The Killer Snakes (1974) User Reviews

Brutal Exploitation with a Grim Atmosphere

[TheExpatriate700 · 7/10 · 22 August 2010]

The Killer Snakes is definitely a step above your typical mid-1970s animal horror film, combining the threat of venomous snakes with a grim tale of alienation in an urban environment. All the sexual frustration and sleaze that was implied in films like Willard and Stanley comes to the fore here.

The film focuses on a young man suffering from psycho-sexual scars stemming from witnessing his mother engaging in sadomasochistic activity as a child. He is constantly tormented by street thugs and prostitutes. Unfortunately, the man also has the ability to communicate psychically with snakes, which he ultimately uses to punish those who have offended him, particularly women.

Many viewers will find this film difficult to watch. It features extremely graphic, sexual violence against women, as well as actual scenes of snakes being mutilated. Nevertheless, if you like extreme horror, this is definitely a film for you.

The Best Of The HK "Animal-Horror" films...

[EVOL666 · 7/10 · 14 March 2006]

I don't typically dig too much on the pre-CATIII HK horror stuff like DEVIL FETUS, SEEDING OF A GHOST, CENTIPEDE HORROR, THE DEVIL, etc...but KILLER SNAKES is from what I've seen so far, the best of a bad genre. This one is grittier, sleazier, and plays more like one of the later CATIII entries than the 80's HK "animal-horror" films, and KILLER SNAKES was made several years before either of those genres really took off. Definitely a precursor of both good and bad to come from future HK horror/sleaze productions...

Zhihong is a shy, reserved, kinda slow kid who live in a hole-in-the-wall (literally) that shares a wall with a snake shop. Apparently, part of Zhi's "problems" stem from some S&M abuse that he witnessed as a child, and his love for snakes at a young age. Because of his shy and timid nature, Zhihong is constantly a mark for the bullies and robbers in his neighborhood. His only solace is the friendship that he makes with the snakes from next-door, who Zhi can apparently communicate with kinda like a HK Dr. Doolittle or Willard or some sh!t. Anyway, Zhi finally gets up the courage to ask out the one person who's nice to him - local hottie Xiujuan - and she agrees, but then stands poor Zhi up (she had a good excuse though - her dad was dyin' and she had to go and be a hooker to pay his rent...). Zhi finally snaps and calls on his no-legged buddies to seek revenge on everybody that's done him wrong recently...

KILLER SNAKES is a pretty solid early entry in the HK sleaze world. Some pretty twisted stuff going' on here, including snake-rape (unfortunately it's all "implied", but I guess it's still pretty out there for '75...) some flying snake attacks, some pretty hot rope-bondage action (but again, no full-frontal nekkidness - another disappointment...), and more real snake-slaughtering than you can shake a stick at - so PETA members and those that bitch about the animal deaths in CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST need not apply to this one either - but if ya dig sleazy HK films and can handle some snake-killing - THE KILLER SNAKES may be a good bet for ya - 7.5/10

Sadistic Eastern cinema shocker

[Chase_Witherspoon · 7/10 · 2 May 2011]

Bizarre tale of a reclusive young man whose chronic inhibitions have been shaped by his tormented childhood, during which he witnessed his prostitute mother being subjected to degrading acts and mistreatment by clients. He grows up to become a sexually repressed loner, the ridicule of others, repetitively robbed and humiliated until he discovers an injured snake whom he cares for and then rears to fight his battles. Sadistic shocks reign supreme in this over-the-top Hong Kong thriller; there are two scenes in particular in which the sexually deviant content would challenge the censorship regulations to the limit, so it's surprising that "Killer Snakes" even manages an R rating.

In context, the cast all perform their roles well, and the lead character can to some degree elicit sympathy for his misguided crimes. Maze-like poverty-stricken alleyways, bustling, diverse markets and ram-shackled rat-hole dwellings look authentic, and the mood is consistently dark and sinister, striking an effective chord throughout.

But the sadism with which the characters are mercilessly dispensed might offend the average punter, even where it seems as though the victim has earned their punishment. The scene in which the sleazy playboy is taunted by the snakes in his plush apartment is a particular example where I was comfortable with the comeuppance meted out; contrast this with the scene in which the girl's sister (whose only crime was to discourage her sister from dating snake-boy) is tortured S&M style using the snakes (use your imagination) is a graphic example where shock value goes beyond proportionate justice (within the perverted context). Undoubtedly well made and engaging if just a little excessive at times.

