horror film but I do sometimes do come across one that is fun as hell. The films Razorback and Anaconda are by far my favorite two with the second causing me a ton of grief. People often shit talk the film but I can not figure out why. The film has a solid story, a great cast, and some amazing practical effects.
The acting in this film is top notch by most of the cast. The star of the film is easily Jon Voight. I have seen this man in several other films but none are on the level as this one. His performance was intense to say the least. The remainder of the cast is solid but the performance from J-Lo is pretty damn weak. She is the low point of the film.
The story for this one is very well written and perfectly executed. The characters are brilliant. the story flows perfectly. and the big reveals are truly shocking. Finally, the film has some amazing practical effects. The kills and the snake looks great (with the exception of the beast’s eyes). We also get a great regurgitated body gag and the effects are purely awe inspiring. Sadly, these great practical effects are almost ruined by some of the most dated visual effects I have seen to this date. Overall,Anaconda is a film that receives a lot of hate for some unknown reason. If you check it out with an open mind then you will truly enjoy it. Check it out!
