Sssssss

A doctor who specializes in snakes develops a way to turn a human being into a king cobra! Will he use this on the college student who has just became his new assistant?

Sssssss (love that campy titlethat's seven S's folks) is an above-average man-becomes-creature horror film. The film is very well made and despite its seemingly cheesy premise actually creates itself an effectively serious tone. The story is intriguingthanks largely to the likable and well-rounded charactersand builds to some terrifically chilling scenes as well as a nice show-down finale. The makeup effects are solidly created and genuinely creepy. The lovely music score by Patrick Williams is also a highlight.

The cast is definitely one of the films best features. Veteran actor Strother Martin is excellent as he balances his performance between fatherly teacher and sinister scientist. Young Dirk Benedict is charming as Martin's young assistant and attractive Heather Menzies delivers a sincere performance as Martin's daughterand Benedict's love interest. Also Reb Brown makes for a good bully.

Soyou don't have to like snakes to enjoy this intelligent old-fashioned horror tale. It's definitely one of the best of its kind and well worth catching for fans of old school B horror.

*** 1/2 out of ****

We saw it back then in the seventies and were promptly scared to death by it. Set up like a mysteryyou don't know what is in the back of the truck at the beginning and the gawking at the carnival freaks was pretty chilling too. Reb Brown's fate and his treatment of the pet snake were both something that made us sit up and take notice. And then there was the nosy neighbor/professor person and his destiny. The snake-handling looked very professional. Then I saw it years later. The daughter's shrieking and weeping could set your teeth on edgethe concealed nude swim scene is pretty amusing now with cartoon leavesBenedict is completely naive and if you have no idea what to expectyou may even be rooting for him. Strother Martin was very believable as the mad doctor up to his confrontation with "Royalty". My brother said the hysterical daughter went on to pose for Playboy.

Hated her very seventies hairdo.

It's not too bad of a film - for a B horror it's decentkinda keeps me interested. Warning: If you have a huge fear of snakes then this film is NOT for you! They use real snakes in the making of this film.

Dr. Stoner seems to have it in his head that snakes and humans become one they will rule the planet - outlasting plaguesvirusesnatural disastersholocaustsand other things of this nature. He slowly transforms humans into the snake/human crossbreeds.

The ending could have been better: I mean David wasor looked likea full-on King Cobra and not part human so why or how did Kristina know that snake was David? She couldn't even see his eyes because the mongoose was on the snake David. Otherwise it's a fairly decent 1970s B horror film that can entertain to a degree.

6/10

The film deals a mad doctor(Strother Martin),his former helper has disappeared and he asks to University professor(Richard B. Shull)a student. A young man called David (Richard Benedict)looking for employment is hired by the scientific.The doctor works a secrets experiments on snakes.Meanwhile David falls in love with his daughter(Heather Menzies).Then the ¨mad doctor¨ injects him a serum into becoming a King Cobra snake causing a horrible transformation.

The motion picture packs horror,romance,shocks and is quite entertained. In the film appear known actors from the 70s and 80s as Dick Benedict(¨Galactica Battlestar,A Team¨),Strother Martin(Peckimpah's usual player:¨Wild bunch¨),Heather Menzies(Robert Urich wife and little girl actress in ¨Sound of music¨)and Reb Brown(a beefcake who played many hunk men vehicles). John Chambers provides a deliriously imaginative make-up ,he won an Academy Award by the classic ¨Planet of Apes¨and made the sequels among others films(Phantom of the paradise ans Island of Dr. Moreau).Executive producers are Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown ,short time after they produced the successful ¨Jaws¨to Steven Spielberg. The motion picture is well directed by Bernard L. Kowalski who worked with Roger Corman.Slick film aimed at youthful audiences and terror lovers.

No snakes were harmed during the filming of this movie. The concept was interesting. A brilliant doctor has the formula to help mankind survive the event of the holocaust and other cataclysmic proportions. Think of thisa snake with the intelligence of a human. So the girlfriend of the human test subjectDavidwitnesses her boyfriend's demise in the freakish predicament of a snakehis precious life ends at the paws of mortality itselfthe otherwise innocuous ferretwhoin this casedoes not stop to think that the snake he is killing for his next meal might and could just be a humanwhich the very same species he depends on for his survival.

How could the so-called medical geniuses not have seen it all alongturning humans into snakes to endure the next holocaust? What are my hard earned tax dollars going toward if not funding for the study of human-snake transformation! Idiots!