The Reptile (1966)

I watched the Reptile on my DVR and I can't tell you how slow this movie is. The reptile scenes are minimal and nothing really happens until the last 10 minutes.Some might say that it builds suspense but I found it very dull and talky.When a 90 minute film takes over an hour to have some action you lose interest.I feel that if it's a horror film it should have several scares and appearances of the monster.The makeup on the snake woman was very good but I just wish she was in it more.In fact after I watched it I deleted it from my DVR.That is definitely one I will not be watching again.

With so much going for it, one can't help but wonder why the filmmakers chose to keep THE REPTILE itself under wraps; when it's on screen, it works very well (the makeup is top notch), but, when it's NOT on screen, the movie plods slowly along to its foregone conclusion. It's an old gripe, but a valid one: if you're making a MONSTER movie, it behooves you to get said Monster on screen as often as possible- otherwise, you might as well be making a murder mystery. Not a BAD movie, per se, but by no means a Timeless Classic, THE REPTILE is the kind of Fright Film that only the more devout Hammer fans can appreciate.

After the strange death of his brother, a man and his wife relocate to a remote cottage he's inherited in Cornwall. Weird goings on with the locals, a neighbor, and mysterious deaths in the area seem to be linked to a bizarre creature.One of Hammer's finer, if not campier (by today's standards), efforts, "The Reptile" is immensely enjoyable on the level of pure atmosphere alone. Like most of Hammer's most memorable pictures, the film weaves a tapestry of British atmospherics—the rural English countryside, the quaint cottage, and the ominous forests take center stage here. There is something spellbinding about these films in the way that they fashion their own atmospheric universes, and "The Reptile" is a stellar example of it done extremely well.The score here fantastic and there are some well-handled attack scenes with the titular monster; the film is also surprisingly suspenseful and is able to ratchet the tension over the first seventy or so minutes. Things don't really propel steadfastly until the last fifteen to twenty minutes, but there is plenty of atmosphere and tension preceding it that makes the payoff just good enough. The film's final scene is really fantastic, and the special effects on the monster are commendable by today's standards, despite how absurd the entire thing may really be. The acting also holds up surprisingly well, with Ray Barrett as the leading man and Jennifer Daniel as his inquisitive wife. Marne Maitland is subtly sinister as The Malay, and lends the film an additional element of perturbation.Overall, "The Reptile" is a fun, atmospheric romp through the cold-blooded monster-land of the English countryside. It is most definitely dated in many ways, though it retains enough atmosphere and suspense to be enjoyable today, no matter how you feel about a half-woman half-snake lurking about the moors. Worthwhile for fans of Hammer as well as anyone who likes a good old fashioned monster movie with a British twist. 7/10.

I like Hammer productions, because of the lavish colors, crisp European countrysides and clipped British accents. What irks me sometimes are the rather abrupt endings.. in fact, many endings do not wrap up the plots satisfactorily. Coming to The Reptile, the above statements ring true. And here, there are too many plot holes to be ignored. The brother of the dead Mr Spalding comes to stay in his inherited cottage. Why? How and why did he wrap up his establishment and come to the village? What was to be his proposed source of livelihood in the village? Why were the villagers against the poor fellow, when his brother, the dead Spalding had himself died tragically? Why was the cottage smashed up before his arrival? Who did the smashing? Why was Dr Franklin so taciturn with others, while being a wimp with the sneering Malay (Marne Maitland)? What was the Malay doing anyhow in the doctor's household? Providing victims to the Reptile? Who was being actually punished? Dr Franklin, or the poor villagers, who were being conked off one by one? Why didn't Dr Franklin report the sneering Malay to the police (I hope the dude had his immigration papers in order), or simply ask the daughter to sink her fangs into him, once and for all? Hey.. more holes.... why did Dr Franklin lock Valerie Spalding in the house towards the end? His erratic actions prove that he was no innocent bystander.. he was as guilty as anybody else. And how did Anna enter the Spalding cottage, which was locked? To what purpose? She died mighty sudden of the English cold, just because a window was open. Heck.. no reptile dies that fast. Else our homes and gardens would be full of dead lizards and geckos in winter. The cold slows down reptiles.. makes them sluggish. They just don't die as if a gust of cold wind was a bottle of cyanide.I know its unfair to sit in judgment over a film that was produced about half-a-century ago. But this one has just too many holes.. like a lump of cheese. Appears to be a slapdash job - with a weak plot, a silly reptile costume and crazy characters, whose craziness could not be explained. I guess Anna Franklyn (Jacqueline Pearce) was the only redeeming feature of the movie. She looked sultry, sexy and attractive. She also looked suitably vulnerable.This was a no-winner from the House of Hammer. Sad.