This film is like numerous science fiction/horror films from the 1950's, 60's and 70's as it features a mad scientist with a bizarre experiment he wishes to conduct. It differs a bit in that the scientist at times is almost likable and shows regret for what he is doing, but he is clearly a mad scientist in that his theory and the reasons for his experiment are highly flawed and questionable. There really is not a whole lot going on in this one either, but they manage to have a full length feature at 99 minutes. There is very little gore in this one, but it does have its moments...granted, most of the gore comes from a couple of snakes being dispatched and not by people. So this film has its good points, but a lot of bad points too.
The story has a man who researches snake venom requesting a student at a local college to help him around his place. The teacher lets him have one and you have to feel a bit for the guy as the researcher does not want to use him as an intern, but rather as the focus of an experiment to turn man into snake! As the story progresses a couple of people get on the researchers bad side so he dispatches them by using his large array of snakes. However, his theory that the next step in man's evolution is to turn man into snakes is pretty much undone by the finale of the film which has a mongoose killing the first successful man snake within five minutes of having been turned to said creature. My guess if one cannot survive a furry little rat, one certainly will not survive all the stuff the doctor told him he would survive. The researcher meets his end in utterly stupid fashion as he just has to talk down to his cobra face to face giving it multiple opportunities to bite him.
The film features a few notable celebrities, the most notable being a young Dirk Benedict as the poor student who gets to be the researcher's assistant and Reb Brown who would go on to play in multiple B movies. Though I have to say this was sadly probably the best acting performance I have seen. The scientist was played by Strother Martin who, while not a top guy, was in a large assortment of movies and television shows. The make up effects are okay, but at the end they kind of go the cheap route, but then you can only use make up so much before the transformation into a snake can be made to look reasonably realistic.
So it has some good points, but at the same time it has an equal number of bad, hence my score of five. The mad scientist was clearly mad and simply wanted the world full of snakes as any real scientist would know that taking away man's arms and legs would not be evolution, but devolution. I have seen this film a couple of times now as I watched once when I was younger and recently stumbled upon it on a DVD with two other horror films, Legacy and The Sentinel for only 1.88 so most definitely a great buy as none of the films are great, but are all fun watches. This one though is one I feel should be remade, but only because I want to go see it at the movie theater and say, "One for SSSSSSSS please!"
The story has a man who researches snake venom requesting a student at a local college to help him around his place. The teacher lets him have one and you have to feel a bit for the guy as the researcher does not want to use him as an intern, but rather as the focus of an experiment to turn man into snake! As the story progresses a couple of people get on the researchers bad side so he dispatches them by using his large array of snakes. However, his theory that the next step in man's evolution is to turn man into snakes is pretty much undone by the finale of the film which has a mongoose killing the first successful man snake within five minutes of having been turned to said creature. My guess if one cannot survive a furry little rat, one certainly will not survive all the stuff the doctor told him he would survive. The researcher meets his end in utterly stupid fashion as he just has to talk down to his cobra face to face giving it multiple opportunities to bite him.
The film features a few notable celebrities, the most notable being a young Dirk Benedict as the poor student who gets to be the researcher's assistant and Reb Brown who would go on to play in multiple B movies. Though I have to say this was sadly probably the best acting performance I have seen. The scientist was played by Strother Martin who, while not a top guy, was in a large assortment of movies and television shows. The make up effects are okay, but at the end they kind of go the cheap route, but then you can only use make up so much before the transformation into a snake can be made to look reasonably realistic.
So it has some good points, but at the same time it has an equal number of bad, hence my score of five. The mad scientist was clearly mad and simply wanted the world full of snakes as any real scientist would know that taking away man's arms and legs would not be evolution, but devolution. I have seen this film a couple of times now as I watched once when I was younger and recently stumbled upon it on a DVD with two other horror films, Legacy and The Sentinel for only 1.88 so most definitely a great buy as none of the films are great, but are all fun watches. This one though is one I feel should be remade, but only because I want to go see it at the movie theater and say, "One for SSSSSSSS please!"