Review of Silent Venom (2009) by Jackalqueen ~ — 12 Jul 2009

Silent Venom is about the transportation of a decommissioned submarine to Taiwan led by Captain Luke Perry (whose gotten off a court Martial by being forced to retire after this simple mission), which was assigned by Tom Berenger (who turns in a terrific performance in an otherwise useless and wasted role).

The sub needs to make a pit stop to a small island where a scientist Krista Allen and her assistant work on genetically altered snakes with deadly bites, not to mention two new breed snakes that are growing at an exponential rate.

Against the Allen's wishes, the assistant brings all of the snakes on board the sub, they get loose (naturally), and it becomes Snakes on a Muthafuckin' Submarine, unfortunately, there is no Samuel L.

Jackson to take them on, but rather a crew comprised of Perry, Allen, and some surprisingly decent no-name actors. Overall, I was expecting something wholly different from schlock/craploitation director Fred Olen Ray (Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, Evil Toons, Cyclone to name a few of the hundreds of films he's worked on).

Instead, Ray actually puts forth an effort to make a better than usual killer-snake movie. The balance of a cast trying to combat snakes (actual ones for the most part, no less) while overcoming military drama of surrounding enemies above them was a good mix to the story.

There was average acting with barely any of it being bad (gasp!), and they didn't overdo it on the CGI, which was pleasant. As far as cons go, the ending is slightly awkward and confusing, not to mention we are treated to a gigantic snake at the beginning of the film (think King Kong proportions) that makes a kill and is NEVER seen again in the film.

Talk about disappointed. It also would have been nice to see Berenger in a bigger role, like in the middle of the action. Overall, though, this wound up being better than I expected and a decent time-killer.

Still, I would only recommend this to Sci-fi channel enthusiasts, or those who get a kick out of these kinds of movies.