Black Cobra (1976) User Reviews (16)

Disappointing D'Amato sleaze

[The_Void · 5/10 · 5 September 2008]

When Laura Gemser and Joe D'Amato team up to make a movie; you can bet that no matter what the movie is about or what character Gemser is playing that some of the alternate titles will include the word 'Emanuelle'. And this film is no exception, as it got branded with the unimaginative title 'Emmanuelle Goes Japanese'. Naturally, the film has nothing to do with Gemser's most famous character and thankfully the title Black Cobra Woman is generally the more accepted one - and the one that I saw the film under. From the plot description I was actually thinking that this film might be half decent...and it does at least get off to a decent start. The film focuses on Judas; a rich man who surrounds himself with exotic snakes but has little contact with people. One night, Judas goes with his brother to see an act at a nightclub that involves a beautiful woman dancing with a snake. Naturally, he is immediately taken in by this woman (she's played by Laura Gemser so this part of the film is quite realistic) and decides to take her back to his home...

Laura Gemser takes the lead role and spends most of the film either naked, getting it on with other women or both; which is all well and good, but anyone familiar with Gemser's filmography will have seen it all so many times before and it's particularly disappointing in this film as we actually have the basis for a decent plot here. One of the more bizarre casting decisions is represented by Jack Palance, who I guess was either not getting a lot of work around the time or just couldn't resist a starring role alongside the beautiful Laura Gemser. Naturally for a Joe D'Amato flick, it features plenty of sleaze and it's really all encompassing so there wouldn't really have been room to flesh out the story even if the director wanted to. The film does at least deliver on the title's implied promise of featuring snakes; and seeing Gemser dance with a big Cobra is worthwhile. A scene that sees a snake skinned alive and cooked was a bit needless, though. Overall, however, this film is not really worthwhile; it's better than some of the lesser Emanuelle flicks, but that's not really saying anything. I can't recommend tracking Black Cobra Woman down.

Disappointing D'amato trash lacks bite.

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 8 March 2010]

Black Cobra is directed by filth king Joe D'amato, edited by fellow trashmeister Bruno Mattei, stars gorgeous Asian sexpot Laura Gemser, and even features future Oscar winner Jack Palance in a key role, and yet despite this massive potential (particularly for deviancy), the film blows it by being thoroughly bland for most of its running time. With a story revolving around poisonous snakes, erotic dancing, and revenge, this could and should have been so much more sleazy.

Naturally, the frequent full frontal nudity from Gemser prevented me from switching off in disgust (or rather, lack of disgust), but the soft-core action soon became rather tedious, with Gemser delivering loads of the self gratification and girl on girl action that we can always rely on, but nothing out of the ordinary (I find it hard to believe I'm saying this, but the copious bare flesh actually got boring).

Admittedly, there are a couple of scenes that manage to register slightly on the sleazeometer—a rather amusing strip scene in a lesbian bar that gets the clientele frisky, and a live snake being chopped up and fried for lunch—but most of the action falls way short of what I have come to expect from my Italian trash. The biggest cop-out is the finale—Gemser's revenge on the man who killed her lover—that involves the insertion of a cobra up the jacksy, but which is satisfied to simply suggest the nastiness.

Strangely, the film is also known as Emanuelle Goes Japanese, despite no character of that name going anywhere near Japan (Gemser's character is called Eva and the film is set entirely in Hong Kong).

Dull 70s nudie flick.

[ChuckStraub · 3/10 · 1 May 2005]

I should have known better. I was actually expecting this film to be a combination of mystery, drama and horror. I knew from the box cover that there would be nudity. What I didn't know was that the nudity is the main feature of the movie. The movie has several nude women and many nude scenes. That would be OK if there was at least a stronger plot and a little bit more reason for making this movie other than showing skin. I know this type of film may have it's followers but even if viewed as a skin flick, it's boring and even a bit humorous. It was made in 1976. At that time it may have been exciting but compared to milder, soft porn movies of today, this would have to be classified as very mild, to the point of being almost dull. This movie was just too long for so few meaningful scenes. I can't think of any good reason for watching this film other than to have a nostalgic look at a 70s nudie flick.