Yuck

[rufasff · 27 July 2002]

This seventies Hong Kong import is about as unpleasant as it gets. An unsanitary, screwed up uber loser befriends some snakes to get back at everyone; for Everyone is mean, stupid and cruel in this film. Except his virginal girlfriend of course, and well, don't ask.

I thought it was interesting that you are never really sure if this guy has trained the snakes, or if they just feel sorry for this miserable soul. At any rate, when he's not using live snakes to rape his tied up whores, he is not above zapping them with a Kamoto dragon. It's a fun filled frolic for the whole family! Some of the trained Cobras are impressive to watch.

The letterboxed print from "Something Weird" is awful, blotched and stained all the way through. If you want to see this, however, you better go for it, I don't think Criterion will get to this one for awhile.

Sss!

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 4 August 2023]

At some point in the 70s, movies about people having an unusual affinity for animals, despite being unable to connect with other people. There's Willard and Stanley, for example. Or The Killer Snakes, a movie that - because it's made in Hong Kong - goes harder on the idea.

Gwan Fu-Cheng (Chow Gat) has one of those restaurants that could never exist in the U. S., a place where snakes are kept and used for their different body parts to benefit people, like Hu Bao-Chun (Richard Chen Chun), who wants the gall bladder of a cobra in a drink to make his date swoon. She does not seem very impressed.

The snake is kept alive until another customer has a use for another body part, as many snakes are clinging to life. But the cobra escapes through his prison inside a wall to find Chen Chih-Hung (Kam Kwok-Leung), a young man who has been disturbed by a childhood filled with abuse by both of his parents. Chen Chih-Hung has no fear of this snake with a giant hole in its body and its innards exposed, as he picks it up bare-handed and stitches it up, naming it Lu Pao and giving it a home.

Chen Chih-Hung gets some good fortune, as he gets a new job and starts romancing Xiao Chuan (Maggie Li Lin-Lin). And oh yeah - he and Lu Pao help the rest of the snakes in Gwan Fu-Cheng's business escape through the wall.

If all seems good, it can't last. Our protagonist is mugged and ruins one of his delivery jobs, then Xiao Chuan's father gets sick. She misses their standing date and he responds by trashing her booth in the shopping area. Again, all he has is Lu Pao.

Giving up on true love, he visits sex worker Zhang Jin-Yang (Helen Ko Ti-Han) and she decides to get more money out of him by sending the same men who beat him up before - they end up being her security - and they're all surprised by the fact that Chen Chih-Hung walks around with a cobra. And that's when our protagonist goes to an antagonist, as he kidnaps Zhang Jin-Yang. Now tied up in his snake lair, he plans on using her for the pleasure of himself and several of his snake friends. At the same time, Gwan Fu-Cheng figures out where his snakes have gone - to Chen Chih-Hung's secret room - and he has to be killed as well. Chen Chih-Hung leaves the body of the sex worker and shopkeeper together and it seems like that'll keep the cops off him.

As if things can't get any worse, Xiao Chuan's father dies and she can't pay for anywhere to live. Her friend Fang Fang (Terry Lau Wei-Yue) works at a hostess bar where she turns tricks, so she gets her a job, but poor Xiao Chuan is a virginal innocent, which is what the man who drank Lu Pao's gall bladder, Hu Bao-Chun, is ready to pay to destroy. You can only imagine how our snake loving murdering rapist feels about his one true love working in the sex industry.

"First he taught one snake, then hundreds more...then he trained them all the kill!" While major labels like Arrow Video and Shout! Factory release Shaw Brothers box sets, there are several of the movies that the studio put out that may never see the legitimate light of those big budget releases. This would be one of them.

Directed by Chih-Hung Kuei (Corpse Mania, Curse of Evil, The Boxer's Omen) and written by Kuang Ni, this is a sleazy, filth-infested and often disgusting affair. Would you be surprised that I liked it?

All copies of this movie should be destroyed

[ckormos1 · 1/10 · 16 February 2020]

I have the video CD release. Currently there are 13 reviews here for this movie. I find it hard to believe that 13 people even watched this stinker.

How does this movie stink? "Let me count the ways". Browning counts seven ways but that is love and this is stink. The stink is mightier than the love. It starts with serving up snake bile as an aphrodisiac. Snakes are a legitimate food source in Hong Kong. When I was there my host took me to a restaurant that specialized in snake. Check out Ser Wong Fung in Central. I had the vegetarian dish.

