Sssssss

A doctor who specializes in snakes develops a way to turn a human being into a king cobra! Will he use this on the college student who has just became his new assistant?

Sssssss (love that campy title, that's seven S's folks) is an above-average man-becomes-creature horror film. The film is very well made and despite its seemingly cheesy premise actually creates itself an effectively serious tone. The story is intriguing, thanks largely to the likable and well-rounded characters, and builds to some terrifically chilling scenes as well as a nice show-down finale. The makeup effects are solidly created and genuinely creepy. The lovely music score by Patrick Williams is also a highlight.

The cast is definitely one of the films best features. Veteran actor Strother Martin is excellent as he balances his performance between fatherly teacher and sinister scientist. Young Dirk Benedict is charming as Martin's young assistant and attractive Heather Menzies delivers a sincere performance as Martin's daughter, and Benedict's love interest. Also Reb Brown makes for a good bully.

So, you don't have to like snakes to enjoy this intelligent old-fashioned horror tale. It's definitely one of the best of its kind and well worth catching for fans of old school B horror.

*** 1/2 out of ****

I have fond memories of watching this film as a kid. So often those movies you enjoyed as a kid turn out to be trash when you watch them as an adult, but this was a rare case of a movie that managed to hold up.

Sure it has it's faults, but nothing that can't be over looked. The plot is a bit silly, and the ending more so, but the way the movie is played you ignore the rampant over acting and outside of reality plot.

Plus, the film doesn't seem aged. So many films from the Seventies look so out of place looking at them in modern times, but this film managed to avoid all of the trappings that put it out of time. It holds up amazingly well for a thirty plus year old movie.

If you've seen this once and remember it fondly, i recommend a fresh look through grown up eyes.

Released in 1973, the curiously titled "SSSssss" is about a modern Frankenstein-type (Strother Martin) who experiments with snakes and human beings in the desert hills of Southern California. David (Dirk Benedict) is hired by Dr. Stoner (Martin) as a lab assistant after his previous lab assistant mysteriously went missing. As the youth falls in love with Stoner's daughter, Kristina (Heather Menzies), the doctor begins injecting David with some king of snake serum.

This is a pretty decent horror flick that has the early 70s written all over it, but I can't give it a higher rating because it comes off as a TV movie more than a theatrical release. Remember the TV movie "Gargoyles" from 1972? "SSSssss" has the same tone and look, but it's not as good even though it was theatrically released. Why? Because "Gargoyles" has a better topic and, at only 74 minutes, it lacks the padding of "SSSssss." Still, there's enough good in "SSSssss" to make it worthwhile for those who like these kinds of movies. There are a couple of carnival scenes, which are always good for horror flicks.

Martin is effective as the mad doctor and Reb Brown as a pompous jock, but Benedict and Menzies come off bland as the youthful lovers. Then again, they're playing intellectual college nerds so I'm sure that's how their characters were written. Nevertheless, IMHO Menzies is pretty forgettable here; she's better in 1977's "Piranha." Kathleen King plays the only notable woman, but her part isn't much more than a cameo. Needless to say, bad job on the female front.

The film runs 99 minutes and, although there is no listing on IMDb, it was obviously shot in the greater Los Angeles area.

GRADE: C+

No snakes were harmed during the filming of this movie. The concept was interesting. A brilliant doctor has the formula to help mankind survive the event of the holocaust and other cataclysmic proportions. Think of this, a snake with the intelligence of a human. So the girlfriend of the human test subject, David, witnesses her boyfriend's demise in the freakish predicament of a snake, his precious life ends at the paws of mortality itself, the otherwise innocuous ferret, who, in this case, does not stop to think that the snake he is killing for his next meal might and could just be a human, which the very same species he depends on for his survival.

How could the so-called medical geniuses not have seen it all along, turning humans into snakes to endure the next holocaust? What are my hard earned tax dollars going toward if not funding for the study of human-snake transformation! Idiots!

Ok, I've got to qualify that "Ssssssscary as Hell!!!" statement. I first saw this movie on TV when I was like 5 years old. My babysitter wanted to watch it, despite the fact that it scared me to death. In fact, this movie is the one defining moment in my life that made me forever ssssssscared ssssssspitless of sssssssnakes.

About a year or so ago, I saw the ad for this movie on the SciFi channel and it again made my blood run cold. But I decided to watch it anyway, finger on the remote switcher button, to see if it was really as I remembered it 25 years ago. Granted, the special effects were exceedingly lame and the acting was even worse, but remember, this was made back in the early 70's -- long before Industrial Light and Magic and when the only prerequisite for acting was big boobs and a tight butt. Regardless, this movie, in it's time, really was ssssssscary. So scary, that after watching it (at that young age), that I refused to get in a shower (I'd only take baths) until I was probably 12. Oh, and I did actually get through the whole movie on SciFi and actually developed feelings for the pet cobra that gets...well, something happens to it, but I'm not telling what for those who haven't seen it. After watching it recently, a little bit of that pent up fear was released -- although, I still can't stand snakes, not even to look at a picture of them in a book or anything -- except cobras, I really like cobras, now.

Oh, well. I recommend the movie. Just remember the time period it came out of and watch it for what it is. Granted, the story-line was a bit hokey, but just think what it could be like if they made a remake with really good special effects, really good horror movie actors, and a little bit of work on the script.

Ssssssso long!