Lesbians, Palance and Snakes... Oh My!

[johnmorghen · 25 November 2002]

If you're like me, you grew up watching late nite softies on Cinemax every Friday nite. If this is the case, then you have definitely heard and probably seen quite a bit of the lovely Laura Gemser. After seeing "BLACK EMANUELLE" many, many moons ago, I became an instant fan and have since viewed several of her films.

This particular gem qualifies as one of her lesser known films. Essentially, this is a variation on her Emanuelle role with Jack Palance and a whole lot of snakin' goin' on! Fun stuff most likely, if you are a fan of Gemser.

Gemser plays an exotic dancer named Eva. Performing with snakes is her specialty. No, not those kind! Now, you're getting ahead of me!

Anywayz... Gemser's real-life husband, Gabrielle Tinti, portrays Jules Carmichael. Jules is an executive of some sort, who persuades his brother Judas (Palance) to visit a nightclub with him to watch one of Eva's nightly performances.

Judas loves snakes (No, not those kind!) and his apartment is filled with them. So, along with her beauty, it's natural that Judas would fall for a gal like Eva. He soon arranges to meet and introduce her to his snakey friends. Judas hires Eva to take care of his pets while he is away on business. From here on out, you know the drill... While the cat's away, the mice will play... and dance around naked with the cat's snakes.

We soon learn that Eva really digs the lady-lovin' which overrides her tendencies to charm any snake other than the reptile kind. Several nude scenes later, Eva's girlfriend is killed mysteriously and Eva must find out who killed her and why. This is a common filmmaking trait known as a "mild plot motivator". I guess they need to keep things moving along but I, for one, wasn't complaining. I thought the pacing was just fine. Do what you gotta do, Eva. I'm all for it.

These are all the details I gathered. Aside from Gemser and the fact that this was one of those "Palance earns a week's pay" performances, I deemed all other plot elements unnecessary and naturally focused on the good parts, of which there are plenty.

You cannot go wrong with any film featuring a topless Gemser within the first five minutes, and fully nude around the eight minute mark. It's just a damn fact. Why can't more filmmakers hint on this?

"BLACK COBRA" was directed by the masterful eye of Joe D'Amato (Aristide Massaccesi), who would later collaborate on several films with Gemser and eventually go on to a successful career directing real pornos with an entirely different breed of snake.

Sadly, Gemser has pretty much left the filmmaking scene and her films no longer play on Cinemax. Most of them have since gone out of print on video here in the States, making them nearly impossible to find.

A quick program note: This is a long, long movie! Over four hours in length! Actually, it only clocks in at around 90 minutes, but if you find yourself using the slow-motion and pause feature on your VCR as much as I did, expect to gain an additional 2 1/2 hours of screening time.

In closing, I highly recommend this film. A truly uplifting experience! Teachers, show it to your classes today. They'll thank you for it! Trust me.

Later kids! -NM.

Sluggish

[gridoon2024 · 4/10 · 16 March 2010]

At first I thought it would be a nice change-of-pace to see Laura Gemser in something other than a "Black Emanuelle" film, but "Black Cobra" is not really all THAT different from those: lots of nudity, little plot. It's actually pretty tame in terms of sex and violence; its only real claims to infamy are probably two scenes of real animal deaths (a snake being skinned alive and cooked, and a rat being crushed to death and swallowed by another snake). Speaking of snakes and rats, Laura Gemser definitely proves in this film that she's not squeamish, handling them with apparent ease! She's a bit too thin for my tastes here, but her face is magically beautiful. I always enjoy seeing Hong Kong as a film setting, but the story, what little there is, moves sluggishly and the motivation for the first murder is suspect to say the least (if it was jealousy, how could Tinti have known that the snake wouldn't kill the object of his affection instead? If it was just a joke gone wrong, then he's an idiot). Perhaps the biggest surprise in "Black Cobra" is that Jack Palance plays an (eccentric but) non-malicious character! *1/2 out of 4.