The movie starts with the lead character's miserable life going down the drain. I've seen similar stories and often think this miserable person's life going down the drain would realistically be a daily occurrence. In the movie something is always special about this awful day.

The closest this movie came to normal was the gratuitous nudity. I will destroy my copy after posting this. It's the right thing to do.

Outrageous Asian snake horror

[Bogey Man · 8/10 · 23 July 2002]

Killer Snakes is very strong and mean spirited stuff, but great film for fans of sleaze and ultra weird cinema. A young boy has suffered all his life. He had a traumatic childhood as his parents fought and had sick sex games in front of their child. After his childhood, he was nothing but a loser in some lousy job kicked in the head all the time. He was beaten, cheated, humiliated and laughed at all the time and everyday, and he definitely didn't have any friends. Friends of human beings, no, but soon he found himself different kind of friends, very slithery ones. He started to communicate with snakes, cobras mainly, which were plenty in his neighborhood and its restaurant's kitchen, in which the snakes were horribly mutilated by chef in order to remove some parts of the creature and feed them to customers. Our protagonist starts to make friends and talk with snakes, and starts to protect them. Then he starts to use them against his enemies, practically against everyone..

This film is weird and very dementedly disturbing. I'm almost sure the film makers (well, the director at least) was in some kind of dope during filming since there are so outrageous visions and use of lights that create an atmosphere one would probably feel after taking hard drugs. There are many different colors and strange soundtrack, but the settings are also very dirty and off putting, and this is the first Hong Kong movie, I saw the city depicted this dirty and loathsome. There are poor people, prostitutes and pimps and all kind of scum that live in big cities. The widescreen photography is not too inventive, but since the over all tune is so unique and hallucinatory, I cannot but appreciate this sick little gem.

And then the snakes, which are of course real and plenty. If you scare snakes, DO NOT even think of watching this film since you will faint if you try. There are big snakes and little snakes, fat snakes and thin snakes, slow snakes and very fast snakes, so there are all kinds of snakes in the film. I don't know how they shot some of the scenes since it seems like the actors just lay in the floor as hundreds of snakes were on and next to them, so I don't know were they tricks or were the actors so desperate they really did all these things with these creatures.

There are many over-the-top scenes, most notably the most infamous in which this guy ties a girl like in some s/m session, and lets snakes free on her naked body, and some of the snakes, of course, find the most valuable and sensitive body part of the girl, and crawl there and I'm sure female viewers (if there are any) will cringe in that scene, since even I did. The cruelties committed at snakes are unsettling to watch, as real snakes are mutilated and burned alive in the film, but that was the film makers' moral that time (and in some cases, even today, unfortunately), but at least the snake abusers get something back in the movie, so maybe the film is a statement again about humans' and nature's relationship and how humans exploit everything we get our hands into.

The final scene is again very memorable and makes me wonder how they attached the snakes on that standing fellow, or were they real snakes in the first place? This film has so much outrageous elements, scenes and ideas, this is a must for fans of Asian demented and twisted horror/sleaze cinema, and worth tracking down. There are many other similar films made in East, and it is just one example of what separates their cinema from Western cinema. Again this film proves how unique Eastern cinema is in many ways. 8/10

Snake penetration! Enough said

[Coventry · 4/10 · 7 November 2010]

"The Killer Snakes" is a pretty damn demented HK gross-out feature about a young man who's a bit of a social outcast. He gets bullied and beaten up by everyone, he has perverted hallucinations reverting back to the S&M games he heard his mother play when he was a kid and he appears to have a special connection with snakes. He operates on them and then subsequently keeps them around his ramshackle flat as his sole friends. When thugs steal the money from his delivery boy job and his girlfriend doesn't show up during their first date (although he doesn't know it's because her father died that same night), he goes berserk and instructs his cobras to bite the ones who wronged him. This definitely isn't a movie for the squeamish and/or the easily offended! "The Killer Snakes" contains a whole lot of sleaze, animal cruelty, sexually disturbing imagery, violence against women, perversion, torture-porn and depravity. It's a really questionable fetish-film from the Shaw Bros' stable. As soon as I witnessed the infamous and downright sickening snake penetration sequence, it became all too clear to me that this movie is merely just out to present the biggest amount of exploitative imagery ever. If you like that sort of junk, be my guest. To me, it was just a waste of a potentially interesting animal-horror script. "Jennifer" and "Stanley" are two American movies from the same period, equally dealing with adolescent weirdos extracting their revenge through domesticated snakes. Those films are perhaps slightly less memorable, but at least they're tasteful.

