'Most Awful Movie' is a Snake Charmer
by Flick Chick Vique Rojas
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I give Snakes On A Plane 3 1/2 Red Vines for 'plane' old-fashioned horror film fun! |
‘Most Awful Movie’ is a Snake Charmer
If Snakes On A Plane sounds like the worst imaginable movie possible, you’d be right on the money. You see, the title was thought up during a Hollywood types happy hour, where the conversation turned to who could come up with the most awful pitch for a movie. DreamWorks producer David Berenson took his turn by pitching a movie based on a script called ‘Venom’ but changed the title. The rest, as they say, is history…because everything about this movie is that name.
Star Samuel Jackson signed on for the film based solely on that name. When it was changed to Pacific Air Flight 121, Jackson demanded that the title be changed back saying, “We’re totally changing that back. The only reason I took the job: I read the title.”
The powers that be have to be thanking their lucky stars for giving in to their star’s demands. Because that name built a cult following before anyone had seen a single frame. And the anticipation it has received is usually reserved for A-list movies. It is no disrespect to the movie to say it is a B movie with A marketing. That being said, it is a really good B movie!
While you would think that a crazy name like Snakes On A Plane says it all, this highflying horror fest is filled with more twists and turns than a tightly coiled cobra. In it, Jackson plays an FBI agent charged with safely escorting an eyewitness to LA from Hawaii. The one hitch in his giddy up? The ruthless crime lord being investigated is determined to thwart the eyewitness testimony by bringing down the whole plane with- you guessed it- Snakes On A Plane!
Lines and characters are clichéd but performances are good. And stunt man/coordinator turned director David R. Ellis does a great job of keeping up a frantic pace. Even though the method of madness is unique, the script is formulaic in a standard morality play way. Over sexed lovers will ‘get it’ first. Then come the idiots, jerks and eventually even the innocent and heroic. And of course the bigger the jerk, the bigger and more creative the horror. Think of it as Friday the 13th but with Snakes—on a Plane!!
I would say that this snake charmer was a scream but it would probably be more accurate to say that Snakes On A Plane is a ‘scraugh’. Okay, so there’s no such word but you know what it is because you’ve done it before. It’s a scream of horror that turns into a laugh because the horror turns so horribly over the top that you end up busting a gut!
Well, Snakes On A Plane is a whole cargo load of ‘scrauphing’.
It is silly, funny, bawdy and creepy crawly. There are plenty of laughs and lots of jump out of your seat moments. Audiences are going to love it, especially the under 30 crowd and fans of tongue in cheek horror.
Special Note: This movie is rated R and is not appropriate for children.
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