Slow paced and boring...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 13 April 2022]

As part of watching a handful of Laura Gemser movies, I happened to stumble upon the 1976 drama "Eva Nera" (aka "Black Cobra"), and I must admit that I was rather surprised to see that the movie had the likes of Jack Palance in a leading role. I never figured that he would be in a movie such as this.

But nonetheless, I opted to sit down and watch what writer and director Joe D'Amato had to offer with this 1976 movie. Sure, I had never heard about it, as the type of movie that this actually is just simply usually falls outside of my field of interest. But I do believe in watching a movie once and giving it a fair chance.

Writer and director Joe D'Amato didn't exactly deliver a movie that fell into my liking here with "Eva Nera". The narrative of the movie was just simply too bland and slow paced. Nothing of any interest or worth actually happened as the movie paced on in snail pace.

The acting performances in "Eva Nera" were as expected, though I must admit that I was surprised to see Jack Palance in a movie such as this. I will say, though, that he actually was nicely cast though, as his charisma and presence added something to the movie. And Laura Gemser is, well, she is Laura Gemser, let's not dance around the bush here - pardon the pun.

I am sure that there is an audience out there for a slow burn such as "Eva Nera", but I just didn't happen to be a part of that particular target audience. And as such, then "Eva Nera" wasn't a movie that entertained me.

My rating of the 1976 drama from writer and director Joe D'Amato lands on a three out of ten stars.

Insert 'Asp' Joke Here

[NoDakTatum · 4/10 · 6 December 2023]

Joe D'Amato, auteur of the sometimes hardcore "Emmanuelle" series and other exploitation classics, puts his muse Laura Gemser through a nasty little revenge pic that will have grindhouse fans cheering. Judas (Jack Palance) and Jules (Gabriele Tinti) are brothers living in Hong Kong. Judas has all the family money, thanks to a condition in their dead father's will that stipulates Jules must "behave" for five years before he gets any inheritance. Jules travels for business, and brings home the exotically beautiful Eva (Laura Gemser). Eva has quite a nightclub act. She strips topless and writhes around with a large snake, much to the enjoyment of drunk businessmen. Judas sees Eva and is immediately taken with her. Eva is invited back to Judas' to meet his "friends"- about half a dozen live snakes, all venomous and dangerous. Eva moves in with Judas, who pays for everything, but she still gets to crawl into bed with whomever she pleases. She eventually meets Gerri (Michele Starck), and the two fall for each other. Eventually, one of the cast members starts playing with the serpents when they shouldn't, and people start ending up dead.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a good film. While it was shot on location in Hong Kong, and D'Amato makes sure the entire female cast is unclothed often, the performances are pretty terrible. Indonesian Gemser was always easy on the eyes, but her command of acting in English is tenuous. Palance is alright as Judas, the character you assume would be the bad guy thanks to the name, and the fact he is being played by Jack Palance. The musical score is goofy Euro-softcore, full of choral wooing and strings. D'Amato also shows the actual deaths of two animals, another turn-off. So why any rating for this thing? D'Amato's screenplay is actually kind of clever. You may see the climactic island scene coming a mile away, but there is a twist thrown in that had me grimacing. I don't like snakes, so watching everyone handling them also made me cringe. However, there are some scenes that dare to breach the "softcore" label. There is also some hilariously bad dialogue that had me laughing out loud, like Eva's justification for prostituting herself. "Black Cobra Woman" is known under at least half a dozen different titles, including an unofficial entry in D'Amato and Gemser's "Emmanuelle" series. This is not a horror film, or a Fred Williamson actioner that it is constantly mistaken for, but it is pretty different.

Nothing to offer this movie will be liked by erotic drama lovers

[sauravjoshi85 · 3/10 · 24 March 2021]

Black Cobra Woman is an erotic drama movie directed by Late Joe D'Amato and stars Laura Gemser, Late Jack Palance and Late Gabriele Tinti.

With nothing much to offer and some irrelevant scenes this movie is nothing but an erotic drama movie and would be loved by the viewers of this genre.

The movie is based on the life of Eva a snake dancer who is invited by a very rich businessman who got interested in her to stay with him. The businessman who is also a snake collector woes her with gifts, Eve eventually moves in with him and his snake.

