Snake Island (2002) User Reviews

Snake Island: As bad as you'd assume

[Platypuschow · 3/10 · 2 June 2018]

2002 was not a great movie year, being a big ol'nerd I like analytics and 2002 is right down there on the yearly rankings.

This was a pick and mix movie and I was happy to immediatly see William Katt on the credits, this is an underrated actor who is among my favorites.

It tells the story of a group of tourists who get stuck on "Snake Island". And in a really unpredictable turn of events they gradually get picked off by *Drumroll* snakes!

It's main flaw is the lack of consistency, is it a horror or a comedy? It flits from serious to silly within the space of a single scene. In fact some scenes are so ridiculous it pretty much flatlines the entire film.

The wildlife shots are great, Katt is on form and the film certainly has its moments but I'm left feeling they perhaps should have just gone all out and made this a comedy film.

Forgettable nonsense.

The Good:

Some fantastic wildlife footage

William Katt

The Bad:

Gets a bit silly in places

Cliched to hell

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

If you have a phobia of snakes it makes perfect sense to go to a place called Snake Island

It's not a party until a girl randomly takes her clothes off

If you need to hunt and kill innocent creatures to get a happy, start with yourself

Snakes on a budget

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 13 April 2019]

SNAKE ISLAND is a hilariously cheesy, zero budget monster flick from South Africa, shot by and starring '80s B-movie actor Wayne Crawford. It's chiefly of note for featuring the great William Katt (CARRIE) in one of the lead roles. The story involves a bunch of characters staying at the titular location, where unsurprisingly they find themselves menaced by vengeful killer snakes. The story is as ridiculous as it sounds, with the snake attacks themselves playing out in an incredibly cheesy fashion. There's also a random mid-section interlude in which virtually all of the female cast members strip down for random nude/sex/shower/skinny dipping scenes; exploitation at its best.

B-Movie Bomb

[sheilaschneider-58385 · 2/10 · 29 July 2019]

Tourists stranded on an island filled with ghostlike snakes that want revenge and to claim their island kingdom. This was a bad investment for the owners since surviving a night when the moon is full just inspires the snakes' wrath. All the help is attacked leaving the masterminds of the tourist company and an attorney to fight for their survival. The snakes at times are silly but they fail to give much suspense as they rapidly attack them. At least there is some nudity for those who want to save this one for a "romantic" movie with beer and popcorn at home. Try not to fall asleep at the start because it takes at least thirty minutes to get to the attack scenes but it's worth the viewing for B movie standards.

Jamming snakes

[Dr. Gore · 6 December 2003]

*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*

Well, if there's one thing you can say about "Snake Island", it's that the title didn't lie. It promised you snakes and an island and that's what you get. A bunch of people end up on Snake Island and snakes attack. There you go. Snakes you want, snakes you get. Lots of them. A snake jamboree. Snakes a go-go. Why did it have to be snakes?

"Snake Island" was fair. 3/10. If you want to watch a grab bag of slithering reptiles attack people, rent "Snake Island" immediately. It's about 20-25 minutes too long though. There are only so many scenes of snakes trying to bite people I can watch.

The best scene is in the middle where two women dance topless as the snakes watch. Then the snakes start dancing. Yes, techno jamming snakes. You gotta love that. I rewound that scene three times. If someone knows what song they were dancing to, e-mail me. I want to dance with snakes too.

Snakes on Safari

[Chase_Witherspoon · 5/10 · 30 April 2011]

A tour-boat operator (Crawford) inadvertently leads his horny human cargo into the den of an island inhabited by ferocious snakes. Party member and author (Katt) discovers that not only is there an over-abundance of snakes on the island (a fact that should have obviated from the name of the resort, which shares the film's somewhat conspicuous title), but a hex on any human who has trespassed. So, after some sight-seeing (an elephant threesome being the highlight), a disco-party complete with drunken three-way striptease and some sexual content (butt-in-the-moonbeam-walk), our peripheral characters become prey, and Crawford, Katt and Connor are left to contend with the aggressive asps.

Director, producer, co-writer and co-star Crawford dons many hats for this picture, which looks like it's shot on a hand-held home video camera. Despite some apparent TV-movie production values, the dialogue is mostly realistic, the core cast is professional and the special effects aren't bad. Post-production editing effects create the "illusion" of the plethora of snakes converging on characters, and is done effectively. There's an occasional shock, and some mild gore (is that a tongue protruding from that cadaver's gaping orifice? – no, wait, it's just a baby snake waking up), and perhaps more critically when faced with tired ideas and cheap-looking set design – nudity.