Best killer snake horror movie ever...

[Indyrod · 9/10 · 10 May 2008]

Now this is what I like, a very very well made Shaw Brothers movie, that pulls all the stops out in this sub-genre of snake horror/thriller movies. This is by far the best deadly snake movie I have ever seen. The plot, "A young man who has been beaten, abused, humiliated and laughed at all his life finds that he has an unusual empathy with snakes. He can talk to them and they understand him, and eventually he finds that he can get them to do his bidding. He decides to use his newfound friends to take his revenge on everyone who ever did him wrong." The young man is not a hero at all, in fact, he's probably worse than the people he takes revenge on. Very well made horror movie, with some great nudity to say the least, and plenty of sex and violence. When there is no snake attacks going on, which are great, there is usually a naked girl or two, so there is no way you can go wrong with this one. Yes, this is extreme Asian cinema, and I love it. The whole movie is sleazy as hell, but done with a huge amount of quality film-making. I highly recommend this movie to fans of Asian cinema especially, and to all horror fans. It's a dandy to say the least.

Outrageously perverse piece of HK exploitation.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 9/10 · 24 December 2005]

"The Killer Snakes" is surely one of my guilty pleasures.This incredibly sordid horror film mixes gore,perverse sex,torture and animal cruelty.Chen Zhihong lives a miserable existence in a rundown hovel next to a snake emporium(where the owner removes and sells the live animals' gall bladders as an aphrodisiac).His only friend is Xiujuan,a pretty and sympathetic girl who sells toys in the local outdoor market.One evening Zhihong receives a most unusual visitor who becomes his closest confidant.A mutilated reptile from the neighboring shop slithers in and allows the youth to nurse it back to health.Naming the snake Xiaobiao,Zhihong soon finds that he has gained the trust of several other reptiles as well.However,his troubles with humans continue unabated,as he is beaten,robbed and humiliated by a prostitute and her cohorts.Even his faith in Xiujuan is shattered when she stands him up one evening for a date(though,unbeknownst to Zhihong,it is for a legitimate reason).With the help of his snakes he decides to take a gruesome revenge on everybody,who humiliated him."The Killer Snakes" is an ugly little film with several unpleasant characters.The atmosphere is incredibly sleazy and there is plenty of nudity,bondage and perverse sex to keep fans of exploitation happy.9 out of 10.

A sleazy snakesploitation classic.

[BA_Harrison · 8/10 · 3 February 2010]

Snakes seeking fame and fortune in the Asian film industry are advised to read their contracts carefully: it's not rare for an over-eager reptile to be duped into partaking in 'snake snuff', ending up mangled, mashed, burnt, chopped, mutilated, or in some cases, even batted to death by a monkey, all for the sake of art.

Those who do risk signing up without reading the fine print certainly have guts, as is graphically demonstrated by the cobras at the beginning of Killer Snakes, who have their skin split open and gall bladders yanked out before being cast aside to die. Fortunately for these cold-blooded critters, they narrowly escape death (well, in the film they do—for a while; in reality, they most likely carked it straight away) when they are found and cared for by Chen Zhihong (Kam Kwok-leung), a meek but messed-up young man who has an affinity with snakes (and just a few screws loose, thanks to a very disturbed childhood).

Whilst nursing his scaly pals back to health, Chen suffers daily physical abuse at the hands of local bullies; eventually, however, he is able to turn the tables on his tormentors when his newfound, fork-tongued friends decide to lend him a hand in exacting revenge (metaphorically speaking, of course; I know that snakes don't have hands!).

Time flies by as our luckless chump and his slithery chums set about settling the score (which includes abusing female bullies by abducting them, tying them up, and letting his snakes find a nice warm place to hide); meanwhile, pretty market girl Xiujuan (Maggie Li Lin-lin), the apple of Chen's eye, has fallen on hard times and is being groomed by Madam FangFang for prostitution. When Hu Baochun, a wealthy slime-ball, sets his sights on breaking in the new girl, Chen and his hissing homeboys (hey, I'm running out of things to call them) attempt to stop him before he can successfully sample Xiujuan's as-yet untouched delights.