As mentioned earlier that the movie lacks some genuine plot and is been filled with lots of steamy scenes. Some scenes were just illogical such as Eva and her girlfriend eating snake in the market and Jules leaves snake on the body of Candy to get her bitten.

Acting is average and screenplay is average. Climax is again illogical and doesn't makes any sense. Overall a delight for hardcore erotic softporn lovers.

It's a snake's, snake's, snake's, snake's world...

[jaibo · 7/10 · 6 July 2009]

This slithering pit of serpents tells the story of a beautiful young female snake dancer, Eva, who falls in with two wealthy brothers whilst working in Hong Kong. The older brother, Judas, is an amateur herpetologist with his own collection of deadly vipers, adders and mambas; the younger, Jules, carries with him some resentment at having to work running the family business for five more years before he can get his hands on his inheritance. Judas adds Eva to his collection, setting her up with her own room, car and bank account, but things get complicated when Jules starts using his brother's snakes for his own deadly purposes.

This early (1976) D'Amato thriller throws his usual jaundiced glance at the predicament of a woman in a man's world and, like the previous year's Emanuelle e Françoise le sorelline, it shows a woman going to extreme lengths to revenge herself on the man who does her and her female companions wrong. In the previous film, Emanuelle had wrought revenge on the man whose abuse drove her sister to suicide; here, Eva seeks redress when one of Jules' victims is her female lover; the revenge is lurid and horrific, as Jules is tricked into going to a remote island whereby a cobra is inserted into his anus and left so that it has no option than to eat its way out (this is apparently an old custom of the Island Eva was born on, called "putting the devil into a man to set him free"!). Yet Eva's revenge does her little good, and she ends up rejected by Judas and committing suicide like a modern day Cleopatra.

D'Amato's film shows him stepping onto the path which was eventually to lead him down the route from softcore to hardcore porn and he loses few opportunities to show his actresses in various states of undress and erotic clinch. But he also ensures that his women are treated sympathetically – Eva's relationship with her girlfriend is seen as a refuge from a male world which is exploitative, abusive and tainted by the idea of ownership and patronage. Eva is given a considerable back-story, which details her being left and orphan, taught by a guardian to dance with snakes and being prostituted to men when she was still in her teens. She chooses Judas' patronage in order to escape the poisonous relationship she is having with a jealous Chinese businessman. The irony is that for all her attempts to escape from the world of male power, she can only help her girlfriend by her own patronage (using the money Judas has given her) and her revenge on Jules does nothing to free her from the cycle of violence which is as involving and inescapable as Ouroboros, the famous serpent which swallows its tail. In some ways, the film is a twisted contemporary spin on Biblical myth, with the traitor Judas at the top of the patriarchal tree and the temptress Eve the struggling victim of male power.

Eva Nera isn't a perfect film; there are major plot-holes and there's rather too much erotic filler. D'Amato's cinematography is nevertheless immaculate; Gemser and Palance give their usual turns, which will delight their admirers, and the Hong Kong locations are well used. It does add weight to the idea that D'Amato was using his exploitation film-making put on screen valid visions of a female against a world of power, corruption and dominance in which the cards are stacked against her and in which, if she turns into a snake to fight the snakes, she is caught in a deadly, venomous trap.

A cheese filled creep fest classic

[martin-530 · 10/10 · 23 June 2004]

Quite simply a cinematic treasure that will never get the exposure it so richly deserves. Jack Palance gives quite simply his best ever performance by a country mile in the role of Judas. Palance breathes an awkward and devilishly creepy life into the snake obsessed sleaze Judas. His own fabulous performance crackles magically against Gabriele Tinti's Jules, his jealous and treacherous, even creepier, sociopathic brother.The film is intended as soft porn but works wonderfully as comedy, whenever I need a laugh this guarantee's it. It works woefully on just about any level. If you expect any kind of sexual excitement from Erotic Eva, look elsewhere. The superb score by Umiliani adds essential 70s style and character. The whole film centers around the brothers attempt to gain the affections of bisexual snake dancer Eva, played by the painfully skinny real life wife of Gabriele Tinti, Laura Gemser. The film is filled with magical dialogue, always involving Jack Palance. His spine twitchingly awkward seduction scenes with Gemser, and his subliminally hate filled smarm drenched chats with Jules are truly worthy of legendary status. Fast forward through the attempts at porn, except the scene with the prematurely ejaculating Japanese businessman. In short cheesier than a cheese puff factory, and as amusing and entertaining as cinema gets.