When everything else is dear, there's still inexperienced actresses willing to bare all for the sake of art, and their career. Most of the female cast here reveal themselves to some degree, and actor, director, producer, writer Crawford, naturally, scores some residual benefits of such titillation. One could only postulate that Katt was lured into this production with the promise of the African safari holiday, and although the picture was shot on location, the savanna isn't always realistic looking, but perhaps that's the Super-8 camera lens cheating the eye of natural wonders. Aside from the occasional lame joke (the snake hallucination scene is admittedly quirky and unexpected, but ultimately, it's a dud gag) and plot hole, "Snake Island" delivers on its promise of lots (and lots) of snakes, cheap thrills and a conventional narrative to satisfy the average punter. Noteworthy, is the surprisingly clean screenplay with not an f-bomb in ear-shot (nevermind, it's the T&A that earn the R-rating, anyway).

Somewhat Repetitious After the First 30 Minutes or So

[Uriah43 · 4/10 · 6 October 2017]

This film essentially begins in a remote region of Africa with a boat carrying several tourists up a river in the wilderness. However, when they stop at a small place known as Snake Island to gather supplies, the crew notices that there is nobody at the dock to greet them. Curious about this, three of the crew go ashore to find out what has happened with instructions for the passengers to remain on the boat. Unfortunately, when a cobra makes its way onto the boat, a novelist named "Malcolm Page" (William Katt) accidentally punctures the gas tank in an effort to kill it. This leaves everybody stranded on the island where it soon becomes clear that the snakes are quite plentiful--and extremely aggressive. Now rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film started off well enough and appeared to have some potential. At least at first as there were a couple of scenes which had some decent suspense here and there. Likewise, both Kate Connor (as "Heather Dorsey") and Nicola Hanekom ("Ronnie") certainly added some nice scenery as well. Unfortunately, after the first 30 minutes or so, many of the scenes became somewhat repetitious which caused my interest to wane a bit. That being said, while this wasn't a bad film by any means, it wasn't necessarily that good and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

Snake Island should be called Suck Island

[tamstrat · 2/10 · 28 June 2005]

I usually like movies about animals or reptiles turning against the mean old humans who threaten their environment, but I have to say Snake Island was a major letdown.

The premise is interesting, a group of people, including a writer numbly played by William Katt, goes to an island called, duh, you guessed it "Snake Island", and quess what the island lives up to it's name. That is one thing I will give this movie, there are snakes, LOTS and LOTS of snakes of all sizes and kinds. So that part of the movie in fairness lives up to its name, but the writing, acting and directing is SOOOOOOOO lame it is almost painful to sit through.

The characters are so unlikeable I was begging for the snakes to finish these horrible people off to put us all out of our misery. There are a couple of scenes that are so surreal and ridiculous they have be seen to be believed---snakes gyrating to really horrible disco music while 2 women dance seminude together and a scene with a snake holding some inane dialogue with one of the actors, it's beyond absurd. I think the writer was trying to be funny but this just came off like some weird LSD trip...

I remember William Katt years ago back when he starred in "Carrie", what a hunk he was..not that he was ever a major star, but to be reduced to this garbage, I feel for him.

Avoid this movie like the plague unless you are really into movies that feature lots and lots of snakes and really horrible humans.

How do you spell crap? S, N, A... well, you get the idea

[mentalcritic · 2/10 · 8 May 2005]

Snake Island is one of those films that, whilst one sits and watches its amazing level of stupidity, makes one wish the film camera had never been invented. The real reason why Plan 9 From Outer Space will hold onto its honoured title of Worst Film Of All Time for a while to come is not so much because of how bad it is. It is because of the fact that it is the most entertaining bad film you will ever see. Snake Island is the other kind of bad. Snake Island is just so bad that it is excruciating. A stupid premise combines with a script that was written by monkeys tapping one-key typewriters onto transparencies that were then overlapped in order to resemble dialogue to make the most obvious problems here. Filmed entirely on location in South Africa, the environments in which the film takes place are about the only element that can truthfully be considered well-realised. Many shots involving snakes consist of close-ups so surreal in appearance that one begins to wonder whether said snakes are CGI, puppets, or real snakes that have been fed really hard drugs.

William Katt stars, if you can call it that, as an author traveling to an island resort on what appears to be a river ferry. Coming along with him is an assortment of very generic, poorly-defined characters. It is all a matter of random screen writing as to who survives to the end, but Katt certainly appears to be contemplating firing his agent. The rest of the cast seem to be from the Home And Away acting school, where any contemplation of an unpleasant plot point is accompanied by open-mouthed gaping and darting one's eyes about in every direction. The foley effects are often worse, with one memorable scene where a double-barreled shotgun sounds like the rather flat sound effects that used to accompany gunshots in such games as BioForge. Meanwhile, snakes continually explode or jump about at random. It would have been more accurate to call the film Snake Holocaust.

