THE GENRE CONUNDRUM: Movie Musings #13

VENOM (1981)

***SPOILER ALERT***

“Have you seen the one where the snake bites the guy on the dick?”

A common question doing the rounds at my primary school after this one was released on video. Back then every movie you rented had a bunch of previews before the film started. It was part of the experience to sit through them, much like you did at the cinema. This particular preview showed the notorious scene almost in its entirety, so funnily almost everyone had seen, if not the movie, the scene where the snake slithers up the man’s trouser leg and seemingly holds off biting him until it reaches the crown jewels.

A nasty comeuppance for a nasty man and all the males in the audience squirm. I am certain that anyone actively renting video movies around that time must have seen that clip countless times and would remember it with the slightest prompt. They may not remember the name of the film and probably don’t remember the story or anything else even if they did watch it. However, that snake bite to the sausage was pretty damned memorable!

Having recently re-watched it, I was surprised by the awesome edge-of-the-seat tension it provided. A great thriller! Silly story, but they got you to care for certain characters and that is a crucial part of the formula. By the time the bodies start dropping you are invested in the situation and the stakes; maybe the improbable chain of coincidences and fuckups add to the sense of impending doom.

By the time the snake begins its journey toward the rival trouser snake we are relieved that one dangerous character will soon be removed from the equation. Obviously, the scene was in the preview for its shock value with the intention of drawing horror fans in. Horror has always been a lucrative genre, and this wasn’t the first and won’t be the last time fans have been lured in under, maybe not outright false, maybe a little inflated. A hardcore horror hound would go in expecting a snake killing spree ALA Snakes on a Plane.

What you got was a tense and claustrophobic hostage thriller with sudden moments of violence. Less is more as the connoisseurs say and believe me after the first brutal snake attack and agonising death the suspense is excruciating. Oddly enough the fangs to the phallus is the most subdued of the snake’s dispatches. Let the viewers imagination do the work; it doesn’t have to work too hard after that first kill that’s for sure!!!

It was a great concept: a simple “no one gets hurt” robbery, through a series of unforeseen mishaps turns into a hostage situation with a dead cop outside. Now let’s turn this shit up to eleven and add a fuck up involving a kid’s new pet snake and you have peril coming at you from all sides!

The snake itself is fucken nightmare material. A black mamba. Not the most venomous, but arguably the deadliest based on its batshit crazy temperament. Sure, those taipans will finish you quick with one bite. This black mamba psycho will go full-on Tasmanian Devil on your ass! Not one bite and see you later, oh no; this motherfucker comes at you like it wants revenge. More than deadly enough, super-fast and hyper aggressive; imagine being trapped in a house with this thing creeping around.

I suppose it was a good thing this particular specimen seemed to have a distinct attraction to those of the outlaw persuasion. A writer’s prerogative, I guess.

The point of this post? Beside recommending a good thriller and reminiscing on a bygone era? The clash of art meeting capitalism. It is the movie ‘business’ as they say and profits must be made. According to the folks with the funds, audiences need a nice clear pigeonhole to help them decide if they want to part with their cash and time. If a film crosses categories, it is only sensible to slap the most popular one on the poster or box.

My point is that the reason it took me so long to revisit this movie was because I was one of those people who had no recollection of the film besides the notorious preview, so I went in expecting a snake killing spree and was rewarded with a well-executed thriller with a surprise guest. I enjoy horror, so I was happy either way, but what I got was better. Many people who would enjoy this film may skip it because they’re not ‘horror’ fans and that’s the drawback of most movie marketing.

Let’s take a look at some of the cover art and try to see what angle they were going for: