During the 1970's and into the early 80's movie viewers were routinely given the opportunity to see the latest "Nature running amok" film where some animal/mammal/fish starts to pester decent folks and when the few courageous people try to stop it they run into bureaucrats who don't want to be bothered. This story is about Satan that has taken the shape of the King Cobra and after getting loose from on board a train it pops up in a small Alabama town where the snake is trying to track down Father Tom Farrow (Fritz Weaver) whose ancestors were druids. The Cobra is able to control the local rattlesnakes and make them start acting aggressively and biting people. Doctor Maggie Sheridan (Gretchen Corbett) who works at the hospital is suspicious of all the snakebite victims and some of the wounds look stranger than usual. She calls a snake expert in to investigate and Dr. Paul Hendricks (Jon Korkes) flies in.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
After more victims are found Maggie and Paul try to persuade Mayor Grady Thorpe (Jack Gordon) to let the townsfolk be aware of what is happening but he says no and a successful businessman named Matt Perry (Bob Hannah) who has a new business opening starts to call the shots.
This film was directed by Bob Claver who is a very respectable television director but this is the only theatrical film that he directed. As I started to watch this film I started to think that this was made for television but I double checked and it was released in theaters. The whole look of the film has T.V. movie of the week written all over it. No style to the filmmaking at all and in certain scenes as it looks to fade out I kept expecting a commercial to come on. This was trying to capitalize on the successes of films like "Jaws", "Orca", "Food of the Gods" and even "Grizzly" but those at least had an enemy that truly spooked viewers but this fails on that level. I had to laugh at the actor who was obviously separated by glass from the cobra, the glass was dirty. You couldn't miss it. For you trivia buffs out there Christina Applegate makes her film debut here and actress Nancy Priddy who plays her mother is actually her real mother! Silly and unscary film tries to capitalize on the success of this genre but fails on all levels.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
After more victims are found Maggie and Paul try to persuade Mayor Grady Thorpe (Jack Gordon) to let the townsfolk be aware of what is happening but he says no and a successful businessman named Matt Perry (Bob Hannah) who has a new business opening starts to call the shots.
This film was directed by Bob Claver who is a very respectable television director but this is the only theatrical film that he directed. As I started to watch this film I started to think that this was made for television but I double checked and it was released in theaters. The whole look of the film has T.V. movie of the week written all over it. No style to the filmmaking at all and in certain scenes as it looks to fade out I kept expecting a commercial to come on. This was trying to capitalize on the successes of films like "Jaws", "Orca", "Food of the Gods" and even "Grizzly" but those at least had an enemy that truly spooked viewers but this fails on that level. I had to laugh at the actor who was obviously separated by glass from the cobra, the glass was dirty. You couldn't miss it. For you trivia buffs out there Christina Applegate makes her film debut here and actress Nancy Priddy who plays her mother is actually her real mother! Silly and unscary film tries to capitalize on the success of this genre but fails on all levels.