Of course, no Z-grade horror or sci-fi film is complete these days without gratuitous scenes of nubile women in a state of undress. As every woman in the cast, almost, gets their clothes off, the film starts to become less Snake Island and more Snake Island Orgy. But like all the worst piles, all there really is in this case is a lot of setup with no real payoff. The sex scenes never eventuate, and the deaths of characters are so flat, so uninteresting, that the entire film becomes pointless. Unless you consider watching William Katt running through a muggy forest wearing ill-fitting cricket gear and smashing snakes in all directions with a cricket bat a payoff. For the record, I don't. I used to think that Anaconda was the worst film ever made about predatory snakes. I was so very, very wrong. At least Anaconda had a snake one could be afraid of if they suspended disbelief for quite some time. Some of the snakes shown killing the human cast are no bigger than the shoelaces from some pairs of combat boots I have worn.

So we so far have the checklist for bad horror films running along nicely. The unrecognisable, lame cast are accounted for, as are poor audio and visual effects. The dialogue is so wretched, so ill-timed, that I have seen better writing and delivery during some of the school plays I have acted in many moons ago. Unfortunately, where Snake Island falters in this respect is the area fatal to all bad films. In essence, it forgets to be so bad that it is funny. It is so bad that it stops being good after the opening credits and becomes painful the second that the cast start to speak. Compared to William Katt's performance in Snake Island, Jon Voight's performance in Anaconda was as Oscar-worthy as Russell Crowe's in Gladiator. Not that Voight or Katt are necessarily bad actors, but with material like this, you're hard-pressed to say a single word naturally. Listening to some of the lines here was like being the victim of a violent crime. One's mind tends to blank out the experience, primary as a self-defense mechanism.

Because of the aforementioned failure to be entertainingly bad, I gave Snake Island a two out of ten. My special score for films that are so bad they cannot possibly be good, but not bad enough to entertain. It is all just so boring or pointless that one might as well be watching the test pattern. The proper way to spell "crap" is S-N-A-K-E-I-S-L-A-N-D.

"Snake Island" hits a new low

[TheUnknown837-1 · 2/10 · 27 December 2009]

I really don't think it's necessary that I write a review on a movie with a title as derisory as "Snake Island", but even in the abstract confines of its own genre, this hit a new low, so my anger must be known. The only reason why I even bothered to watch this unbelievably bad movie is because I knew it was going to be bad, it was really late at night, I could not sleep, and in the past, really bad movies would drain the energy out of me and make me long for slumber. It became very quickly very early on that this movie was going to be awful, but it condescended below even those expectations.

The movie was directed and written by Wayne Crawford, who also stars in the movie as a tourist guide on the African river, who ends up having to strand his team on a remote island called Snake Island until another boat comes down to pick them up. They hang out, get drunk, and then become subject to the onslaught of poisonous snakes who are on a mission to purge their island of human beings.

If your jaw dropped at the last sentence of my second paragraph, don't bother to reread it, you got it right the first time. Frankly, I prefer my creature features when the creature(s) just attack the nonsensically dumb humans out of hunger, not because they have some kind of a mission. These aren't mutant snakes. They're not giants like what you see in "Anaconda." They're just ordinary, everyday African snakes like mambas and vipers…only they have the brains to form armies, take up causes, work together to trap people, understand our language, and even dance! Did your draw drop again? Well, it's going to drop further. Amount midway through this awful B-movie, about the part where I'd already given up, the human characters start drinking around a campfire and then all of a sudden, they break down into some kind of an orgy. And while they dance nude and such, the snakes hunting them all of a sudden stop and start jamming along to it. The combination of this scene and the scene where we discover that snakes, some the most roguish creatures on the planet, have formed an alliance against human beings for some oddball reason, proved just too much for my poor brain. And just when I though the filmmakers couldn't take it to an even lower level, the snakes started to sing.

The people in the movie? Well, let's just say that never before have I rooted for the creatures to kill everybody off so quickly. I just could not stand it any longer.

I really don't think I need to keep going on; you get the picture. If there is anything that makes "Snake Island" any different from its other rivals, it's that it does dare to try to be even dumber and that's not a complimentary achievement. Why—just why—I continue to subject myself to these really bad movies, I guess I'll never really know. But "Snake Island" hits a brand new low. It's a cheap, trashy excuse for a motion picture that makes "Anaconda," a brainless snake movie, look as brilliant and sophisticated and thrilling as Steven Spielberg's "Jaws." You have been warned.

