ANACONDA (1997)
Director: Luis Llosa
Genre: Nature Horror
THE MOVIE
The mid to late '90’s saw a CGI-aided renaissance in monster B-movies. Luis Llosa’s Anaconda was a part of that wave and is somewhat of a minor classic creature feature. It features a well known cast including a pre diva Jennifer Lopez, Eric Stoltz, Ice Cube (with his trademark gangsta staccato delivery) and Owen Wilson and, at the time, the movie showcased what one could do with CGI effects in a fairly low budget monster movie. Refreshingly, among the survivors at the end of the movie are a Latina and a black man, which is a bit of a rarity in this genre.
But of course the real reason to watch Anaconda is Jon Voight’s insanely over-the-top performance as Paul Sarone, a creepy Paraguayan snake hunter who slowly takes over a National Geographic documentary expedition. Not since Al Pacino in Scarface, has a non-Hispanic actor so operatically overplayed a Latino character in a major movie. Sarone speaks with a heavy (and inexplicable) Caribbean-Spanish accent, he leers, he grimaces, he constantly reminds the other characters of his jungle prowess because he “hun’s e’snakes for a leeevin’” I suppose the producers choose Paraguay as Sarone’s country of origin because there was less of a chance of someone saying “Hey! He doesn’t look or sound Paraguayan!” I mean, how often do you run into someone from Paraguay?
THE MONSTER/EFFECTS
Then there are the snakes, which have not aged well in the twelve years since this movie was released. They look fake and plastic and very mid 1990’s CGI. The compositing of shots in which the snake interacts with the actors is pretty bad.
Oh, well. It’s a fun movie with a fantastic set piece at the end set in a very cool abandoned jungle outpost (so what if it looks like it is from a Universal Studios stunt show?)
MONSTERS FEATURED
A couple of giant anacondas and their babies.
DVD AVAILABILITY
Widely available on DVD and also available on Blu-Ray.
MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE
It is established early in the movie that anacondas swallow and regurgitate their prey. So after Jon Voight meets his ironic fate he makes a very special cameo appearance and proves that just because your character is dead doesn’t mean you have to stop overacting.
SEQUELS
Anacondas: The Search for the Blood Orchid 2004
TRIVIA
The movie would lead you to believe that anacondas regurgitate their prey often and apparently for the hell of it. In actuality they only do it when startled or in states of high anxiety. So they don’t like to puke any more than you or I.
TRAILER
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