Film Review: VIPERS (2008)

Killer snake movies are nothing new and they crowd the video shelves so there's not really anything new in VIPERS (2008) that hasn't already been done before. The government accidentally releases dangerous genetically engineered vipers that escape to a small island populace and threaten to kill everyone and completely take over. Caught in the middle is a former war doctor Cal Taylor (Jonathan Scarfe) who is just trying to get a new start on life in the small island hamlet. It's not long before the vipers multiply and completely take over the island trapping Cal with the few surviving islanders one of which is Tara Reid's Nicky Swift.

People get trapped in a single location. The vipers come, they kill, and they eat. The typical horror film with snakes chaos that we've all come to expect. Despite the sometimes bad dialogue and annoying characters (please someone should have had the good mind to kill the annoying teenager first) the film actually has some pretty good acting behind it. Most of the film is well acted (despite some of the bad dialogue) and the film flows fairly well. The location actually works in the film's favor as it adds some color in what could have been an otherwise horrible film. The CGI vipers are barely passable at best (which is customary so don't say you didn't know that was coming) but the actors make the most of what they're given and deliver a descent throwaway, yet entertaining, killer snake movie. The tongue in cheek aspect (i.e. ANACONDA) is missing (which the film probably could've benefited from) but for the most part the film is played straight which is rare in these types of films. This could have been an asset to the entire production if they would've spent a little more time on the CGI.

VIPERS won't win any awards in originality but it does offer a descent alternative to all the other killer snake movies out there crowding up the video shelves.