Review of Sssssss (1973) by Frecissimo S — 14 Nov 2006

I have to admit, it was the title that coaxed me into watching this. I was cruising my OnDemand Library, looking for something to kill some time. Plus, I haven't put a review up here since....October, if I recall correctly. I wanted to write about something. So I found Squirm, thought it would be worth a watch, and was about to order it. However, I noticed, right above it, an interesting title. Sssssss, it read. That's all. No Sssssss: Snakes of Terror or some other title. Just seven S's. Well, with a title like that, I was obviously interested. The short synopsis told me that the movie centered around an obsessed herpetologist trying to turn men into snakes. I figured this would be worth a go; Squirm could wait for a while.

Strother Martin was quite the actor, I have to say. He played a convincing herpetologist, and his lines were delivered with an interesting fluidity that made his role seem genuine. Right away, I was pleased with his acting prowess.

However, I can't say the same for David. His performance was sporadically good. At times, his acting was nice. But in other scenes (the Mamba in the shower stands out to me in particular), his lines were unbelievably wooden (You had the love the unbroken cry of, "Shiiiiiit!", though, as David looks down and finds a Black Mamba preparing for an attack). His character was a little two-dimensional, but oddly enough, that didn't really bother me. He didn't need a whole lot of character to work. All you needed to know was that he was a kind man interested in snakes. There's no need to overcomplicate that, although the romance between him and Kristina was rather sweet (though, that too suffered a bit from Dirk Benedict's incompetence).

The hidden affair between Kristina and David was handled well, probably one of the highlights of the movie. It was built up slowly and fairly convincingly, and the inevitable confrontation between Dr. Stoner (I did chuckle a bit when I first heard his name, I hate to say) and Kristina was well-handled. Kristina was a lonely, sheltered girl who had finally found love, and Carl Stoner was aware of the risks Kristina was involved in by having sex with David. Although I do think Kristina should've had a little more faith in her father, I could understand both sides of the argument.

I also have to give credit to the movie for using real snakes. Robotic snakes are so unconvincing, and CGI snakes, while usually well-made, are rather obviously fake. Seeing real snakes in a movie is always a bit of a bonus for me.

...Though, speaking of fake effects, I couldn't help but laugh at Dr. Daniels' demise. I can buy the snake strangling him to death. But what I can't accept is the snake eating him afterward. First off, the impossibility of the consumption in the first place. It was a big snake, certainly, but not big enough to fit a fairly well-sized man inside of it. And then, there's the speed of the snake's meal. Even if I decided to condone the snake-eats-human part, the thing sure made quick work of Dr. Daniels. Only a half an hour or so, and it's just finishing up the feet?

However, despite the implausibility of the above scene, I must say, Dr. Stoner's disposal of Dr. Daniels was quite crafty. Dr. Daniels was handcuffed in the basement, and there were two identical snakes in front of him. One was lethal, one was harmless. He had to get the key to free himself, and he had to avoid a potentially deadly snake to get the key. This is a nice source of continuity; after the foreshadowing that begins Sssssss, the first scene involves Dr. Daniels lecturing his class on the difference between the coral snake and its nearly identical, yet harmless counterpart. "Red touches yellow, kill a fellow," Dr. Daniels tells his class. Dr. Stoner remembers this, taunting him with it as he explains the situation to Dr. Daniels. That was probably my favorite scene from the movie.

The transformation from human to snake was another one of my favorite scenes, too. Up until the end, you could still see traces of the human David in his increasingly serpentine body. You could sympathize with what the poor man must be going through, and as a whole, the scene was very effective. A bit unbelievable, yes, but can you expect absolute believability from a movie that expects you to believe that a human can seamlessly adopt the appearance of a cobra?

I have to question the PG Rating this movie was given. I'm not really too concerned with Ratings in general. But it's still a bit amusing to see blatant sex scenes, mildly strong language, and a small bit of violence in an allegedly PG film.

And as a closing note, don't be surprised when the movie abruptly ends.

Sssssss isn't a great movie, but it's not a bad one either. The story isn't pointlessly complicated, and all the more entertaining because of that. The effects are a bit fake, but you have to remember that this movie was produced in the 70's; technology was hardly at its peak back then. Don't expect a masterpiece from this movie; it's just a nice way to pass an hour and forty minutes.