The group encounters stranded Paraguayan snake hunter Paul Serone, who convinces them he can help them find the Shirishamas. The crew includes director Terri Flores, cameraman and childhood friend Danny Rich, production manager Denise Kalberg, Denise's boyfriend and sound engineer Gary Dixon, narrator Warren Westridge, anthropologist Professor Steven Cale, and boat skipper Mateo. Meanwhile, a film crew is shooting a documentary about the Shirishamas, a long-lost indigenous Amazonian tribe. While it breaks through the boat and attempts to catch the poacher, he commits suicide by shooting himself to prevent it from killing him. As referenced by classic horror movies like Jaws, which still hold up to the test of time, a creature like an anaconda would have been scarier if it was portrayed in a more subtle nature, not as an over-the-top, Godzilla-like creature.On the Amazon River, a poacher hides from an unknown creature in his boat. Anaconda would have been better served if the scenes with the snake were scaled back a bit.
They're too over-the-top to actually be scary, so the movie falls into the category of so-bad-it's-good, even though that was never the horror movie's intention. But, in reality, an anaconda would've done this to be quicker in its pursuit, not for the sake of swallowing Paul-its victim-again.Īnaconda's snake scares work on an ironic level. So, Anaconda was technically scientifically accurate by having the snake do this prior to chasing Terri. That way, it's not weighed down and will be more mobile. If a snake is in a fight or flight situation, it may regurgitate its prey before eventually digesting it. Often times, it will retreat to a secluded location to do so in peace. In actuality, when an anaconda swallows its prey whole, it takes a long time for the creature to digest it. The horror movie creature kills him, then regurgitates him to pursue Terri. The text says that anacondas do so to kill their prey again this is demonstrated later in the movie with Paul's death. The movie states that these snakes will swallow their prey whole and regurgitate it, only to consume it again later. One of Anaconda's most iconic scenes is teased in the opening crawl text as well. While anacondas are incredibly long creatures, they tend to max out closer to 33 feet in length. That's technically true, but highly unlikely. Anaconda states that the titular snake can get up to 40 feet long. Those opening words are actually rooted in fact, for the most part. The horror movie kicks off with crawl text that provide scientific facts on the anaconda that are clearly intended to scare its audience.
Anaconda Exaggerates Most Of Its Facts About SnakesĪnaconda builds up the monstrosity of its snake from the scene's first moments. Let's take a look at how Anaconda utilizes snakes and why, sometimes, less is more. Related: All The Anaconda Movies Ranked, Worst To BestĪnaconda's titular snake is so large and exaggerated to the point that its presence often feels comical. Due to that larger-than-life aspect, the film never became the serious horror movie it strived to be. Little does the documentary crew know that he is actually using them to hunt down a legendary - and deadly - anaconda.
Once they rescue him, he claims he will help them track down the tribe. They come across a man named Paul (Jon Voight) who is stranded on the riverbank. Released in 1997, Anaconda follows a documentary filmmaker, Terri ( Jennifer Lopez), and her crew as they travel to the Amazon to film a local tribe. While much of that was exaggerated for the sake of drama and scares, some of the movie's canon is rooted in truth. Anaconda likely ignited a phobia of snakes in its audience, but how much did the horror movie actually get right and wrong about the real creatures? The horror movie portrays snakes, specifically anacondas, as monsters of near-mythical proportions.