Now available on Region 1 DVD in its uncut form, this sordid slice of Shaw Brothers snakesploitation is a top contender as 'Most Unsavoury Reptilan HK Horror Ever', even rivalling the excellent Calamity of Snakes for the title. Set in an inner-city slum, where Chen lives in a particularly squalid hovel, the film is unapologetically grubby, wallowing in its own filth and depravity and delighting in its sexual violence and animal cruelty. It's obviously not a film for animal lovers or the politically correct, but thicker-skinned fans of outrageous and excessive Asian oddities should definitely check out this film for its sheer craziness, which includes Chen's all-too-brief visit to a local whore, an attack by vicious Komodo dragons, mucho mid-air serpent slicing, some sleazy flashbacks to Chen's childhood that explain his predilection for bondage, and a nifty nihilistic ending that sees the snakes turning on their master.

Pretty great Asian horror film with its share of sleaze

[Casey-52 · 8/10 · 23 November 2000]

For those looking for a good example of Asian horror that isn't too over-the-top to start with, KILLER SNAKES is probably the best one to seek out. Available on video from Something Weird and letterboxed to boot, KILLER SNAKES is pretty memorable.

A pathetic man who overhears his mother's sadistic affairs as a child grows up with snakes as his only friends. He is beaten up by pimps and prostitutes, has his heart broken by the girl of his dreams, and loses his job. He finally gets sick of the humiliation and torment and sets his king cobras on his enemies.

KILLER SNAKES has a great plot, despite being similar to both WILLARD and STANLEY. I actually preferred this to both of those films, as it has a great Hong Kong atmosphere and better acting by the entire cast. The snakes are used to better advantage and the city of Hong Kong is a wonderfully sleazy setting for such an effective film. Sleaze fans take note of one scene in particular: the man ties up a prostitute in an S&M sling and sets snakes loose on her naked body after feeling her up. REALLY sick stuff! But amazingly effective.

KILLER SNAKES is highly recommended by me, as it is highly entertaining and is a great introduction to the world of outrageous Asian horror. Next on your list should be BLACK MAGIC 1 & 2, CENTIPEDE HORROR, or SEEDING OF A GHOST.

Really twisted, sick... and slow

[Wizard-8 · 5 November 2003]

This was a rip-off of the American horror movie STANLEY... which in turn was a rip-off of WILLARD! I've seen my share of twisted Hong Kong movies, though I was really surprised to see that this level of sleaze was going on before the '80s! (Guess I need to bone up on Hong Kong cinema) Bondage, bondage, and more bondage! And the movie really wallows in the scummier side of Hong Kong, refusing to show us nothing but slum districts, dirt, filth, criminals, prostitutes, and other people of a disreputable nature. I wonder if Queen Elizabeth would have still knighted Sir Run Run Shaw had she seen this movie his company produced!

Putting that question aside... While it may sound like sleazy fun, it's not. The production values aren't bad, but it's *very* slow going, and the various exploitation moments (violent or erotic) don't come across as much fun, either from dull direction or made not to be fun (like *real* snakes being chopped up right in front of our eyes.) The movie doesn't seem to be heading in any real direction, which might explain why the final 5 minutes has some unexplained (or unbelievably explained) plot turns that help to quickly wrap things up.

Snakesploitation. A less recurred entertainment.

[insomniac_rod · 30 August 2006]

Thank you again "Something Weird Video" for bringing up titles like this.

To be honest, I catched it on local t.v. at 4:00 a.m. here in Mèxico. I wonder why it aired at such a late hour. The fact is that it wasn't that heavily cut but still I'm sure there's a glorious, sleazy unrated version.

The movie is all about violent deaths caused by snakes attacks. A really weird lead male character uses snakes against his friends... yes... as simply as that. But not only against his friends but also takes victims such as prostitutes.

There isn't much to comment about "Snakes Attack". It's cheesy, low budget, but certainly nasty. Check it out if you have the chance. Not for everyone.

Decent

[Michael_Elliott · 29 February 2008]

Killer Snakes (1975)

** (out of 4)

Shaw Bros./Hong Kong horror flick in the same mode as Willard has a nerdy man using deadly snakes to seek revenge against those who torment him. This here is certainly more mean spirited and stylish than those American films but we've still seen this type of thing way too many times. This film also adds some sexual abuse as the man torments various hookers by having the reptiles biting certain areas of theirs but this isn't enough to keep the film interesting. The incredibly slow pace also hurts matters.