Zzzzzzzz

[chet19 · 2/10 · 31 August 2003]

Don't waste your time. One of those cool-looking boxes that you pick up at Blockbuster on a hunch, but not even worth that. You will NOT say, "It's so bad, it's good." Just, "It's bad." The Greatest American Hero is a writer who rents a cabin on African island, called Snake Island. Some other tourists are on the boat that drops him off, but they are not staying on the island. They just stop there to let off the writer. Then the boat is stranded there, and --in true Hollywood originality-- the one and only radio on the island is busted. So they start walking around and see a bunch of snakes. Like hundreds of them, which really became annoying and you knew the plot would go nowhere. It's not like there ever was ONE main snake. Like a giant mutated snake or an extra poisonous king of all snakes. Instead, there are just a bunch of ham-and-egger snakes of all kinds of breeds. Their only goal, then, was to escape the island...as opposed to having to conquer the enemy. Because there were so many snakes, you knew they couldn't possibly try to kill them all, and they didn't try. I've seen a similar movie where a town was haunted by snakes and they lead all the snakes into a cave then blew it up. At least then you get the feeling that the good guys killed the bad guys and it was a normal ending. In Snake Island (by the way, every single character was shocked to see snakes on the Island...duhhhhh, it's NAMED Snake Island for a reason), there was no plan other than trying to get gas for the stupid boat. Oh, they never do get gas by the way. They "just happen" to find another boat on the island already gassed up.

A bunch of horny dudes and babes trapped in an island full of...snakes?

[otorrinolaringologista · 3/10 · 4 September 2006]

I will not vote this movie as an awful one, mainly because i kind of like it, i was one of those summer days that i was so lame to do anything and decided do rent a movie in the stupid section of the videostore. Besides that i didn't slept in the nigh before and the movie got me awake...Let's just start the autopsy, OK, the movie haves a strange plot, first is isolation, there is an expedition, they get isolated in an island because there is no gas on the boat, something like that, there is not a single convincing performance on the actors part(so far), the main problem starts after the isolation idea, the POV of a snake, then another, ...then another, then snakes that change, then false spooks, a lot of them, and when we believe the movie is going on a good way for a b flick keeping the suspense it fails, because after ten or eleven spooks we don't get carried away, the one scene that unmistifies all is the scene when we witness a drunk lesbian show watched by snakes that seem to dance, after this it's becoming not a horror\adventure but a comedy driven movie, the adventure part is discarded also.

For me the problem in a movie is the third act, it is the one section that just drives the movie for a already guessed conclusion, or if it succeeds we don't noticed it, like a ninja smoke in our eyes, well....Snake island haves a bad conclusion, it all comes to a «by the book» ending, with a confront, persecution and escape sequence, it was predictable in the moment i rented the dam copy. The other real problem is concept, concept is very important, it is the reason you believe in dinosaurs coming to life or a corpse full of stitches that just wants to live, the main concept about snakes that want revenge after decades on torture by the human civilization, well...hmmm, just doesen't glues on the wall. One thing you will enjoy (if you watch it with an opened mind) is the more b-z sequences, naked lesbian girls, some amateur camera angles, the braindead homage with the grass cutter, the black dude doesen't die first, and thats all... if you want to see snakes, black dudes and comedy and you prefer bigger budgets go and see «snakes on a plane».

Hasta moviegoers

Found Snake Island fun and scary at the same time.

[artpay · 9/10 · 23 September 2003]

Real snakes for a change, and lots of them. I found this much more "grounded", thus realistic, thus more frightening, than the giant CGI snakes that have been running (sometimes floating) around in many of the recent snake movies. The idea of being stuck on an island with thousands of poisonous snakes makes my skin crawl. Thought the acting was pretty believable so I was able to identify with the awful situation these characters find themselves in. Also enjoyed the humor which was included to give us a break sometimes: like the snakes joining in the party festivities and the phallic joke on the honeymooners. I liked the fact too, there was a bit of nudity included-so many of the recent horror films have become sanitized like they want a PG rating or are afraid of offending some people. As opposed to some people who would like to see all the snakes lured into a cave (or underground sewer sysytem) and blown up, like I have seen a million times before (zzzzz),I thought it was really cool to see the p***ed-off reptiles kick butt and run the unwanted homo-sapiens off their island--much more fresh and original than the tired old "set the place on fire, or lure the creature(s) to a trap" endings. I would recommend this film for "smart" horror film watchers who still want some of the better basics of the older horror films, yet with a touch of the newer sensibilities.

