User Reviews

Vipers starts at a remote secret Universl Bio Tech research laboratory where they have genetically altered a bunch of Horned Vipers to make them produce they're venom quicker since it's a vital component in the companies newly developed miracle cure for breast cancer. Unfortunately as a side-effect the Vipers have become more aggressive & vicious, during a failed attempt to steal the Vipers the tank housing them is broken & they escape. Cut to the small coastal island community of Eden Cove where Kal Taylor (Jonathan Scarfe) is considering whether to take over the current but about to retire doctor's practice when a sudden spate of snake bites occur. Kal & a nice looking blonde bird named Nicky Swift (Tara Reid) soon discover that the escaped Vipers are responsible & no-one in Eden Cove is safe...

This American Canadian co-production was directed by Bill Corcoran & is yet another awful Sci-Fi Channel made-for-telly 'Creature Feature' that is probably even worse than this sub-genre usually offers up. The script reads like a list of 'Creature Feature' clichés & is strictly by the number, there's the evil company or scientist or whatever, there's the genetic experiments on some sort of animal that mutates it to either a huge size or makes it more dangerous in some way than normal, there's the good looking teen cast, there's the has-been actor for 'name' value, there's the isolated community cut-off from the rest of the world, there's the impending threat they find themselves under, there's the typical 'lets barricade ourselves in here' sequences & of course there has to be some sort of military or private security force intervention. It's all here in Vipers but it's much, much worse than usual. I recently saw Ice Spiders (2007) & that's ten times better than Vipers, this has no pace, no excitement, rubbishy character's who have boring clichéd sub-plots (rebellious teenage daughter who doesn't like her parents, good looking new doc & good looking bird annoy each other at first but eventually fall in love in a seen it all before romantic sub-plot, the local Sheriff is a hero, etc.) & scenes which make very little sense. Where do the seemingly infinite number of Vipers come from in such a short space of time? Only four or five originally escaped the laboratory. How does a snake slither up a vertical windscreen? How is a bridge seemingly clear at first but then two seconds later there's a Viper there? Where was it hiding exactly? Where did that Viper in that guy's office at the end come from? Why are all the character's so stupid & make idiotic decisions? Total crap from start to finish & one of the very worst 'Creature Features' out there which is saying something.

While watching Vipers I just couldn't get excited or motivated, I mean once the survivors have barricaded themselves in that house they should have been safe. What is a snake going to do? It has no arms or legs, it's not big or heavy & surely all they needed to do was find a car, get in, lock the doors & drive to the boat? It's not exactly difficult, is it? Like a lot of these Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Features' the makers have gone for CGI computer effects rather than on-set puppet work & the CGI is uniformly terrible. The Vipers all move in 's' shapes & it's so basic & poor looking it's hard to take them seriously. They also make some very funny noises like screams, growls & roars! Note to filmmakers, snakes hiss not roar! The version I saw was on telly (I'd have been even more annoyed if I had spent money on this rubbish) & I think it might have been an edited version since there's no gore whatsoever & some of the attack scenes are very badly edited seemingly with huge chunks missing. I believe the DVD version is longer & contains the missing blood & gore.

The IMDb says Vipers had a $9,000,000 which sounds ridiculous to me, there's no way this rubbish cost nine big ones, no way. Surely if Vipers had cost that much the CGI effects wouldn't be so awful? Shot in Vancouver in Canada. Tara Reid looks nice enough I suppose but isn't the best actress ever & it comes to something when I have to say she puts in the best performance of the entire cast. The only other notable actor in this is Corben Bernsen as the money hungry bad guy.

Vipers is a terrible film from start to finish, the CGI effects are awful, the story is predictable & clichéd & it feels like any other low budget Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Feature' only worse. Not recommended.

That was quite easily the worst movie I have ever seen. You can forgive poor visuals but not the story line, facts and acting. It is one of those films that those involved must question why they made the film in the 1st place. This film could only have passed as respectable if a small town made the film to promote itself. Its unfortunate someone like Don Davis (may he rest in peace) put his name to the film. Its a train wreck that probably has to be seen to be believed. Snakes that could chew human flesh, hunt in packs, eat all the fish in the water and leave almost no human remains is bordering on ridiculous. At some stages they flew at their victims and attacked necks like they were a predator. The scenes where they attract the snakes with flame throwers in the middle of the night so the dozens of survivors could run to the boat sums up the film. Forget the snakes inability to stay warm enough and active enough at night, not to mention the snakes just happen to ignore the vibrations in the ground made by all those running people. It makes "Snakes on a plane" look decent and "Anaconda" look like like a multiple award winner and thats not easy to do. Save your money and if you have to spend it, give it to a good charity.

