Alabama Snake

Alabama Snake is a tight-if extremely unbalanced-documentary that gets to the root of the bizarre and unsettling tale of Pentecostal preacher Glenn Summerford, accused of attempting to murder his wife using a rattlesnake. It gets across an eerie atmosphere in rural Alabama and the dark undercurrents of religious fanaticism throughout the narrative. The documentary does, at times, feel a bit disjointed; its pacing suffers from a lack of focus and coherence. The reenactments, while quite evocative, sometimes veer into melodrama and become a distraction from the really compelling real-life drama at the core. Even with its flaws, Alabama Snake is a haunting exploration of faith, fear, and the thin line between them.

A story about a Pentecostal minister who may have used a snake to try to kill his wife! She certainly was bit, but the question is - did she do it herself or did he make her? Don't be put off by the fringe religious practices. While featured, this isn't a story about them, or religion in general. There is some actual film from the incident - which is pretty helpful. Several cages holding many rattlers. The film explores the seedy (that's generous) past of the minister, and hints at a troubled past in his second wife's past. Both are quite uneducated. The film does a great job of unearthing many living witnesses and legal transcripts, but most of all the interviews of the first 2 wives and the minister himself.

There are documentarists out there that sweeps the historic field of peculiar and heresays, lets call it urban legends. so if you take a look at this hbo docu directed by theo love you will get crocodile shoes oiled with snake oil and a bit of venom to reach the highestlevel of resurection and as close as it can get to god, the holy father, used as a religious relique in a sect down in the blessed old state of alabama usa, like you eat oblat and drink wine in a church sermony.

but snakes as a murder weapon??? clever and clueless, in fact a perfect murder if you ask me. so hang on to this all absorbing documentary, you will gawp your jaw just as the grumpy old miself did. higly recommended.

"Alabama Snake" (2020 release; 85 min.) is a documentary about the strange Alabama folklore of snake handling during religious "Pentacostal" services, and how things got out of hand. After introducing us to East Tennessee State University folklorist Thomas Burton, we go to Chapter 1 "Bite Nite", and it is "October 4, 1991, Scottsboro, Alabama", where the paramedics are called on the scene with a woman (Darlene) claiming that her husband Glenn tried to kill her with snake bites. Say what?!?

Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from producer-director Theo Love, who just last year produced the enjoyable "McMillions" mini-series. Here he digs (with a major assist from Thomas Burton, on whose research the film is based) into the strange but still thriving subculture in pockets of communities that use snake handling in their religious services. Along the way we get the story of Glenn Summer ford, who is accused of attempted murder of his wife. The two appear separate and parallel stories, but you just wait and see how it all comes together. The movie is divided in 5 Chapters and an Epilogue, and flows by quickly. One reason that I don't rate this movie higher is the dearth of archival footage, and instead the film has plenty of 'reenacted' scenes, which I am not a fan of.

"Alabama Snake" premiered on HBO last month, and is now available on HBO On Demand and other streaming platforms. If you are curious about the strange folklore of snake handling in religious services,. or are simply looking for a decent documentary to watch, I'd suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.

Utter nonsense. An hour and five minutes in, with only twenty minutes remaining, I could no longer stand it.

I'm not from that area, nor am I of that religion, but from an outsider's point of view, all of these people have either bought into the falsehoods repeated to them over the years or they are just crazy. I can't say whether or not Glenn Summerford was trying to kill his wife, but the fact that he didn't take her to a doctor after she was bitten by a RATTLESNAKE because it was simply "in God's hands" is criminal in itself.

The only reason I gave it three stars instead of one is because of the documentary's production. With that said, letting these people spew their absolute nonsense for an hour and a half is a waste of airtime. With the exception of the first responders, and maybe his first wife, there are no redeeming characters, and certainly no worthwhile storyline.