Nifty Little Modern "B" Movie

[Steve_Nyland · 6/10 · 19 September 2007]

First off, I'm not sure what the problem here most people seem to be having with this movie. I mean look, the film is called SNAKE ISLAND. It isn't called FAREWELL TO ARMS or THE GRAPES OF WRATH, it's a B grade direct to DVD/video movie about a boatload of people who get stranded on an island infested by a zillion snakes. WHAT are you people expecting??

SNAKE ISLAND was directed, written, produced, and stars my new favorite B movie icon, Wayne Crawford, a person about whom there is very little information. Mr. Crawford appears to be an opportunistic part-time genre filmmaker who surfaces every few years to helm a new little "vanity project" with himself in the starring role. He got his start in a demented little horror shocker in 1972 called AUNT MARTHA DOES DREADFUL THINGS, is perhaps best known for his work as the title character in the 80s home video detective thriller JAKE SPEED (and manages to play characters named Jake in many of his projects), though my favorite Wayne Crawford film is the 1978 JAWS ripoff and X-FILES anticipating rampaging barracuda/chemical experiment sleeper BARRACUDA (THE LUCIFER PROJECT) which SNAKE ISLAND actually reminds me a lot of.

Others have done ample justice to the plot, what little there is of it: Humans trapped on an island with a zillion snakes attacking from every angle once the drunken topless lezbo techno dance party is over and everyone has gone back to their cabins to throw up. William Katt has fun as the expatriate American writer looking for something to write about, and Crawford casts himself as the somewhat grizzled tour guide who manages to find time to go skinny dipping with his female lead. Yes, making B movies can be fun, just remember to keep your day job, and Crawford is now apparently employed as a college professor, hopefully teaching film. People can learn a lot from him I am sure, as is evidenced by how much brain-dead fun there is to be had with this movie provided that one steadfastly refuses to take it seriously. ANY of it.

As another reviewer pointed out, the difference between SNAKE ISLAND and the majority of the recent PG-13 oriented giant snakes on the loose movies is that this one was accomplished without relying too heavily on computer graphics effects -- they apparently actually used many actual snakes when making this movie, which makes me wonder how it slipped under PETA's usual animal watch radar. One reason might be that it's so easily dismissed as being just a load of crap, filmed in South Africa on the cheap, with no recognizable star names (William Katt??) and no real point to it's existence other than helping jaded viewers occupy 90 minutes of their lives in an entertaining manner.

And it IS an entertaining little movie, especially if you can suppress both your brain and taste centers for an hour or so while the story sets itself up. One other aspect that proves useful is that the film actually has a subtle little sleaze factor going on, with some agreeable nudity, the infamous lezbo techno dance, a laugh or two about safari theme park attractions and finally the inevitable Night of the Snakes sequence, which is impressively staged. It won't make anyone forget stuff like SSSSSS or STANLEY but heck, for a few thousand dollars Mr. Crawford was able to gather an attractive cast, pick out a suitably isolated setting, and cut loose. Looks to me like the film was made in about two weeks with minimal fuss, and sent straight to the rental shops where stuff like this probably has it's most beneficial application.

Genuine B movies are on the wane as of late, with the independent market being gobbled up by message movie attempts and the major distributors all looking for the next big event film package that will result in a franchise. That left people like Wayne Crawford free to fill the vacuum as far as mindless, disposable entertainment goes. Unlike JAKE SPEED or BARRACUDA I doubt that SNAKE ISLAND will gather much of a cult following and it's not the sort of film that will command repeat performances, but for a $1.50 three-day DVD rental you can do a heck of a lot worse. Which is what a good B movie should amount to.

6/10; Sets it's sights low and achieves what it set out to do, and you sort of have to admire it for being true to it's nature.

Snake Island

[Scarecrow-88 · 3/10 · 22 August 2009]

A wide variety of snakes stage an uprising on tourists "invading" their island due their captain's boat damage. The few remaining survivors who aren't caught vulnerable by the snakes will attempt an escape mission, their goal to flee to available boats which can get them safely off the island.

Presented straight-faced with injected doses of visual humor featuring lots of snake gags, Wayne Crawford's SNAKE ISLAND features plenty of different breeds of the slithery predators, in striking position, ready to attack their prey. Star William Katt, as an author researching snakes for a forthcoming novel, has fun in his role along with writer / director / co-star Wayne Crawford(..as the tourist boat captain) as put-upon heroes who stare down a most serious crisis. Kate Connor is Crawford's attractive love interest, a lawyer on vacation. The other cast members serve as either tourists or crew, mostly fodder for the snakes.