I was utterly shocked about how bad this movie was. The all-around stupidity of it is just flooring. The first hour is basically a soap opera with some absolutely unrealistic death-by-snake scenes injected into the various subplots of who is sleeping with whom and who is mourning whom, blah blah blah. The deaths are totally unbelievable because the snakes jump, fly, scream, and devour human bodies in mere minutes. Granted, they are genetically engineered, but COME ON! Combine that with a mindless script, terrible acting, and bloopers such as no snakes on a bridge followed by dozens of snakes on the bridge a few seconds later... and you've got yourself one heck of a loser flick. Another shining example of the human ingenuity here is when the survivors are all holed up in the "hotel" (which looks more like a restaurant), and they've had quite a bit of time to fortify their location. However, everyone overlooked the gap between the floor and the bottom of the door, through which several bad CGI snakes strike before someone gets the bright idea of plugging it up. Brilliant.

I must admit to chuckling at the howling death screams of the snakes. That fact, however, does not in any way restore this film to a rating higher than 1. And poor Don S. Davis... why? Why? Why would you be part of this rubbish??? I guess I'm just tired of these motherf------ snakes in this motherf------ film! ;)

From the short description I read it sounded like some Anaconda rip-off made for TV, it turned out, that is exactly what is was, just with more snakes. Basically a large amount of vipers have been taken by scientists to be experimented on to find a breakthrough, it all goes wrong when some criminals unintentionally break the glass and the snakes escape. At a big meeting, Burton (The Dentist's Corbin Bernsen), who is in charge of the research, explains that these vipers have been genetically enhanced in order to create a cure for breast cancer. Now slithering their way to a near isolated lake town, the residents, including Nicky Swift (American Pie's Tara Reid) who works at the hotel, are unaware of the danger. One or two people fall victim to the terror these venomous mutated creatures bring, but the townspeople are still not sure what is going on, only that some people have snake bites that need antidote injected. Soon enough everyone is on the run from the vipers, trapping themselves in the hotel, and trying to get help or escape the danger. Burton does find out about the snakes escaping from the medical research facility, and he does get in touch with one of the people caught in the chaos, but he dismisses the problem for the benefit of the research. In the end the vipers are all blown up with a combination of light and gas in the hotel, and Burton gets what coming to him too when the meeting people overhear his earlier conversation. Also starring Jonathan Scarfe as Cal Taylor, Genevieve Buechner as Maggie Martin, Stephen E. Miller as Hank Brownie, Jessica Steen as Dr. Collins, Don S. Davis as Dr. Silverton, Mark Humphrey as Sheriff Hendricks, Aaron Pearl as Jack Martin and Claire Rankin as Ellie Martin. It is shame that Reid, one of the fittest of the girls in the great teen sex comedy has gone so downhill, she is rather dull, and Bernsen doesn't do much either, all the other cast members are silly and predictable too. The blood amount is fair, but the special effects involved for making the snakes look deadly and terrifying is just terrible, it isn't scary, it feels like something made for TV, and it is just an overly boring and awful horror thriller. Poor!

The actors that can act (Don S. Davis, for example) we're good and believable.

The actors that couldn't...Oh. My. God...just...no..

Acting isn't easy, it's really not, but some people just can't do it and should maybe do theatre instead.

Script writing, on the other hand...you've got to know when you're writing something stupid.

Watching this film...I guess that there was no one to edit as, this movie is stupid from beginning to end.

I almost turned it off until I saw Aaron Pearl was in it, then I watched just to see him.

I've been a fan of his for a while.

When he died, whatever curiosity I had for how the film would end, died with him.

I should have turned it off then, but morbid curiosity is a failing of mine.

So, my suffering is your gain.

I reiterate. Don't. Drink lye or something instead. It'll be less painful.

VIPERS is just another in a recent wave of schlocky monster movies that appear to have been made for the Sci-Fi Channel in the USA. Like all TV movies, with invariably low budgets and a lack of taste, VIPERS does nothing to buck the trend and in the end is nothing more than a mundane outing for horror fans. Once again, the monster of the day is your humble snake, almost exclusively brought to the screen via some quite horrible CGI effects which are never able to turn a cartoon menace into a remotely plausible threat. Snakes have been a perennial favourite for decades now in horror flicks but their presence here is perfunctory at beast.

Once again a disparate group of survivors find themselves holed up against the threat, hiding in a burger wagon amongst other places! Liberal gallons of blood are splashed about during the messy death sequences but poor editing robs them of any gore-for-gore's-sake joy. One thing VIPERS has going for it is the pacing: unlike many such movies, following their strict template of first half set-up, second half action, this one kicks in with plenty of stuff right away and never lets up until the end. Okay, so what happens on screen is pretty unbelievable and/or boring, but at least it happens quickly.

