For today, there is Venom.

Venom_posterDon’t groan.  I think this is an overlooked little gem of a movie.  Sadly, it was released in the Fall of 2005, just after Katrina hit, and since this movie is set in the Louisiana bayou, it came and went pretty fast.  So exists a fairly large consensus that know little to nothing about this movie, and that’s a shame.

In the swamps of Louisiana, a good Samaritan tries to save a drowning elderly woman and ends up cursed.  The elderly lady is voodoo woman and she was carrying a suitcase of talismans; they are evil, as expected, and are in the form of snakes.  As Ray, the good Samaritan, tries to rescue the woman, he is bitten by them.  Actually, they possess him, and once he dies, he comes back to wreak all manners of murderous mayhem.  The reanimated Ray, now known as Mr. Jangles (though it’s not once mentioned in the movie) begins killing off a group of local teens.

This is a throwback to some good old horror fun, circa the 1980′s, from the writer Kevin Williamson (Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer) and director Jim Gillespie (I Know What You Did Last Summer).  It’s a put your mind on cruise control good time that is far better, in my opinion, than I Know What You Did Last Summer.  Lets face it, I Know What You Did…was a dog.


Venom was the first in a planned series, but that never materialized because of its now you see it, now you don’t, disappearing act at the box office.  It was to be a video game as well, titled Backwater I believe, but I don’t think that materialized either.  Not sure.  The only thing I am sure of is that this movie is available, and you should watch it.

And I’m certain it’s nearly perfect in its own B-movie popcorn fun-time way.

the_novacula