Venom

To paraphrase director Piers Haggard, Venom is a film that’s not schlocky enough for the blood n’ guts horror crowd and perhaps too classy for its own good.  It is, in fact, a rather straightforward thriller that uses a snake-on-the-loose plot device to spice things up a bit.  But the title (and marketing campaign in ’82) sold the film as a successor to “nature run amok” flicks like The Birds and Alligator.

The cast includes a who’s who of international stars (Klaus Kinski, Oliver Reed, Susan George) and puts their larger than life personalities to good use, trapping them inside a British townhouse after a failed kidnapping plot with an army of cops outside and one deadly Black Mamba inside.  There are one or two solid scares, but the majority of the plot focuses on the police siege, led by no-nonsense captain Nicol Williamson (Merlin in Excalibur), and his attempts to outwit Kinski’s well-dressed terrorist.

 

Venom is too well made to simply write-off, starting with its thunderous Michael Kamen score that makes the whole production feel like a big budget affair.  Assembling a cast with this much talent guarantees a certain degree of quality and Haggard’s direction is unflappably British, emphasizing the psychological aspects of the claustrophobic scenario rather than rubber snakes.  In taking the high road, Venom may disappoint those looking for a run-of-the-mill monster flick, but the material rises above exploitation-era titles and comes across as an effectively plotted thriller. 

  

Blue Underground gives its old special edition a swift kick in the pants by releasing an even more impressive UHD + Blu combo.  This new restoration (with Dolby Vision HDR and a Dolby Atmos audio mix) hits the ceiling for the company’s 4K re-releases, retaining a beautiful amount of grain that only improves upon the look of the film.  Extras from the original release - assorted trailers, TV spots, still galleries and a collectible booklet with writing from Fangoria editor Michael Gingold – are back in place.  But there are also several new interviews with crew members and critics.

            

But any film with Kinski in the cast deserves a commentary.  And this one gets two: the first with Piers Haggard dishing the dirt on the troublesome cast (or what he refers to as a “nest of vipers”) with Reed and Kinski delighting in tormenting each other, often in front of the visiting producers.  Mr. Haggard also touches on how he inherited the film after original director Tobe Hooper suffered a nervous breakdown.  A second commentary – new this time around – features the trio of Troy Howarth, Nathanial Thompson and Eugenio Ercolani.