Directed by Sidney J. Furie (Iron Eagle, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace), The Snake Woman opens in Bellingham, Northumberland, 1890, where herpetologist Dr. Horace Adderson (John Cazabon) has been injecting his pregnant wife with cobra venom as a way of curing her insanity. His wife dies giving birth to a daughter, who is born with no eyelids and cold blood. Spurred on by old crone Aggie (Elsie Wagstaff), the people in the village declare the child to be evil and burn down the doctor's lab with him inside; the baby, however, survives the blaze, having been whisked to safety by the village doctor and harboured by a local shepherd (John Stevenson Lang).
Twenty years later, Scotland Yard detective Charles Prentice (John McCarthy) travels to Bellingham to investigate a series of deaths, the victims seemingly bitten by venomous snakes. The scared locals talk of Atheris 'the snake girl' (Susan Travers), who lives in the ruins of Adderson's home, but Prentice is sceptical -- until he meets the cold-blooded babe on the moors...
The opening scenes of this film are so corny, with such cheesy dialogue, that they are a whole lot of fun, everyone hamming it up a treat; Wagstaff as Aggie is particulary OTT ("You're all lost. You're cursed. You're doomed!"). However, the sheer naffness of the script* and Furie's lifeless direction eventually take effect, dulling the senses and causing drowsiness. By the final act, it seems that even Furie has grown bored of his film, the director wrapping matters up with an extremely abrupt ending that is over too quickly to generate any excitement.
4.5/10, rounded up to 5 for lovely barmaid Polly (Frances Bennett) -- make mine a bottle of Cobra and my friend will have a pint of snakebite!
*Atheris is able to transform from snake into woman, but no explanation is given for where her dress comes from.
Twenty years later, Scotland Yard detective Charles Prentice (John McCarthy) travels to Bellingham to investigate a series of deaths, the victims seemingly bitten by venomous snakes. The scared locals talk of Atheris 'the snake girl' (Susan Travers), who lives in the ruins of Adderson's home, but Prentice is sceptical -- until he meets the cold-blooded babe on the moors...
The opening scenes of this film are so corny, with such cheesy dialogue, that they are a whole lot of fun, everyone hamming it up a treat; Wagstaff as Aggie is particulary OTT ("You're all lost. You're cursed. You're doomed!"). However, the sheer naffness of the script* and Furie's lifeless direction eventually take effect, dulling the senses and causing drowsiness. By the final act, it seems that even Furie has grown bored of his film, the director wrapping matters up with an extremely abrupt ending that is over too quickly to generate any excitement.
4.5/10, rounded up to 5 for lovely barmaid Polly (Frances Bennett) -- make mine a bottle of Cobra and my friend will have a pint of snakebite!
*Atheris is able to transform from snake into woman, but no explanation is given for where her dress comes from.