The Slithering Sixties: The Snake Woman (1961) and The Reptile (1966)
Posted: February 5th, 2023, 10:22 am
Since The Reptile was on TCM last month, I've lifted my post from the TCM site about the film and another reptilian movie. One aspect of The Reptile that really impressed me was how they focused on a very specific line from the American folk song "O Shenandoah," which makes great sense, in the context of the film.
Here's my post made on September 26, 2022:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I like horror films set in the English countryside, and there are many of them. (I even have a soft spot for that lowest of low films, Disciple of Death.) Probably my two favorites -- if I had to choose -- would be Witchfinder General and The Blood on Satan's Claw.
I'm particularly fond of two films made in the 1960s: The Snake Woman (1961), directed by Sidney J. Furie; and The Reptile, directed by John Gilling. The Snake Woman opens in the 19th century, in Northumberland. The Reptile opens in the early 20th century, in Cornwall. Both films involve death by cobra, a reptile not native to England.
The Snake Woman opens in a cottage in rural Northumberland. A doctor (Dr. Adderson!) is fiddling with his chemicals and his snakes. He is preparing an injection of snake venom, which he uses to treat his (presumably) mad wife. (Actually, she's one of the sanest characters in the film.) The wife is played by Dorothy Frere, then 51, who gives a performance worthy of a Shakespearean queen. She pleads with her husband not to give her the shot, because she's pregnant and worried about what snake venom would do to her unborn child. She was right to be concerned. He administers the venom. The baby is born cold, but alive. The wise old midwife (brilliant, OTT performance by Elsie Wagstaff) wants to kill the evil baby with a scissors, but the attending doctor, who has a German accent and is leaving for Africa in the morning (?!), stops her. The mother demands to see her baby, which (like the snake she is) has no eyelids. The mother dies of the shock. The baby is spirited away to safety. Aggie the midwife rushes to the pub, warning the locals of the birth of an evil thing. The locals storm the cottage and smash all the lab stuff. Snakes escape. One bites the doctor, who dies. 19 years pass, the Snake Woman (who is called Atheris) has grown into a beautiful woman who once in a while turns into a snake and bites people. (Atheris is actually a genus of venomous vipers, so there is real science in this film -- I've already mentioned the baby's lack of eyelids). The film then becomes fairly formulaic. When the Snake Woman in her cobra guise is shot at the end, she duly morphs back into a woman, as she should in any respectable horror film.
The Reptile opens in rural Cornwall. A man is summoned to a local grand estate by a note. When he gets there, something bites him and he dies. Other villagers have died similarly, turning black and frothing at the mouth. The man's brother inherits the cottage and moves in with his wife. People continue to get bitten and die, turning black and frothing. With help from the local publican, the brother (Harry) investigates, much to his peril, because he is summoned by note, as his brother was, and gets bitten, but survives. It turns out that a doctor of theology (Dr. Franklyn) lives in the house with his daughter Anna and a strange Malay. Dr. Franklyn's research got him into the whole mess -- he investigated the secrets of a cult in Malaya. His punishment was to be followed back to England and to have his daughter turn into a snake occasionally. The Malay supervises the whole business. (Cult of the Cobra-type scenario, to some extent). The film is posher than The Snake Woman, as it's a Hammer film, and, in fact is one of my favorite Hammers. (I'm not a fan of the Hammer films that bring back our Universal friends). Plague of the Zombies, which will be on TCM on Halloween, used some of the same sets as The Reptile.
The snake/daughter lying under a rug in the basement of the estate, where there are thermal springs, is a very effective scene. She's shedding her skin. There is one brief moment of pathos at the fiery climax, when she rushes upstairs and is about to kill Harry's wife, but someone breaks a window and the cold wind rushes in. Anna/The Reptile says "I'm cold," and she dies. Harry, his wife, and the publican rush out of the burning house, and look back, a typical ending to so many horror films.
Here's my post made on September 26, 2022:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I like horror films set in the English countryside, and there are many of them. (I even have a soft spot for that lowest of low films, Disciple of Death.) Probably my two favorites -- if I had to choose -- would be Witchfinder General and The Blood on Satan's Claw.
I'm particularly fond of two films made in the 1960s: The Snake Woman (1961), directed by Sidney J. Furie; and The Reptile, directed by John Gilling. The Snake Woman opens in the 19th century, in Northumberland. The Reptile opens in the early 20th century, in Cornwall. Both films involve death by cobra, a reptile not native to England.
The Snake Woman opens in a cottage in rural Northumberland. A doctor (Dr. Adderson!) is fiddling with his chemicals and his snakes. He is preparing an injection of snake venom, which he uses to treat his (presumably) mad wife. (Actually, she's one of the sanest characters in the film.) The wife is played by Dorothy Frere, then 51, who gives a performance worthy of a Shakespearean queen. She pleads with her husband not to give her the shot, because she's pregnant and worried about what snake venom would do to her unborn child. She was right to be concerned. He administers the venom. The baby is born cold, but alive. The wise old midwife (brilliant, OTT performance by Elsie Wagstaff) wants to kill the evil baby with a scissors, but the attending doctor, who has a German accent and is leaving for Africa in the morning (?!), stops her. The mother demands to see her baby, which (like the snake she is) has no eyelids. The mother dies of the shock. The baby is spirited away to safety. Aggie the midwife rushes to the pub, warning the locals of the birth of an evil thing. The locals storm the cottage and smash all the lab stuff. Snakes escape. One bites the doctor, who dies. 19 years pass, the Snake Woman (who is called Atheris) has grown into a beautiful woman who once in a while turns into a snake and bites people. (Atheris is actually a genus of venomous vipers, so there is real science in this film -- I've already mentioned the baby's lack of eyelids). The film then becomes fairly formulaic. When the Snake Woman in her cobra guise is shot at the end, she duly morphs back into a woman, as she should in any respectable horror film.
The Reptile opens in rural Cornwall. A man is summoned to a local grand estate by a note. When he gets there, something bites him and he dies. Other villagers have died similarly, turning black and frothing at the mouth. The man's brother inherits the cottage and moves in with his wife. People continue to get bitten and die, turning black and frothing. With help from the local publican, the brother (Harry) investigates, much to his peril, because he is summoned by note, as his brother was, and gets bitten, but survives. It turns out that a doctor of theology (Dr. Franklyn) lives in the house with his daughter Anna and a strange Malay. Dr. Franklyn's research got him into the whole mess -- he investigated the secrets of a cult in Malaya. His punishment was to be followed back to England and to have his daughter turn into a snake occasionally. The Malay supervises the whole business. (Cult of the Cobra-type scenario, to some extent). The film is posher than The Snake Woman, as it's a Hammer film, and, in fact is one of my favorite Hammers. (I'm not a fan of the Hammer films that bring back our Universal friends). Plague of the Zombies, which will be on TCM on Halloween, used some of the same sets as The Reptile.
The snake/daughter lying under a rug in the basement of the estate, where there are thermal springs, is a very effective scene. She's shedding her skin. There is one brief moment of pathos at the fiery climax, when she rushes upstairs and is about to kill Harry's wife, but someone breaks a window and the cold wind rushes in. Anna/The Reptile says "I'm cold," and she dies. Harry, his wife, and the publican rush out of the burning house, and look back, a typical ending to so many horror films.