Mystifying blandness

[superguapo2000 · 8/10 · 17 April 2009]

Eva Nera (AKA Black Cobra) is my favorite entry in Joe D'Amato's infamous "Black Emanuelle" series. Also known as "Emanuelle Goes Japanese", this film features no characters named Emanuelle, and doesn't take place in (or in any way allude to) the country of Japan. Other than these minor details, Eva Nera exhibits every other trait of a Black Emanuelle movie, including of course Laura Gemser as the main character, and the ever-present douche-bag Gabriele Tinti lurking somewhere in the cast. And though this movie lacks some of the overt acts of depravity that other Emanuelle flicks are known for, it offers three times that in the form of a more subtle weirdness.

The movie begins with Eva's arrival in Hong Kong. Played by the beautifully boring Laura Gemser, Eva's character is essentially the same as Black Emanuelle: a frigid, vapid, nonchalantly nymphomaniacal bisexual nudist mannequin-like temptress. Unlike Emanuelle, who is a reporter, Eva is a snake dancer. Here we use the term "dancer" loosely to mean standing around naked and arrhythmically flailing your arms while holding a live snake.

As you would expect from Joe D'Amato, the story that follows is totally nondescript and irrational, and mostly serves as a vehicle for him to express his most banal ideas of what constitutes eroticism. The remarkable thing is that, unlike other of his creations, like say Emanuelle and The Last Cannibals, here D'Amato tries to exercise restraint, which results in a bizarre, watered-down version of the typical D'Amato fetishes. Included are the mandatory nudism, lesbianism, morbidness, and the gawking fascination with all things foreign and Exotic that characterizes D'Amato's work, minus the ultra-violent sadism that he's also famous for. Along the way, D'Amato's camera still manages to objectify and diminish every single living and non-living thing it gazes upon, whether it be the bland characters, the city of Hong Kong, those oh-so-dangerous snakes, or deeper aspects of human experience such as love and death.

None of this would stand out much were it not for two key elements that make Eva Nera exceptional: the haunting euro-soundtrack and the mind-blowingly strange performance by Jack Palance, whose character is so freakin' weird it defies description. Highly recommended.

glad to snake your acquaintance

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 17 February 2014]

The 1970s is known as the era of disaster movies, but the Me Decade also saw Italy release some of its greatest exploitation flicks. One example is Joe D'Amato's "Eva nera" ("Black Cobra Woman" in English). Laura Gemser plays a snake dancer who hooks up with some strange people in Hong Kong. Jack Palance has a great time playing a snake aficionado. But I'd say that the movie's main purpose is to show Laura Gemser's naked body (and she DOES have a fine one). The movie contains just about every guilty pleasure imaginable. The movie makes no pretense about what it is. It might make you want to go to Hong Kong, but more than anything it'll make you wonder why Laura Gemser stopped acting. Maybe Quentin Tarantino will give her a bit part in a movie one day.

Anyway, a really fun movie, especially a certain shower scene (every exploitation flick's gotta have one of those). Among D'Amato's lesser movies was "The Blade Master" - aka "Cave Dwellers" - which got riffed on "Mystery Science Theater 3000".

INSANITY!

[BandSAboutMovies · 8/10 · 13 December 2021]

Do you think that when Jack Palance bounded to the stage, ready to do one-arm pushups and accept his Best Supporting Oscar for City Slickers after being nominated for Sudden Far and Shane, that he had a flashback and said to himself, "I'm in the A list tonight, but man, how can it compare to being in a movie where Laura Gemser dances with snakes?"

Seriously, the man who would become a star again at the age of 73 has a wealth of roles in aberrant movies in his past, but playing Judas Carmichael in a Joe D'Amato movie may be the pinnacle. Or the pit.

