Anacondas: Trail Of Blood Review by Bobby LePire. Edited by Courtney McAllister.

 

As 'Creature Feature Month' winds down, the "Anaconda" franchise closes out (for now) with this direct follow-up to the quite reprehensible third offering. Coming from the same writer/ director team of Don Fauntleroy and David Olson, one would be forgiven for presuming it’s just as bad. To close out, let’s see where the return of ‘snake-o-vision’ falls in with the other flicks.

 

We definitely don’t start off on the right foot, that’s for friggin’ sure. We get an unnamed/ unknown new character working on an enhanced version of the anti-aging drug featured in the last two films. He does this by recreating the conditions in which the blood orchid grows and genetically modifying each new cycle to make it more in tune to the needs of the serum. Having finally finished his work, and being paid quite handsomely for his time and effort, this random scientist guy decides that Murdoch (one of two returning characters) and his corporation don’t deserve it. Upon reaching this decision quite inexplicably, he is killed by the anaconda he was keeping for the experiments. All of this is explained to the audience via voice over.

 

The remainder of the plot involves two groups- the first, a bunch of graduate students trying to piece together what happened to their associates; the second is a small group led by Dr. Amanda Hayes (the other returning character) that are out to destroy any and all blood orchids and research- both of which run afoul of Murdoch’s mercs, and of course, a giant man eating anaconda!

 

I am a huge fan of voice over narration when employed properly, but when used incorrectly, it can really hurt the momentum of a film; such is the case here. This chemist guy isn’t someone from any of the other films, and since his turnaround on his employers is the first thing the audience sees him do, it’s hard to relate to or care about his plight at all. It’s weirdly distracting, and it takes the movie longer than it should to really find its groove after stumbling like this so early on.

 

Another major plot oddity, is that the initial team of graduate students is wholly unnecessary since their absence does not actually factor into the story. It doesn’t add any tension, and the mystery as to what happened to them is nonexistent (at least, to us, the audience). The film is called “Anaconda: Trail Of Blood”, what the bloody hell do you think happened to them? I would have preferred if our core group of students (and one professor and his assistant), were the initial team, and then had the run-ins with the two other groups. The exact same movie would happen, and the characters would come off as less idiotic, since nothing odd would have happened to alarm them.

 

Even with those dumbass faults, this movie’s plot is more engaging than “Offspring” was. The stakes feel higher, as trying to destroy all the orchids lends a sense of timing and urgency to everything. Murdoch is clearly way worse off here than in the previous film, where he didn’t look sick at all, again, adding to his characterization and desperation. The snake this go around is the baby anaconda that was saved at the end of the third movie. I really like this, as it not only ties up that thread, it also means we aren’t dealing with a full grown snake yet, which makes it a tad more believeable that some of the characters are able to escape. Dumb things still happen, characters still make stupid mistakes, but there’s a sense of fun that was sorely missing from the previous installment.

 

Coming from the same director as “Offspring”, of freaking course ‘snake-o-vision’ makes a not all that triumphant return. It’s just as dumb as ever, with its odd color schemes and intentionally shaky camera work to mimic the snake’s movements. Luckily, there are less scenes with it- only seven compared to the last movie’s nine- and each use is much shorter as well. While I still find it to be irredeemably gimmicky, at the very least, not a single transition to it made me have to rewind the film to rewatch that part for fear I was having a stroke (seriously, the first ever use of ‘snake-o-vision’ is violently, migraine inducingly idiotic).

 

Since there’s just one snake this time around, the special effects budget isn’t stretched past Pluto, and it looks reasonably good- for a made for TV movie. It’s still too rubbery at times, but it seems to have more weight this go round. Also, the detail put into its color scheme and scale design is significantly more visible here, giving the snake a distinctive look. Unfortunately, special effects wise, if it ain’t the snake, then it looks worse than crap. Each and every driving sequence looks piss poor. The green screen used to render such is bad even if it were a no budget YouTube series. Why the filmmakers decide to use green screen rather than, say, a car mount or spider-pod, both of which are available for a couple hundred dollars, is beyond me. But they did, and all the driving scenes are hilarious because of it!

 

While most of the new characters are mostly two-dimensional, the actors try their best, and none of them are all that bad:

• Crystal Allen returns as Amanda Hayes. She seems more at ease here, and it’s fun to see her get to be a full blown action heroine this time.

• Jonathan Rhys-Davies reprises his role as the sickly and evil Murdoch, head of the Wexel Hall Pharmaceutical Corporation. Davies gets to chew some more scenery and is clearly having fun with the role, especially near the end.

• Head researcher Jackson is played by Linden Ashby. He gives my favorite performance in the film- allowing the audience to easily believe that he cares for Heather, his significant other.

• Ana Ularu is Heather, and her chemistry with Midwinter is decent. However, aside from that, she leaves virtually no impression.

• Clain Stanciu portrays Alex, the first grad student we meet. He’s easy to root for, but some of his line readings aren’t that convincing.

• Despite what the movie tells us, Scott, played by Danny Midwinter, is more like the security detail for the research team than an actual scientist. He’s imposing enough with a gun and is convincing in a fight, so that’s something.

• Dan Badaru is Vasile, head of Murdoch’s mercenary team. Keeping this franchise’s proud tradition of spotty accents alive and well with a Spanish one. But it’s not spotty for being geographically awkward, but rather for how often it comes and goes.

 

There are others, and none of them are bad, but none of them were all that great either.

Keeping the flaming snakes motif in the running, the snake does get set on fire, because Hayes soaks a gasoline can in blood orchid concentrate. Thanks to the high dosage of the modified blood orchids, it regenerates from having its face blown off! So, now not even exploding its insides into literal piles of goop can stop these menaces.

 

The action beats this time around are more engaging than last. An early chase with the snake and a jeep is easy to follow, not edited too quickly, and didn’t end how I was expecting, which is a nice surprise. There are also a number of bouts between our good groups (which for all intents and purposes band together as one) and the mercenaries. While it’s clear which actors/ actresses felt comfortable doing the choreography, and which didn’t, this never hurts the film at all. I found the variety helped keep everything flowing at a steady pace.

 

Unfortunately, Fauntleroy’s cinematography is still lifeless and flat, making the shot compositions visually dull. I am not sure if serving as his own director of photography made him exhausted, or if it was hampered by the budget. Considering that he is mostly known as a DP, and has lensed some excellent looking films (ie- the “Jeepers Creepers” films & “The King’s Guard”), I know he has some talent in this area. I feel like maybe he stretched himself too thin here.

 

While still dumb, with no sense of scale, bad special effects, and stupid dialogue, this fourth and final entry in the “Anaconda” movie franchise also moves at a swift clip with cool action moments, a better looking snake, and a sense of urgency. Not the best, but not the worst either, and sometimes, that is enough.