The cast could be worse, too. Headlining this effort is Tara Reid, once-famous for her role in the American PIE movies. Sadly, not even ten years later, her looks have faded as has her star, and her poor acting helps to sink the movie. The rest of the cast are a typical bunch of TV actor types, with a few veterans like the excellent Don S. Davis popping up to mix things up. Corbin Bernsen is top-billed but has little more than an extended cameo as the head bad guy. He goes get to take part in the funny, out-of-left-field twist ending, though, which makes no sense whatsoever.

Fans looking for snake action will be disappointed. The big action climax, complete with flamethrowers and plenty of drama, takes place in near pitch darkness and the snakes are barely scene. I did enjoy the viciousness with which the film-makers took most of the extraneous cast to pieces but such moments are countered by pure silliness. The snakes, for instance, always scream when they're getting killed; how or why I don't know, but I guess it has to do with their genetic modification. No matter. VIPERS is one for genre fans only, and even they'll be hard pressed to extract enjoyment from this below par effort.

What should one expect from the Maneater Series' latest "nature gone amok" feature, Vipers? Other than a bunch of flesh-eating snakes, not very much... but that's okay, because this flick certainly isn't trying to deliver anything but over-the-top serpentine carnage.

Corben Bernsen and his cronies at Universal BioTech are attempting to cure breast cancer with genetically-altered Horned Vipers (which, as we all know by now, makes perfect sense) when a batch of them escape and head over to the picturesque Oregon island village of Eden Cove. Things get ugly... and reeeally fast, but thanks to the dashing new doctor in town (Jonathan Scarfe), a cute-as-a-button botanist (Tara Reid), and the scientist responsible for the snakes' aggressive tendencies (Jessica Steen), these citizens might just have a chance at survival.

If one is willing to throw logic out the window almost immediately, Vipers is actually fairly fun little romp. Sure, the snakes howl like dying vampires when they're killed and there appears to be only one person in the entire town of Eden Cove under the age of 20, but it's relatively easy to overlook these simple misgivings. Even the fact that the vipers actually EAT their victims ends up becoming hilariously entertaining, effectively transforming them from typical snakes to slithering piranhas.

Keeping its forked tongue firmly in-cheek during one of Vipers' first scenes, a newlywed African American couple go to make love in their lakeside tent, only to be attacked by the titular critters. Of course, their racial identity calls for them to be the first to go, and the script (attributed to Scarecrow Gone Wild's Brian Katkin) allows them to note that it's "gonna be hard to go back to da city" - since it's painfully obvious that no minorities whatsoever live in Eden Cove.

The direction by Bill Corcoran (who is currently helming the Sci-Fi Original, Rise of the Gargoyle) is across the board, with several of Vipers' action sequences staged very well – albeit a tad dark – and most of its dialogue barely sufferable. When little Maggie's parents are presumably killed, she sobs to Reid's Nicky about what it's like to lose someone important. Watching Ms. Reid then almost instantly break down as she describes losing her fiancé to war is amusingly groan-inducing, especially in the midst of an all-out shrieking snake attack.

Thankfully, the practical gore effects are quite good, with literal geysers of the red stuff spraying out of anyone foolish enough to get within striking distance of the vipers. Unfortunately, the snakes themselves are comprised entirely of the lowest of low-rent CG effects. Whether they're squirming unbelievably down a gravel road or flailing almost vertically while chowing down on someone, they never once, over the course of the entire film, give the impression that they're actually "there".

Early on, a gun-toting dude is asked if it's hunting season. His response? "Almost." (cue ominous music) Reid later howls, "Homeland Security?! This isn't terrorism, these are snakes!!!" and, near the film's finale, our stunning doctor arms himself with a flamethrower that he names "the mongoose" (get it?!). If ever there was a hungry screaming snakes movie starring Tara Reid that you should not take seriously, this is most certainly the one… and Vipers makes no pretenses at being anything but what it is.

At its core, Vipers is basically a Sci-Fi Channel Movie-of-the-Week with higher production values and similarly shoddy computer-generated beasties. It's got some tasty gore, just enough sex to keep the hard-pressed titillated, and some beautiful locations. Sure, it's far from theatrical-caliber film-making, but if you're looking for 90 minutes of dumb, slithering fun, this disc might just shock your skin off.

