Review of Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (2004) by M. C — 08 May 2014

Strangely enough I actually liked this sequel over the first film which was a big surprise as I really expected a complete pile of nonsense and that would look pathetic. So much to my amazement I found myself enjoying the film from start to finish, yes the plot is basic with your typical group of adventurers taken down one by one, but its actually made pretty well on location and it does look real-ish.

The effects are about on par with the first film but just that tiny bit better due to advancement with CGI effects obviously. A lot of the snake effects are in the dark or under heavy shadow so its hard to pinpoint if they are actually any good or not but I guess that's how you properly deal with a creature effect and make it effective. As said location work really adds a lot to the film and raises it above your average B-movie schlock. The scenery does look like real deep dark thick jungle and what sets there are look quite authentic, nice boat/river direction too.

Casting is reasonable with no big names but all characters are fun to watch. Messner is your gruff unshaven 'Indy' type hero whilst Marsden is great as the cliched British scientist/villain. The rest are your usual mix of stereotypes that we've seen before but always fun to see new creative teams of oddballs. This lesser known cast actually works better than the big name cast from the first film in my opinion as your not overly sure who will survive to the end, it just feels that bit more exciting and fresh.

Everything about this sequel is just a slight cut above the first film. Yep believe it or not but its true, pure hokey B-movie fodder that's highly enjoyable and is actually just as good if not better than the original.