Editorials
‘Snakes on a Plane’ and the Simple Pleasures of Silly Horror Movies
In 2006, a trailer was released for a crazy little movie that caused the entire internet to collectively shit its pants. That little movie was Snakes on a Plane. Yes, the title says it all. A herd of angry snakes was going to be attacking passengers mid-flight, with only Samuel L. Jackson to save them all from certain destruction and death. Naturally.
It was a movie the likes of which we had never seen on the big screen before. So blunt. So exciting. So ridiculous. Bring it on! The memes, the jokes, the mentions and the excitement were on full display awaiting the film’s August 2006 opening.
And then…nobody saw it.
What had started out as a wave of internet buzz died at the box office and the world moved on to something else. Which is stupid, because I’m here to tell you that Snakes on a Plane is a damn fun movie. And a lot of that comes from the fact that director David R. Ellis didn’t set out to make something revolutionary. Snakes is a silly B-movie and knows it’s a silly B-movie. It knows what the audience wants and what we’re there to see.
We get a basic set up – nothing too complicated or grandiose. We start in Hawaii, where surfer Sean (Nathan Phillips) finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and sees mega mobster Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson) murder the district attorney who has been building a case against his crime ring. Shawn is quickly intercepted by FBI agent Neville Flynn (Jackson), who convinces him to fly to Los Angeles to testify against Kim at his upcoming trial. Kim, the criminal mastermind that he is, puts a shit-ton of snakes in the cargo hold of the plane and rigs their boxes to open mid-flight. To make his plan even more dastardly, he also soaks a bunch of flowers with snake pheromones and sticks them in the cargo hold as well, making the snakes extra aggressive and super pissed off.
That’s it. We get the snakes on the plane, and then we try to survive the snake attacks until we can land the plane safely in L.A. Simple? Yes. Genius? Absolutely – in that balls-out, totally silly, William Castle-y kind of way.
Because we’re not here for mystery. We’re not here for a complex crime thriller. We’re here because we want to see a bunch of passengers attacked by snakes at thirty thousand feet.
And that is exactly what Ellis delivers. When the snakes are released, it’s practically like he yells “Game On!” from somewhere off-camera. We get snakes in vomit bags. In toilets. Falling out of the ventilation system. Crawling under the chairs. Popping out of the instrument panel and attacking our pilot. They bite every body part imaginable. Taylor Kitsch has an unfortunate experience when he tries to bang his girlfriend in the bathroom. One lady gets bitten in the eyeball. Some other dude gets bitten on the dick.
The list goes on, and because horror fans are a deliciously evil breed of audience, we cheer.
And that’s not even including what happens when the passengers begin to fight back. Snakes are tasered, smashed, burned and microwaved. Massive carnage ensues. Lin Shaye saves a baby. We continue cheering.
Along the way, the passengers are, of course, presented with an increasingly difficult series of challenges that must be overcome – leveling the plane when the co-pilot becomes incapacitated, getting the ventilation system reset, sucking the poison out of small child’s snake bite and relying on a gamer played by Kenan Thompson to land the plane when nobody else can.
Snakes on a Plane works because it is a gleeful film that is more than happy to deliver the goods. It embraces its silly premise and leans in hard. There’s something magic about that. It’s a film that begs for popcorn and beer and lots of laughs and cheering. It’s a film that was made to be fun. Full stop.
And it all ends with a bitchin’ video from Cobra Starship. What else do you want?
So yes, Snakes on a Plane was a box office failure, but really, that’s because the audience failed it. Now more than ever, we can really appreciate fun when it heads our way, and if you missed the opportunity to see this entertaining movie, maybe it’s time to remedy that and give it the love that it deserves. Because some things are more than just a ridiculous meme.
Snakes delivers tons of fun in exchange for a mere 90 minutes of your time. It’s a win-win.
Editorials
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Concert Event Launches New Season With The Ultimate Expression Of Fandom
There are thousands of passionate fans decked out in gothic chic and champing at the bit like feral creatures. They’re screaming for Lestat, a legendary vampire-turned-rock star, as if the entire crowd has been glamored into submission.
The entire experience is magic, but not because some supernatural thrall has been activated. What’s going on is even more special. It’s the power of the effusive fandom that’s been authentically assembled by AMC’s sublime Immortal Universe, namely Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, now, The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is far from the first Anne Rice adaptation, and it’s not as if there’s been a lack of erotic vampire material for audiences to sink their teeth into. On June 2nd, during a one-night-only spectacle, New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre shook from Sam Reid’s bravado performance and an audience full of adoring fans who had already memorized Lestat’s songs.
It’s clear that The Vampire Lestat just hits differently than its predecessors. It’s become more than just a TV series at this point, and this opulent display of ego, swagger, and pure sex is the perfect way to premiere the new season and give back to the fans who helped make Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat such a breakout success. It’s exactly the sort of hyperbolized hedonism that would make Lestat cackle.
For all intents and purposes, AMC has successfully created the illusion that this concert/premiere is just one of the many destinations on Lestat and his band’s 54-stop tour that is simultaneously playing out on this season of television. It’s such a sophisticated and thorough level of interactive fan engagement that the audience doesn’t just understand, but also manages to accentuate through its involvement.
It’s a level of seamless synergy that’s not unlike the give-and-take relationship of vampire and victim.
Before the concert started, “LeStans” were sitting in the Beacon and flipping through a fake Rolling Stone issue with Lestat emblazoned on the cover, complete with interviews with the undead frontman inside. Other fans were admiring the vinyl pressing of Lestat’s EP as they walked past a section of undead band merch. Fandom and fantasy blur together, and it all becomes this elaborate, immersive experience. Fan celebration, erotic gothic fantasy, and a lavish rock concert transform into one beautiful thing.
To this point, AMC Global Media’s Chief Content Officer and President of AMC Studios, Dan McDermott, introduced the event by reiterating to fans, “You are the heartbeat of the series.” That’s abundantly clear on nights like this as that heartbeat collectively pulses to this performance. In terms of how AMC engages with The Vampire Lestat’s fans, it’s as bold a reinvention as the season itself.
This intuitive gamble speaks to AMC’s creativity in this department and a fandom that is eager to seize such opportunities. It’s the same innovation that led to zombie walks for The Walking Dead and real-life Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant pop-ups from Breaking Bad. It’s a great way to pump up the audience for The Vampire Lestat and then maintain that enthusiasm for the whole season.
For most series, a rock ‘n’ roll concert just doesn’t make any sense as a promotional tool. The Vampire Lestat finds itself in a very unique position where it can deliver an excellent concert at an iconic theater, but also use it to showcase The Vampire Lestat’s music by Daniel Hart (who was shredding on stage alongside Reid and the rest of their band) and, more than anything, Sam Reid’s endless charisma.
The way in which Reid feeds off of the crowd’s energy, modulating his performance and giving different sections of the Beacon life, is a perfect distillation of the series’ thoughtful relationship with its audience and how it’s become such a breakout success for AMC. AMC Studios President Dan McDermott emphasized that the fans are the reason that the show is still here and why an event like this is even possible. It’s rare to see a series in which every single cog in the machine is so perfectly attuned to its fans. Reid’s fans already cheer whenever they see him, so why not translate that to a concert setting?
It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.
Now bring on the encore and get this show on the road!
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