As in many other movies of this type, director Crawford features live snakes with computer generated ones, and the violence is really tame. Crawford even incorporates the point-of-view technique with the camera as the eyes of the snake as it faces the potential victim(..with the actor looking directly into the camera). Never to be taken seriously, the tongue-in-cheek approach was probably the best way to shoot SNAKE ISLAND because the premise is just too ridiculous to accept on it's own.

The effects and suspense scenes rarely work because Crawford is often unable to successfully stage the sequences where humans face off with the snakes. The snake attacks themselves also never happen on screen(..one or two tops), or are so limply presented they leave little impression. That's a no-no for a genre such as this. Fans of Katt will probably want to check it out because he does provide some facial comedy that establishes the overall tone of certain scenes where he must defend himself against the snakes. The CGI scenes where we see a large number of snakes in a general area aren't very effective which remove the realism Crawford might've attempted to establish. There are plenty of better horror films featuring snakes as the aggressors than SNAKE ISLAND. Surprising moments of nudity, relegated to a scene where the tourists and crew unwind after a long day with the bubbly, not knowing what danger lie ahead.

Nature Strikes Back...Again

[Michael_Elliott · 29 August 2009]

Snake Island (2002)

** (out of 4)

Another "nature strikes back" flick this time set on, you guessed it, Snake Island. A group of strangers get stuck on the island when they learn that it has a reputation of being infested by various deadly snakes. One by one the guests are picked off. This certainly isn't a masterpiece of the genre but if you're a fan of these nature movies then you'll probably want to check this one out. I'm personally terrified of snakes so that causes me to be creeped out by movies like this whereas others might just roll their eyes and move on. Overall this isn't the best movie out there but there are several pluses to be had here. For starters, the performances are all rather good and makes for some nice characters. Director Crawford is good as the tour guide and William Katt turns in fine work as an author. Both men are clearly the best of the cast but the supporting players aren't too bad either. Real, rubber and CGI snakes are used throughout the film with the real ones working the best. The CGI ones are incredibly fake looking but they're certainly more realistic than those seen in something like PYTHON or its sequel. The attacks are all rather tame in terms of lack of violence and gore but I didn't have a problem with this as the director at least tries to build them up around suspense instead of the red stuff. What doesn't work with the film is its 95-minute running time, which was a tad bit long as the film starts to wear off its welcome after the hour mark. Another negative is an incredibly stupid snake dance half way through the picture. The director does throw male viewers some nudity, which I'm sure plenty will enjoy. If you're not a fan of this genre then I doubt this movie will turn you into a fan.

What is this film?

[christosyr · 1/10 · 4 July 2019]

The most worst film I ever seen! Some tourist stuck in a snake island and they seems enjoying themselves when they should find a way to escape! Has not story or a plot! Don't worth anyone watch it! Dancing snakes, lesbian dance, snakes attacks are so fake as snakes never do things like this. Just waste of time! Had to forwarded it till the end! What a crap film!

Terrible really, but the snake gags work

[Calicodreamin · 5/10 · 30 July 2019]

So this is your typical low budget, bad acting, bomb movie. The lower your expectations going in, the better. There's a lot of weird scenes (snakes dancing to music?! Snakes singing and calling the lead actress a b*tch in a dream sequence, and the final scene snake wink) that only add to cheapen the movie. But if I'm to be honest, I'm scared of snakes, and this movie definitely gave me the heeby jeebies. They use real snakes for most of the scenes and those that were cgi aren't too bad. So I'll admit I jumped a few times. Not great, but I've seen worse.

Snakes on an Island

[Wuchakk · 4/10 · 20 April 2019]

A group of tourists, resort workers & guides in South Africa struggle to survive after getting stranded on an island with a profusion of deadly snakes. William Katt (Malcolm), Wayne Crawford (Jake) and Kate Connor (Heather) emerge as the main protagonists. Crawford also directed and co-wrote the script.

"Snake Island" (2002) is a low-budget South African production with a few American actors; it probably cost half of what the typical SyFy flick costs. But it gives you what you pay for (although I hope you watched it for free): a plethora of snakes, authentic African locations, a mildly entertaining survival situation with an okay cast, a subdued sense of humor and some decent horror. It helps that most of the snakes appear to be real rather than CGI.