Gemser plays Eva, a snake dancer who obsesses Judas, because he has a snake collection at home - as you do - and he wants to show it to her. So she finally gives in and moves in with him while confining her horizontal dancing to the ladies - including Candy (Ziggy Zanger, who Gemser would go on to appear in Black Emanuelle, White Emanuelle with, along with Nieves Navarro, and just writing that sentence made me a little faint). Judas' brother Jules (Gabriele Tinti) wants Candy all for himself, so he messes around with the snakes with her - which seems ill-advised - and she gets killed by a mamba. And then he doubles up and kills off Eva's lover Gerri (Michele Starck, Forever Emmanuelle) and ends up taking Eva from his brother!

Of course, that's not the end of matters. Eva's more devious than she looks. And so is Judas. I mean, if your mom names you Judas any time in a year that doesn't have BC in it, you're not going to turn out all that great.

Bruno Mattei edited this movie - a fact that makes me love it so much more - and it was also called Emmanuelle And The Deadly Black Cobra, Hot Pants and finally and most awesomely Emmanuelle Goes Japanese, which makes no sense for a movie set in Hong Kong.

A truly strange and hence enjoyable slice of Italian exploitation sleaze

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 10 July 2013]

Eccentric wealthy playboy Judas (Jack Palance in fine freaky form) lives as a near reclusive in a posh apartment in Hong Kong that's filled with all kinds of snakes that he treats like his children. Judas becomes smitten with sultry exotic dancer Eva (the ever-luscious Laura Gemser) after he sees Eva's nigh club act that involves dancing with a large snake and invites her to stay at his place. However, Judas' depraved and duplicitous brother Jules (a deliciously slimy portrayal by Gabriele Tinti) wants Eva for himself. Writer/director Joe D'Amato relates the engrossingly weird story at a steady pace, maintains a suitably seamy and off-kilter tone throughout, and, most importantly, delivers oodles of tasty undraped distaff skin and sizzling soft-core sex (Gemser as usual bares her delectably slender figure with pleasing frequency, with a massage parlor session and a shower shared with a slim blonde rating as the definite steamy highlights). Moreover, Judas' bizarre fixation on slithery reptiles gives the picture a super peculiar charm while the exotic Hong Kong locations provide an extra tangy flavor (and only D'Amato would include a scene with two hot babes happily eating freshly cooked snakes!). Better still, one guy ultimately winds up having a snake put where the sun doesn't shine and the surprise downbeat ending packs a startling grim punch. Kudos are also in order for Piero Umiliani's smooth groovy score and D'Amato's glossy cinematography. Good outré trashy fun.

Black Cobra

[Michael_Elliott · 12 March 2008]

Black Cobra (1976)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Joe D'Amato directed film about a shy, lonely man (Jack Palance) living in Hong Kong where his only friends are his pet snakes. One night his brother takes him to a strip joint where he sees a beautiful woman (Laura Gemser) putting on a dance with a snake. He moves the woman in but soon someone starts killing off her lesbian friends. The killer doesn't know the woman is a Goddess to snakes. Like many other D'Amato/Gemser films, this one here basically leaves the plot behind in favor of the beautiful actress walking around in the nude and carrying out various lesbian scenes. Gemser is also fun to watch (when she's naked) but the story here is pretty dull and lifeless. Palance must have really been down on his luck at the time.

Snakes In A Train Wreck...

[azathothpwiggins · 25 May 2022]

First off, yes, Eva (Laura Gemser) is absolutely beautiful. Whether clothed or unclothed she's breathtaking. That said, she's just not that interesting as a character. Ms. Gemser's performance in EVA NEGRA (aka: BLACK COBRA WOMAN) is every bit as languid as her other Emmanuelle outings.

Presented as an "erotic thriller", this movie is obviously just another excuse for Ms. Gemser to get naked every 15 minutes. On that score, even the steamy scenes get tiresome. Without a real plot or direction, there's really nowhere to go with this.

Oh, there are some poisonous snakes thrown in as well.

One highlight is Jack Palance's perverted performance as the Eva-obsessed Judas. Gabriele Tinti is also memorable as his unhinged, even more Eva-obsessed brother Jules.