The Sci-fi Channel CG creature feature bandwagon winds on relentlessly with this absolutely standard, though undeniably appealing, slice of schlock. In the kind of premise that has only been used around 64 times within this year’s genre canon, genetically enhanced horned vipers being used in revolutionary experiments to cure breast cancer escape from a lab overseen by villainous bastard Corbin Bernsen. They head to a remote island where there’s no cell phone reception (doh!) but every resident seems to be involved in some kind of soapy local scandal / grudge match / affair.
Tara Reid, for example, is a pot growing local bad girl whom the town has turned against, though her lack of fear when it comes to snakes might prove handy when the viper-shit hit’s the fan. In between bitchily punching out fellow female island residents, Reid flirts with dishy marine-turned-new town doc Jonathan Scarfe ; while Mercedes McNab adds to the hottie factor as an inevitably ill-fated resident harlot. The first to be offed are a black couple enjoying an badly timed bit of honeymoon shagging in a tent – when the bra comes off, the vipers begin their knee-biting attack.
Everything happens pretty much as you’d expect from a movie called VIPERS starring Tara Reid. It’s played with a commendably straight face as mock-sincere actors – including the non-pulsed Reid (“They’re everywhere!”) – are forced to utter reams of bad B movie dialogue along the lines of “Get the chemical grenades!” and “Vipers are exothermic!”. Because we must never be allowed to forget how different the world is since September 11th, 2001, even a movie called VIPERS has to incorporate a line like “Homeland Security? This isn’t terrorism! These are snakes!”.
The snakes are the product of typically cheap-looking no-budget CGI and for no good reason they growl. The flamethrower-heavy climax showcases equally chintzy looking CG explosions. At no time is any real threat conveyed from the snakes despite several scenes depicting their bitey capabilities. Still, it’s a pleasant enough view, with a fun level that peaks during the sequence in which it takes a good while for McNab to realize that the source of her bedtime pleasure is NOT her bloke, but a viper that’s sneaked in while he’s taking a piss (“You are bad…you know just the spot!”).
– Steven West
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
