Spasms (1983)

User Rating:

2.6/10   

Director:

William Fruet

Writers:

Don Enright (writer)
William Fruet (writer)

Release Date:

May 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

You scream, you expand, you explode. A new source of evil is discovered and is out of control.

Plot:

A gigantic serpent is captured on a remote island and shipped to an American college for experimentation...

Plot Keywords:

Serpent | Man Hunt | Giant Snake | Science | Giant Animal

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Peter Fonda	...	Dr. Tom Brasilian
Oliver Reed	...	Jason Kincaid
Kerrie Keane	...	Suzanne Cavadon
Al Waxman	...	Warren Crowley
Miguel Fernandes	...	Mendes / Tasaki (as Miguel Fernández)
Marilyn Lightstone	...	Dr. Claire Rothman
Angus MacInnes	...	Duncan Tyrone
Laurie Brown	...	Allison
Gerard Parkes	...	Capt. Novack
William Needles	...	Dean Franklin
Denis Simpson	...	Abo Shaman
Patrick Brymer	...	Sailor / Agent
George Bloomfield	...	Rev. Thomas Thanner
Al Maini	...	Abo Interpreter
Denise Fergusson	...	Psycho Patient

Also Known As:

Death Bite

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | Iceland:16 | Norway:18 (video) (1984) | Australia:M | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (special edition) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Cinequity

Trivia:

The production ran out of money before shooting was finished and the final scene was heavily padded with flashback sequences in an effort to lengthen the film to a respectable runtime

Not totally bad as you've heard... but still not good

For years I heard reports about how utterly bad this movie was, so when I finally got a chance to see it, I wasn't expecting much - especially knowing the movie was also shelved for two years before getting a release.

As it turns out, I didn't find it completely bad. For starters, the production values were above average for a Canadian movie of the time (except for when we see the snake at the end - it does indeed look like it was made out of paper mache.) There are a few impressive gore effects (though not as much as you might think), and the sorority house attack sequence is pretty amusing. It was slow at times, but seldom could you find it boring.

But I won't deny that the movie is filled with problems. The editing is quite bad at times, with scenes cut short and some information seemingly missing. The whole "snake cult" subplot turns out to be for NOTHING - the movie would need very little additional rewriting if it was completely cut out. The scenes are mixed together with clumsiness - after Peter Fonda's character is introduced, it takes about half an hour before he returns! Ultimately the movie completely falls apart around the last 20 minutes or so, leading to an awful climax and ending. Not just awful, but abrupt - it's pretty clear the ending was considerably tinkered around with in the editing room for some reason. Could it originally have been even more awful than this? Quite possibly.