But it's overall pedestrian, unfortunately. I guess it doesn't help that I don't find snakes particularly frightening. Director/writer Crawford tried to perk things up with a tiki party sequence wherein the group lets their hair down and some of the females start dancing topless. But the women, while okay, aren't anything overly alluring, although Kate Connor eventually won me over.

The film runs 1 hour, 30 minutes and was shot in South Africa.

GRADE: C/C-

Snake Island will forever Haunt me

[Daniel-Lentfer · 1/10 · 22 May 2012]

Many years ago, an innocent and far younger version of myself picked this movie up as I was perusing the local video store, hoping to find something to entertain my friends and I that night. My eyes fell onto this movie, "snake island" it said, in bold writing. I thought it sounded like a decent movie, id never heard of this William Katt guy and I was willing to give an hour and forty odd minutes of my life to ride the emotional fear filled roller-coaster the blurb on the back promised.

"Fear strikes without warning" are the words branded on the cover, well let me warn you dear readers, fear strikes about two and a half minutes into this movie, as you consider the money you have spent on it, the long path ahead to reach the credits and the judgment you are undoubtedly getting from any friends you have unwittingly subjected to the movie.

It has been a little short of ten years since I first watched this movie, but it certainly has haunted me, coming backs in flashes of agonizing memory, leaving me crippled in mind and body. I could dissect this film, scene by scene and warn you of the dangers you are going to visually and audibly absorb but instead I will simply mention what happens in some of the main scenes and the terrible themes that now, and for ever will haunt me.

First and foremost is William Katt. We are supposed to believe he is some pseudo intellectual / complete man hulk, which is traveling to research a book he is apparently writing. The only really substantial background you are given of his character is between Mr. and Mrs. Cliché honeymooners that he once wrote a book about sharks, which is believed to have caused some mass culling of all sharks, around the world (I am guessing so he would not have a subject matter for a follow up novel).

Now I don't know if it's the fact he is constantly looking directly into the camera, dresses like an aging member of the beach boys, is constantly quoting or making reference to literature in order to make it clear he has some great store of wisdom, or that even when your prayers are answered and he appears to die in the film, he still comes back like the zombie patron saint of terrible acting, but one thing is abundantly clear to me and its that he certainly doesn't look fit to fight off a piece of paper caught in a sudden breeze let alone a slithering tsunami of snakes. I have only had the misfortune of bearing witness to two of the films in his horror show of a career but for a man who was supposedly seriously considered for the role of Luke sky-walker, I wouldn't see fit to cast him as a nameless character who dies off screen and is never mentioned or in fact acknowledged by any other character of said film.

The second thing I feel I must mention is the "party" scene, now I feel it was the directors (Wayne Crawford – a terrible director who casts himself in his own movies because he cant find enough desperate actors with aspirations of career suicide) intention to make this scene provocative and arousing, as well as scary and dangerous and I for one feel he might have actually achieved that, but in a somewhat strange manner, perhaps like sleeping with a beautiful woman whom you are 99% sure is actually your sister. For those of you yet to experience this movie, be ready for this scene because it is truly the beginning of the end of your will to survive. Ill break it down as best I can. The characters of the film are drinking down water from scotch bottles and getting inappropriately loose. Suddenly one of the characters, the black chick who's only really notable contributions to the movie besides this scene are her screaming in the opening boat scene, and later running through the jungle naked save for a clear shower curtain. Suddenly she decides that some terrible music and topless dancing is in order, much to the delight of the other patrons. Things spiral out of hand and very soon you have to witness two women begging William Katt to take off his sky blue shame in fabric form he calls a shirt. The main problem with this scene is not even having to see a topless version of William Katt, it's the fact that this is the scene where the audience is shown that the snakes in this film can in fact understand the English language, and also are not fans of anyone who happens to say something negative about them. What the f?, that's what I asked myself then, and that's what I ask myself now. What a terrible idea you might be thinking, and I wish who ever wrote the script for this movie (I am looking at you Wayne Crawford!) felt the same way, but alas their mind went with the other side of the coin, and thus the snakes end up doing things such as singing and pretending to be an erect penis…but those are traumatic experiences for later on, I am talking about the party scene now and as such let me mention the snake dancing. Oh yes the snakes, they dance in some rigid robotic fashion that has obviously not gone out of fashion on Snake Island. I feel I could and should mention so much more, but I think with those two things I shall stop, if only so that I know other people have had to consider and think about the terrible things this film has made me see, think and feel. Snake Island is much like a snake's venom, it slowly let excruciatingly painfully kills you and robs you of your resolution to be alive. A truly terrible film

Just bad

[mini_colster · 2/10 · 17 April 2021]

This film committed many cinematic sins, yet not enough to be hilariously bad; just bad.

