Review of Vipers (1998) by Van R — 07 Jan 2010

VIPERS qualifies as a genuinely exciting horror chiller that will make your skill crawl about genetically enhanced snakes that invade an isolated vacation resort island in the Pacific Northwest and turn half of the residents into luncheon meat.

Tara Reid of AMERICAN PIE stars as a savvy blond horticulturist who grows pot when she is not selling bonsai trees to tourists and Jonathan Scarfe plays the new guy on the island who has come to replace the old doctor.

Happily, this Sci-Fi Channel creature feature from producers Robert Halmi Jr., and Robert Halmi Sr., surpasses their other made-for-cable outings like GRIZZLY RAGE. Although a lot of people have criticized the computer-generated-imagery of hundreds of snakes run amok, the serpents do not look that cheesy.

Of course, you can tell from the start that the snakes are fake, but you have to approach this epic some suspension of disbelief if you want to enjoy it and VIPERS is entertaining. Director Bill Corcoran, who has done a little bit of everything in terms of television shows, knows enough to never let the momentum flag in the preposterous Brian Katkin plot.

Anybody who has seen STARGATE will recognize dependable Don S. Davis as the old doctor. Elements of this movie recall DEEP BLUE SEA, where experiments were conducted on genetically enhanced sharks to yield a cure Alzheimer's disease and JURASSIC PARK where replicated dinosaurs swarmed off an island into America.

Universal Bio Tech Industries has achieved astonishing results in the containment of breast cancer by using the venom from horned vipers. Indeed, Dr. Collins (Jessica Steen of ARMAGEDDON) is gratified that she has saved one 28-year old woman from the ravages of the disease.

Her celebratory attitude dries up when she learns from the company CEO, Burton (Corbin Bernsen of MAJOR LEAGUE), that a disaster has occurred at a remote island research laboratory that may endanger their successes.

It seems that the horned vipers, which were supposed to be destroyed, have gotten off the island. These genetically enhanced reptiles are stealthy, extremely lethal, and agile. In the opening scene, a crook security chief tries to steal the snakes but he is thwarted.

A shoot-out ensues and the glass container that houses the snakes shatters when bullets strike it and the nasty snakes escape and start biting the scientists. These evil things not only bite but they also dine on the flesh of their victims.

Somehow, these snakes escape to Eden Cove and all Hell and hysteria breaks loose. Burton sends Dr. Collins to Eden Cover to assess the situation. Little does she know that Burton only wants his men to retrieve a snake and destory the island using Homeland Security to eradicate a possible plague.

The cast is first-rate and you feel sympathetic toward them. For a change these victims show some sense. People who abhor snakes should avoid this shiver-inducing saga.