Lately I seem to find myself watching a number of films that have a good premise and a good cast but ultimately fall a little short. I’d put Piers Haggard’s 1981 thriller Venom in that category. The movie should have been great, but it ended up just being ok. Not bad by any stretch, but it didn’t capitalize on the potential that was there.

Susan George plays Louise Andrews, a maid for a wealthy family with a small boy named Phillip (Lance Holcomb) who is sick. Along with her boyfriend Jacmel (Klaus Kinski) and the family’s chauffer Dave (Oliver Reed), Louise plans on kidnapping the boy while his parents are out of town. This plan goes awry when Phillip goes to pick up a harmless African pet snake from the local pet shop but is mistakenly given a black mamba. With the deadliest snake in the world now on the loose in this house, this seemingly simple plan comes crashing down for our terrible trio.

The opening of the movie is great. We quickly meet all our characters, have a little setup and get to the problem. I appreciate that no time is wasted and we jump into things. The mother heads out of town almost immediately to meet up with her husband, leaving Louise in charge. She gives Jacmel a call and the plan is in motion. There is a little hiccup because Phillip’s grandfather, Howard (Sterling Hayden), is also staying at the home as well. Howard helps Phillip sneak out of the house to make a quick trip to the pet store. At first glance this is a minor issue but then of course Phillip brings back that pesky black mamba. Once Phillip returns home he attempts to put the snake away but Louise insists on helping him because she is trying to kidnap him. This ends up being Louise’s downfall as the snake escapes and bites her.

At this point Jacmel and Dave are also at the house and they have Phillip and Howard at gun point. They try to get the situation under control, but it’s not easy. Louise is in a panic because she just got bit by a snake and that same snake is on the loose. Phillip and Howard, still thinking the snake is a harmless pet snake, try to calm Louise down and let her know she’s going to be fine. I don’t blame Louise though, I’d freak out if I was bitten by a snake. The weird thing about all this nonsense is that Phillip and Howard are pretty calm during the matter. From the snake aspect, that makes sense. Phillip and Howard are experts with animals and they think it’s just a pet snake, so no big deal. On the kidnapping hand though, shouldn’t they be a little concerned? I mean they both know Louise and Dave pretty well, shouldn’t they be freaked that those two have planned to kidnap Phillip with the assistance of a mad man named Jacmel? They are worried a bit, but I’d be in a full on flip out at this point.

Now you may be wondering how the pet shop goofed and gave Phillip a black mamba, well I’ll tell you how. This pet store had orders for two snakes – a pet snake and a black mamba. The pet snake for was Phillip and the black mamba was for a local university’s toxicology department. Dr. Marion Stowe (Sarah Miles) goes to pick up her black mamba and ends up with the pet snake. She eventually pieces the situation together and she calls the police to go check on Phillip’s house because she understands the dangers that come with a black mamba. When an officer shows up at the house, Dave panics and shoots him in the chest with a shotgun. Now the jig is really up.

Police surround the house and we have a standoff. Inside the house Jacmel and Dave are holding Phillip and Howard hostage all the while Louise is rolling around dying and a black mamba is roaming around. Outside the police block off the street and begin negotiations. At this point the movie comes to a screeching halt. This standoff has mildly entertaining moments. There are some interesting arguments between Jacmel and Dave that are ok. A scene of Howard searching the house for the black mamba is fairly tense. And there’s some kind of cool POV snake shots of the black mamba slithering throughout the vents in the house. But man does it feel like this middle portion of the film just drags.

Everything up until the cop being shot is fun. After that things slow down considerably and get kind of boring. And then boom! Things go out with a bang as the last ten minutes or so get super exciting and fun again as we get gun fights and snake attacks. Such a weird, weird movie. The start and finish make this film worth watching, but I can’t help and think that there was a huge missed opportunity here. Venom could have been something really special and instead settles for just ok.

Far more interesting than large chunks of the film itself are some of the behind-the-scenes stories. The new Blu-ray release from Blue Underground comes with a wonderful booklet featuring the writings of Michael Gingold. In this booklet Gingold goes into the history of what sounds like a pretty troubled production. I won’t go into great detail, but I’ll highlight a few things. The first thing that caught my eye was that Tobe Hooper was initially going to direct. He got started on the film but eventually left the production. Why he left seems to be up for debate, but apparently Kinski took great pride in forcing Hooper off the set. Once Piers Haggard got on board things didn’t get a whole lot better as Kinski and Reed went at each other every moment they could. Sounds like Reed was the main culprit as he knew how to get under Kinski’s skin. This comes across a bit on the screen which is perfect for their characters, but man I really wish they would have let these two unleash on one another. So many great moments could have been had with Kinski and Reed going for blood.

Another interesting tidbit is Kinski chose this film over Raiders of the Lost Ark. Most would consider that a mistake. Kiniski thought otherwise, remarking in his autobiography that the script to Raiders was “moronically shitty.” I respectfully disagree, but that seems like such a Kinski stance.

Do you know what the most insane thing about Venom is though? It’s that they used real black mambas! That’s crazy, right? Like why not just use other snakes? I certainly wouldn’t have known the difference. All snakes are scary if you ask me. It blows my mind that a movie like this that seemed to have more than it’s fair share of issues didn’t have someone die from a black mamba bite. Insanity.

My feelings on Venom as a whole are mixed. I think it’s worth watching for the few fun moments, but the final result comes in at just above average. The Blu-ray is terrific though. The picture quality looks fantastic and the special features are nice. In addition to the great booklet there is an audio commentary with Haggard along with a trailer and some TV spots.

Venom is now available on Blu-ray from Blue Underground.

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