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In the original film, a documentary film crew journeys to the depths of the Amazon in search of the mysterious Shirishama Indians, and ends up fighting a gargantuan, insatiable snake that squeezes its prey to death, eats it whole, regurgitates it and then eats it again.
While the film earned poor ratings from critics, with Rotten Tomatoes calculating 40% positive reviews and describing the film by saying its “pulpy pleasures are constricted by its own absurdity, but creature feature fans may enjoy its brazen silliness,” the film went on to earn $136 million worldwide on a reported production budget of $45 million. The film also featured a number of actors whose careers were beginning to rise, like Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, and Owen Wilson, while also bringing in veteran actor Jon Voight to give one of his more outlandish performances as the snake hunter Paul Sarone.
Despite being far from a “hit,” the film occupies a very specific space in the hearts of horror fans, as it debuted at a time when CGI was beginning to take prominence in the world of special effects, while practical creations were still the most cost-efficient method of bringing creatures to life. Other late ’90s creature features include The Relic, Deep Rising, and Bats.
Another famous monster movie from that time period was Lake Placid, about a group of researchers discovering a monstrous crocodile was living in a remote Maine lake. Both series earned themselves a number of straight-to-video sequels, with the franchises even going head to head in 2015’s Lake Placid vs. Anaconda. Recent years have seen a number of original SYFY films embrace the campy concept of creature features, replacing the trend of earnest monster movies.
Stay tuned for details on the Anaconda reboot.
Are you looking forward to the new film? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!