My main gripe was the lack of build up and tension. There were scenes that just went nowhere, and then there were scenes that happened too quickly, and often delivered no proper conclusion. Towards the end there was very sudden hysteria, again with no proper build-up or explanation, especially as everyone was being bonked off without the knowledge of everyone else. There were moments where they seemed to be taking the piss out of themselves, but as this didn't happen throughout the entire movie, it didn't really work.

There were other things like shoddy dialogue, long pauses, and not even understanding what some were saying (the fair-haired woman comes to mind). I suspect they were trying for a more natural feel to it, but it absolutely didn't work. Yet, as I said at the start, it's not so bad that it's good, it really is just bad and a good example of everything a film shouldn't be.

This Movie SSSSSSSSSSSSSSUCKED!

[larryb711 · 1/10 · 29 November 2009]

Now we know where they got the idea of Snakes on a Plane. To put it bluntly, do not pay to see this movie. If you really want to waste 90 minutes of your life, then either catch it on cable, or get it as a free pick from NetFlix or Blockbuster. Do not pay to rent this. If you do pay to rent this, then you are one stupid individual. The acting was awful, the plot was awful, everything was awful except for the snakes. Whether they were real or CGI generated, they did look pretty good. But that being said, still this movie has to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Even the nude dancing scene was pretty bad that I actually fast forwarded through that. Don't sat I did not warn you.

Found Snake Island fun and scary at the same time.

[artpay · 9/10 · 23 September 2003]

Real snakes for a change, and lots of them. I found this much more "grounded", thus realistic, thus more frightening, than the giant computer generated snakes that have been running (sometimes floating) around in many of the recent snake movies. The idea of being stuck on an island with thousands of poisonous snakes makes my skin crawl. Thought the acting was pretty believable so I was able to identify with the awful situation these characters find themselves in. Also enjoyed the humor which was included to give us a break sometimes: like the snakes joining in the party festivities and the phallic joke on the honeymooners. I liked the fact too, there was a bit of nudity included-so many of the recent horror films have become sanitized like they want a PG rating or are afraid of offending some people. As opposed to some people who would like to see all the snakes lured into a cave (or underground sewer system) and blown up, like I have seen a million times before (zzzzz),I thought it was really cool to see the p***ed-off reptiles kick butt and run the unwanted homo sapiens off their island--much more fresh and original than the tired old "set the place on fire, or lure the creature(s) to a trap" endings. I would recommend this film for "smart" horror film watchers who still want some of the better basics of the older horror films, yet with a touch of the newer sensibilities.

These Mutha Effing Snakes On This Mutha Effing Island

[ladymidath · 6/10 · 22 January 2023]

This movie really could have used Samuel L Jackson but we got William Katt which isn't too bad. The movie isn't the best or the worst I have seen. The snakes themselves are pretty scary and living on a huge snake infested island called Australia. I can relate. The characters range from good to annoying but they get killed off pretty quickly so that's a bonus. Watching snakes pouncing on their victims got a chuckle out of me at times. The effects are good, the dialogue okay and the music and photography are both very good. I enjoyed this movie for what it is, a fun creature feature with snakes pitted against humans.

Top 10 2k3

[Stinkygrl · 22 September 2003]

Snake island was one of the most entertaining films I've seen all summer including a very attractive and fantastic leading actor. Anyone who's afraid of snakes will have a fit with this film. It's not a film to be taken too seriously but will still scare you at the right moments. This is one you should get your hands on while you still can!!!!

A refreshing dose of horrific humuor

[caveratfilmboy · 9/10 · 22 September 2003]

The opening says it all. You've just stepped into another one of those let down b-movies you hoped was at least going to be fun, or so it wants you to think. Snake Island, however, slowly slithers its way into your favor with a snappy dose of playful fun. In a day when the art of the B-film is dead, comes a b-budget parody at its serpenty finest.

You could not ask for a better set up: A few tourist and guides get stranded on a insland in the middle of an Africa with a wonderful little get-away spot inclusive. What the owner fails to mention is the native myths of the island's deadly reptilous fiends. Let the paryies, sex, and untimely deaths begin.

The genre is clear, formuliac, and far to predictable with the exception of one key element most movies of this genre lack: The snakes have personality. From slithering in to decide who to kill based on personality to some histarical dance numbers, these slimey devils have a personality more authentic than any low budget fright flick in decades.

To those of us in the movie community that enjoy slapping fun onto the generics of genre, Snake Island presents the perfect getaway: A film with a true sense of its own hilarious antics.