![]() Boutique distributor 88 Films in the U.K. there’s been roughly three releases of Anaconda (1997) on blu, it’s debut came from Sony, with Mill Creek Entertainment re-releasing it in 20. Highlight of the film is watching Voight get swallowed whole, and then spit back out later on, plus we get a couple of intense constriction deaths. And the size of this snake appears to be larger than any normal anaconda as well. However, if you’re in range of their head they can strike at you in the blink of any eye. Real constrictors can’t slither around lickety-split, though, they can in water, but their bulk prohibits them from racing at you on terra firma. The only un-realistic part of the reptile is how it moves on land. More impressive, though, is they built a giant animatronic snake for key close-ups. And the computer generated version of the snake still holds up relatively well in my opinion. This movie comes four years after Jurassic Park (1993) heralded in the CGI era with it’s ultra-realistic dinosaurs, but that movie wasn’t all CGI, it was the perfect blend of computer and practical with a number of astonishing full-sized practical dinos built by the late FX artist Stan Winston, including a full sized T-Rex (see below)! Anaconda sports almost the same blend of practical effects and CGI. The prolific Danny Trejo even makes a cameo in the movie’s opening as the first victim of the snake, we’ll learn he was part of Serone’s original snake hunting crew, before the snake picked them all off. This flick has a name cast too, not including Voight (the biggest name), the documentary crew is made up of before-she-was-famous Jennifer Lopez, Eric Stolz (leader of the doc), Ice Cube, Kari Wuhrer, and, wait, is that Owen Wilson? It sure is. ![]() As he takes control it’s clear he’s obsessed with nabbing this snake at any cost. His character is clearly the antagonist, Voight exudes sinister and creepy intentions from the get-go. He tells them he can help them locate their tribe, but first he needs help hunting this anaconda. Their mission, to film the Shirishamas tribe, but they get sidetracked when they come upon Paul Serone (John Voight) who’s boat is stalled out. So, technically, not a “giant snake” flick, but the “worm” does look very “giant snake.” Just thought I’d bring it up.ĭirector Luis Llosa’s Anaconda is about a documentary crew heading up the Amazon river. For those not aware I’m a monster movie fan, whether they be about Godzilla, giant reptiles, insects, spiders, general mutations of such, or any kind of rampaging “monster.” Up to this point the last giant snake movie America made was the more horror oriented Spasms (1983, aka Death Bite), (based on the novel Death Bite by Michael Maryk and Brent Monahan), and to a lesser extent, Lair Of The White Worm (1988), though, technically, the beast in that movie is a legendary worm. I thought to myself, holy shit, did they just make a giant snake movie?!?! Get the fuck outta here! (Exact trailer I saw is included below). I turned my head just in time to see that split second shot before the name Anaconda came across the screen. It was the scene where the anaconda slithers up this ladder after actor Jon Voight. I caught the appearance of a giant snake out of the corner of my eye, and quickly looked to see what the hell I just glanced. At this point I had graduated from crutches to a cane, and I was limping through Sears when I spotted a trailer playing on one of the huge TV’s they had on in the electronics’ department. I was five months out from a near fatal car accident that had shattered my right knee-cap, and that same leg’s femur (busted in three places), when I was somewhat well enough to make it to the mall. No less influential was a theatrically released 1997 film by the name of Anaconda that came out in the Spring. I think we can all agree Star Wars (1977), Alien (1979), and Predator (1987), just to name three, altered the pop culture landscape, not to mention the course of movies. As it pertains to movies, the one good thing about being on this deteriorating mudball of a planet for–as of this post–53 years, you get to see all the movies that kicked off trends, new sub-genres, influenced other filmmakers, and brought into existence, for good and bad, a plethora of rip-offs.
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