"Vipers" qualifies as a genuinely exciting horror chiller that will make your skill crawl about genetically enhanced snakes that invade an isolated vacation resort island in the Pacific Northwest and turn half of the residents into luncheon meat. Tara Reid of "American Pie" stars as a savvy blond horticulturist who grows pot when she is not selling bonsai trees to tourists and Jonathan Scarfe plays the new guy on the island who has come to take over for the old doctor who plans to retire. Happily, this Sci-Fi Channel creature feature from producers Robert Halmi Jr., and Robert Halmi Sr., surpasses their other schlocky made-for-cable outings like "Grizzly Rage." Although the computer-generated-imagery of hundreds of snakes run amok has elicited jeers galore, the serpents do not look that cheesy. Of course, you can tell from the start that the snakes are fake, but you have to approach this epic some suspension of disbelief if you want to enjoy it, and "Vipers" is entertaining.

Director Bill Corcoran, who has done a little bit of everything in terms of television shows, knows enough to never let the momentum flag in the preposterous Brian Katkin plot. Elements of Katkin's screenplay movie recall "Deep Blue Sea," where experiments were conducted on genetically enhanced sharks to yield a cure Alzheimer's disease and "Jurassic Park" where replicated dinosaurs broke out of an island research facility and swarmed into California to raise havoc. Corbin Bernsen has a minor but important role as a villain bereft of a conscience who is prepared to sacrifice lives so that his company can reap millions for their stockholders.

Universal Bio Tech Industries has achieved astonishing results in the containment of breast cancer by using the venom from horned vipers. Indeed, idealistic Dr. Collins (Jessica Steen of "Armageddon") is gratified that she helped save one 28-year old woman from the ravages of the disease. Her celebratory attitude dries up when she learns from amoral company CEO, Burton (Corbin Bernsen of "Major League"), that a disaster has occurred at a remote island research laboratory that may endanger their successes. It seems that the horned vipers, which were supposed to be destroyed, have gotten off the island. These genetically enhanced reptiles are stealthy, extremely lethal, and agile. In the opening scene, a crook security chief tries to steal the snakes but he is thwarted. A shoot-out ensues and the glass container that houses these evil snakes shatters when bullets strike it. The nasty snakes slither out and start biting scientists. Immediately, we know that these hideous snakes represent a terrific challenge that our heroes are going to have to use their "MacGyver" like ingenuity to overcome. These evil things not only bite but they also dine on the flesh of their victims. Somehow, these snakes escape to Eden Cove and all Hell and hysteria breaks loose. Burton dispatches Dr. Collins to Eden Cover to assess the situation. Little does she know that Burton only wants his men to retrieve a snake and then have the island destroyed using Homeland Security to eradicate a possible plague.

The cast is first-rate and you feel sympathetic toward them. For a change these victims show some sense. They figure out a way to distract the scores of snakes surrounding them to go elsewhere while one group rushes to a boat and flees the island to stop Homeland Security from obliterating Eden Cover at sunrise on the following day. The camaraderie that develops between the contentious factions in this group so that they band together to help each other makes this an above-average horror movie. Romance blossoms between the new guy doctor and Tara Reid because he was with her boyfriend in the Gulf War when the unfortunate fellow died. He tells her at one point that her boyfriend and he used to quote Pink Floyd lyrics to keep from going insane and the night that he died they were doing this when their Humvee struck an improvised explosive device. When the group that plans to distract the snakes so the other group can make it to the boat sets off on their mission, the two shared Pink Floyd lyrics. You can see that "Vipers" amounts to more than a schlocky science fiction saga. People who abhor snakes should avoid this shiver-inducing saga.

The residents in the tiny remote community of Eden Island find themselves in great jeopardy after a bunch of lethal scientifically enhanced snakes escape from a nearby lab research facility. Director Bill Corcoran, working from a rather trite script by Brian Katkin, relates the familiar and predictable, yet still enjoyable story at a snappy enough pace, draws the main characters with real depth, and delivers plenty of pretty graphic (albeit fairly tacky) gore, but alas fails to generate much in the way of initial suspense and gets bogged down a bit too much in tiresome small town melodrama. Worse yet, the cruddy and unconvincing CGI snakes prove to be utterly laughable instead of scary and threatening. Fortunately, this movie improves as it goes along, with an especially tense and exciting last third complete with some rousing and well staged set pieces. Moreover, the competent acting by the capable cast keeps this picture on track: Tara Reid as the feisty Nicky Swift, Jonathan Scarfe as likable and resourceful ex-Marine Cal Taylor, Stephen E. Miller as the amiable Hank Brownie, Corbin Bernsen as nefarious and duplicitous corporate bigwig Burton, Don S. Davis as the genial Dr. Silverton, and Mark Humphrey as the no-nonsense Sheriff Hendricks. However, Genevieve Buechner seriously grates on the nerves as whiny teenage brat Maggie and Mercedes McNab is wasted in a nothing minor role. Both Thomas Burstyn's crisp cinematography and Lawrence Shragge's lively rattling score are up to par. An acceptable time-waster.