King Cobra (1999) Reviews

• King Cobblers!

  Rob_Taylor2004-01-03

  I know, it's crap! But even so, I derived a HUGE amount of enjoyment from this stupid, stupid movie. It starts off almost like its aiming to be a serious horror flick. But as the movie progresses, it just gets sillier and sillier and sillier. What's more, the cast all seem to realise it's getting increasingly ludicrous and camp it up ever more enthusiastically. That's not to excuse the terrible acting, especially before the "camp" factor sets in. There's one scene with the doctor (Hildebrand) and the cop lady (Fallo) where she gives him a gift, they kiss and cuddle a bit, then he throws her off and launches into THE WORST monologue about how he can't get involved because he has his future to think about, and how he can never amount to anything in the small town and must go to the big city etc. etc. Truly vomit inducing stuff and all delivered so woodenly that I was rolling about with laughter. It was after this scene (quite early on) that I realised what a treat this film was going to be (in terms of bad movie-ness). It has some stumbles, but its really a riot if you treat it as a big joke, as the cast seem to later on. Pat Morita also gets one of the most protracted death scenes I've ever witnessed on film. Regardless of his immunity to poison, just how many six-inch fang bites can one man survive before he dies of blood loss, if nothing else? You'll find out in this film! Things to watch out for: 1. The aforementioned awful monologue. 2. A cameo by Erik Estrada (of CHiPs fame) as a gay guy. 3. The sheriff, who spits tobacco into a cup constantly and has some of the best one-liners in the movie. 4. The snake, which is just ridiculously funny whenever you see it. 5. The "local hunters", who are just fun to watch whenever they are on screen. 6. Pat Morita, who looks constantly embarrassed to be in this film. All in all, a silly movie for lovers of bad movies! It has all the horror cliches you'd expect, along with clumsy exposition, bad acting and poor effects. But it is fun, if you treat it as pure crap. Try and see it as a serious film, and you are doomed to disappointment.

• Watchable if you have nothing else to do

  sveknu2005-07-25

  Is this a low budget movie?: YES Is the acting bad?: YES Is this movie a bad one?: NO DOUBT BUT, is this movie entertaining?: YES, but only in limited periods of time. If you want to enjoy "King Cobra", you have to block out all expectations of this being a great film, and just erase your memory of great films you've previously seen. Only if you do that, there's a possible that it will entertain you. One thing that helps a bit, it that the special effects doesn't look that bad. But since this is really low-budget, the big snake hasn't that much screen time. And for the opening scene, just forget that it was part of the movie, because it has to be one of the worst scenes that I've seen. Ever.

• Frightening indeed.

  mbulthaus2001-02-05

  Even taking into account what obviously was a miniscule budget, one of the worst efforts I've been exposed to. In a nutshell, this is a tale of a small town under the attack of a genetically engineered, grossly oversized mutant snake (half King Cobra-half rattlesnake) that has escaped from the local laboratory. To remedy this awful situation, they hire expert snake wrangler Mr. Miyagi to corral the ferocious reptile. Honestly, Pat Morita would have won more of my respect by signing on for another Karate Kid movie. And despite the fact that both the plot and the realism are miserable, every cloud has a silver lining - this movie is so bad that laughter is all but guaranteed. That's the only reason you'll make it to the end. And if you do, there's gold at the end of the rainbow. In one of the most outstanding moments in bad movie history, the movie's final scene features one of our heroes delivering a breathtaking drop kick to the snake that is guaranteed to have you doubled over in laughter while frantically reaching for the rewind button. You've got to see it to believe it.

• The snakes scenes deliver the goods with scares and chills though with short budget

  ma-cortes2007-05-28

  The film tells about Dr Burns in charge a environment lab making scientific experiments but it turns out to be a bio-genetically King Cobra that has a taste for human flesh .The researcher makes a chemical crossing two species, creating a weird and dangerous hybrid ,being transformed into deadly vipers: an African King Cobra and an American rattle snake with approximate length of thirty feet and whose bites killing its victims.But the laboratory instantly explodes .Two years later the giant snake makes a reappearance and and get loose, attacking at a small town and threaten the populace.Noriyuki, Pat Morita as a snakes expert tells: the African King cobra kills more people than one shark along hundred years .Morita says the snakes have bitten him 167 occasions and he's continuously injecting serum and keeps records with a bite black Mamba snake.The King Cobra simulates death for attraction the victims. and causing a breakdown of the blood cells.The poisonous Cobra-Rattler attack at random and slither down the mountainside,woods and slither around small town,ready to attack anyone in its path. This is an average scary snake movie .Creepy,scary,campy and low budgeter story about a large snake attacking human beings. Mediocre performances though the actors reacts appropriately to becoming snake food.Rather sympathetic characterization by Pat Morita for the horror genre.Besides Hoyt Axton as the Mayor and Eric Strada as a gay man organizing the brew-fest.The snake are made by Animatronics ,no by nowadays very prolific computer generator,as usual. Another films about this sub-genre are : SSS(Bernard Kowalski),the successful Anaconda(Luis Llosa with Jennifer López),Python 1,2,Boa and Rattlers.The motion picture is regularly directed by David Hillenbrand.

• Rattler in the Hood?

  teuthis2006-03-11

  Snake movies are the worst. And this one is the equal of any. A King Cobra/Rattlesnake hybrid has escaped from a lab wrecked by two of the most insane scientists in film history. The scene was brief, but possibly the most entertaining in the film. The monstrous mutation has claimed a small, rural town as its territory. Of course they are about to have a festival a beer fest no less! And will the Mayor cancel the festival because a couple of people are killed? What do you think? The acting in King Cobra is remedial at best. Even Pat Morita cannot make is role entertaining. The stoic Casey Fallo was a pretty good reason to keep viewing. She was nice to watch in what little she was given to do. Everyone else was just not in attendance. Perhaps the major problem for me in the film is that a snake was able to outsmart one-and-all homo sapiens throughout most of the film. And the two ton beast seemingly appeared and disappeared with all the velocity of a mako shark. He wafted through the delicate branches of trees with the grace of a ninety pound ballerina. A trained deputy is cornered against a tree by the rampaging reptile, and she panics, seemingly forgets she has a pistol in her hand, and screams for the hero; who drop-kicks the lightnening-fast saurian without even getting bitten. One must always suspend belief to some extent in order to enjoy a monster film. However, the director created such a "super snake", and such inept humans, that King Cobra far surpassed my ability to stretch reality.This mess eventually became boring and predictable. That is the only real sin a monster film can commit. And it is terminal in King Cobra. But it just might be that the worst faux pas of this film was the beer recipe recited by the supposed artisan brewer. If you are able to muster the gumption to watch this snake calamity, listen carefully for it. This "master brewer" is concocting a classic American mass-produced, tasteless near beer; not a sapid, artisan brew. After all, snakes are a dime a dozen, but a really good beer is sacred. I cannot recommend this film, unless one is in traction and cannot reach the remote. However, perhaps enough good beer could make it tolerable?