Snake Island (2002)

This film essentially begins in a remote region of Africa with a boat carrying several tourists up a river in the wilderness. However, when they stop at a small place known as Snake Island to gather supplies the crew notices that there is nobody at the dock to greet them. Curious about this, three of the crew go ashore to find out what has happened with instructions for the passengers to remain on the boat. Unfortunately, when a cobra makes its way onto the boat a novelist named "Malcolm Page" (William Katt) accidentally punctures the gas tank in an effort to kill it. This leaves everybody stranded on the island where it soon becomes clear that the snakes are quite plentiful--and extremely aggressive. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film started off well enough and appeared to have some potential. At least at first as there were a couple of scenes which had some decent suspense here and there. Likewise, both Kate Connor (as "Heather Dorsey") and Nicola Hanekom ("Ronnie") certainly added some nice scenery as well. Unfortunately, after the first 30 minutes or so many of the scenes became somewhat repetitious which caused my interest to wane a bit. That being said, while this wasn't a bad film by any means it wasn't necessarily that good and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

Arriving in South Africa, tourists stopping off at a small-time hunting location going missing one-by-one realize that the island has a long and storied history involving venomous snakes inhabiting the island and band together to find a way off the island.There was some good stuff to this one that makes it work. One of its best features is that it has a lot more action to it than expected, which is a lot of fun and helps move this one along nicely. One of the best encounters is the snake's attack on the bunker, from the rather fun image of seeing all the snakes come out of nowhere, ready to hiss and spit from out of every corner of the room and leading to a variety of fun methods in an extended battle that requires a lot in order to get them under control. The final charge to get off the island is another rather fun and enjoyable action, using several different terrains and locations, featuring great tactics from the encounter along the river stream to the rope-propeller escape along the mountains and even including the initial escape across the open plains on a lawnmower and it makes this rather fun. Aside from the action, it's rather suspenseful earlier on here where they go about on a night-time tour of the island and stumble upon a series of different animal encounters that make for some fun times, especially since the whole encounter takes place at night which certainly helps, as well as the early discovery of the abandoned camp which has a lot to like about it from the incredibly creepy outlook and how it's all presented together. The last plus here is the fun campfire sequence, from the nudity to the revelation of the island's back-story and the eroticism of the whole event, it all works with the snakes slithering around in the background. These here are what work for the film while there weren't a whole lot of real flaws to this one. The film's biggest issue is the use of real snakes in here as the inclusion of the numerous normal-sized creatures just doesn't do anything for anyone and makes them non-threatening instead. They're easier to get rid off and escape from, and there's just not much that the film can deliver in the way of bloody or gory kills. It removes the option of going for the really over-the-top and exciting kills that can be accomplished as this is pretty much restricted to just a few bite- wounds after the fact and the sounds of the dead snakes only, feeling remarkably dry for a killer snake film. The last flaw with the film is the rather weird dream sequence late in the film, where they involve talking snakes singing a nursery rhyme to one of the victims which is completely out-of-place with the rest of the realistic film, doesn't have a purpose and sticks out quite readily. Even though there's some really good parts to this, the flaws are enough to knock it down a bit.Rated R: Graphic Language, Nudity and Violence.

Snake Island (2002) ** (out of 4)Another "nature strikes back" flick this time set on, you guessed it, Snake Island. A group of strangers get stuck on the island when they learn that it has a reputation of being infested by various deadly snakes. One by one the guests are picked off. This certainly isn't a masterpiece of the genre but if you're a fan of these nature movies then you'll probably want to check this one out. I'm personally terrified of snakes so that causes me to be creeped out by movies like this whereas others might just roll their eyes and move on. Overall this isn't the best movie out there but there are several pluses to be had here. For starters, the performances are all rather good and makes for some nice characters. Director Crawford is good as the tour guide and William Katt turns in fine work as an author. Both men are clearly the best of the cast but the supporting players aren't too bad either. Real, rubber and CGI snakes are used throughout the film with the real ones working the best. The CGI ones are incredibly fake looking but they're certainly more realistic than those seen in something like PYTHON or its sequel. The attacks are all rather tame in terms of lack of violence and gore but I didn't have a problem with this as the director at least tries to build them up around suspense instead of the red stuff. What doesn't work with the film is its 95-minute running time, which was a tad bit long as the film starts to wear off its welcome after the hour mark. Another negative is an incredibly stupid snake dance half way through the picture. The director does throw male viewers some nudity, which I'm sure plenty will enjoy. If you're not a fan of this genre then I doubt this movie will turn you into a fan.

A wide variety of snakes stage an uprising on tourists "invading" their island due their captain's boat damage. The few remaining survivors who aren't caught vulnerable by the snakes will attempt an escape mission, their goal to flee to available boats which can get them safely off the island.Presented straight-faced with injected doses of visual humor featuring lots of snake gags, Wayne Crawford's SNAKE ISLAND features plenty of different breeds of the slithery predators, in striking position, ready to attack their prey. Star William Katt, as an author researching snakes for a forthcoming novel, has fun in his role along with writer / director / co-star Wayne Crawford(..as the tourist boat captain) as put-upon heroes who stare down a most serious crisis. Kate Connor is Crawford's attractive love interest, a lawyer on vacation. The other cast members serve as either tourists or crew, mostly fodder for the snakes. As in many other movies of this type, director Crawford features live snakes with computer generated ones, and the violence is really tame. Crawford even incorporates the point-of-view technique with the camera as the eyes of the snake as it faces the potential victim(..with the actor looking directly into the camera). Never to be taken seriously, the tongue-in-cheek approach was probably the best way to shoot SNAKE ISLAND because the premise is just too ridiculous to accept on it's own.The effects and suspense scenes rarely work because Crawford is often unable to successfully stage the sequences where humans face off with the snakes. The snake attacks themselves also never happen on screen(..one or two tops), or are so limply presented they leave little impression. That's a no-no for a genre such as this. Fans of Katt will probably want to check it out because he does provide some facial comedy that establishes the overall tone of certain scenes where he must defend himself against the snakes. The CGI scenes where we see a large number of snakes in a general area aren't very effective which remove the realism Crawford might've attempted to establish. There are plenty of better horror films featuring snakes as the aggressors than SNAKE ISLAND. Surprising moments of nudity, relegated to a scene where the tourists and crew unwind after a long day with the bubbly, not knowing what danger lie ahead.