Calamity of Snakes (1982) User Reviews (12)

Gruesome but captivating animal horror

[txmayer89 · 6/10 · 3 June 2023]

I don't remember now how I found out about this film - with that said, I'm so glad I did find it and that I watched a VHS rip on YouTube.

This movie is insane. As soon as I saw the concept, I knew I had to watch it. But it exceeded any expectations I had. It starts with how they kill the snakes; I don't consider this as a spoiler as it's in the plot summary. They use a freaking BULLDOZER! They say there are 80 THOUSAND snakes in the pit when they find it. You need serious firepower for that.

The ridiculousness only goes up from there. I definitely recommend this film if you enjoy cult horror, or even a kung fu/martial arts fan, you would enjoy. I got Shaw Brothers vibes.

The one thing I didn't love is what I assume to be the live skinning of a snake, as well as the killing of many snakes in that first scene setting the pace for the murder rate through the runtime. I'm posting this as a warning for this who watch and aren't expecting to see a snake heart still beating, or a snake and a badger fighting to the death. If it makes you feel any better, it really makes you root for the snakes! The badger part was really unnecessary, and goes on for way too long.

Watching the snakes get their revenge is pretty insane. So many snakes! The snake budget for this film must have been astronomical. It's awesome watching them cause destruction in large numbers, including a massive Boa.

In all, give this a try. Skip the animal cruelty if you would rather avoid it - they make it obvious when it's about to happen. Aside from that, I really enjoyed it and I'm glad I stumbled upon it.

Way way way too much

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 11 April 2023]

I think that I'm unshockable and then I watch something like Ren she da zhan and man, I had no idea what being shocked was.

Directed by Chi Chiang (who was also the choregrapher for Bruce Lee: The Man, the Myth and directed China Heat and Bruce Lee's Deadly Kung Fu), who wrote it with Kang-Nien Li and Kuo Jung Tsai, this is a movie that people who hate snaked will be horrified by and those that love them will be destroyed by, so there's really no one who won't be brutalized by what these guys put together. I'm not exaggerating when I say that tens of thousands of snakes appear and also not making anything up when I tell you that just as many snakes are murdered on screen, for real, in a movie that looks at Cannibal Holocaust and scoffs, "People are mad that you killed a turtle? Here, hold my San Miguel."

This Hong Kong/Taiwan film (there's also a South Korean version called War Between Man and Snakes that has five more minutes and alternate footage filmed in that country) starts with real estate boss Francis Chang ordering his men to kill all the snakes around his new luxury apartment building. What follows is a near mondo orgy of human on snake violence as snakes are chopped, slices and smashed by excavators and dumped into huge snake graves. This is not CGI, so turn back now, because no one visited this set to see if a movie called Calamity of Snakes was snake-friendly. It's kind of like all those Italain cannibal movies that show man's inhumanity to man that were made by being inhumane to man, which seems like, you guessed it, a snake eating its own tail, which is about the only bit of snake violence this movie doesn't have.

After all that, you'll hardly be mad that this steals music from Maniac and the same cues as Dawn of the Dead. There's also some Alan Parsons Project and Keith Emerson, because we all know progressive rock is prime snake murder music. Taking music is the least of this movie's sins.

It does have snakes run over, destroyed by a mongoose, gassed, hit with rocks, sliced apart with swords and even a giant snake participates in a kung fu battle against a man who lives inside a box of snakes, even keeping one inside his mouth and the snake makes the same sound effects as Godzilla.

What does work is that snakes non-stop kill humans, showing up in bathtubs, when people are making love, when folks are playing mahjong, whenever people do, well, anything. Snakes will show up - the big snake might even be psychic - wherever people are trying to just live their lives, including a moment where they spill forth from an elevator in the exact same way that blood spills out in The Shining.

Footage from this movi was edited into The Serpent Warriors, a movie that stars Earth Kitt, Christopher Mitchum and was the last role for Clint Walker. It was also released in Pakistan as Revenge of the Snakes - thanks Daily Grindhouse - with artwork that rips off The Beyond and let me tell you, I can't love that enough.

For all the meanness toward reptiles, this movie does not treat its humans any better, as there are numerous scenes of people covered by snakes, snakes are thrown at them, snakes are in their faces and at the end, someone does a burn stunt that in no way looks safe or something that someone survived.

Does it make you feel better that some of the snakes were eaten afterward and not wasted? Yeah, me neither. That said, good for Unearthed Films, who are giving a percentage of all profits from Calamity of the Snakes in all formats to Save the Snakes in continuation of their mission to protect snake populations around the world.

Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?

[rickmacnamara · 7/10 · 22 January 2024]

1st ***SPOILER*** : you know those items in the closing credits that say "No animals were harmed during the production of this movie"? Well, you won't find one in the credits for this movie. There are scenes of animal cruelty the likes of which you may have never before seen. First, it's men killing snakes on the construction site of a luxury apartment house that has apparently cut some corners to save money. Apparently, killing any snakes under these circumstances saves money because reasons. Reasons that made no sense to me, but maybe they will to someone else or maybe the Mandarin:English translation missed something. Bottom line: if you leave at least one snake alive, he will tell all the other snakes and they will plot revenge.

2nd ***SPOILER** After killing hundreds of snakes with a backhoe, shovels, machetes and knives, in the next scene the construction crew and bosses enjoy a meal of snake soup. A snake is skinned alive and its blood and its blood and organs harvested while the snake butcher explains thay the blood and gall bladder will give those who ingest them magical powers. We also get to see the still beating heart of the snake. The Big Boss drinks the blood and gall bladder squeezings for luck, but it doesn't work.

3rd ***SPOILER*** As if the first scene of snake massacre wasn't enough, then comes a scene in which snakes in a box are introduced to a Shrew and then follows another overly long series of snake deaths that I eventually fast forwarded through.

The rest of the movie is actually at times kind of funny and the scenes with live snakes are so over the top that they become hilarious, too. Think of the famous snake scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark and multiply the number of onscreen snakes by 150. That's a lot of snakes writhing on the floor and being thrown at actors by offscreen crew. Taiwan,where this was filmed, is not that big and they must have gone into the wild to capture almost every one of them. We're talking a flood of snakes above your ankles in some scenes.

I gave it a 7 because it was just so funny and over the top.

Most gruesome snake-horror film ever !!!

[haimoff · 10 August 2004]

It's very difficult to get a good copy of this film - and if you can get hold of one, the tape is most often only in Cantonese language.

During the construction of luxury apartment buildings a huge nest of thousands of snakes is discovered. Francis Chang (the boss) refuses to delay the construction and orders to kill all the animals. He is repeated warned by his wife, who had some nightmares concerning him and the snakes. They do not manage to kill all snakes and so they take revenge on the construction workers and Francis Chang. Soon thousands of killer snakes under the lead of a giant Boa invades the building an kill all the new inhabitants. Even a snake master can't stop them.

The bad thing about this trash-film is, that they kill and burn the snakes for real ... (unfortunately NO Special-FX)! On the other side the scenes with thousands of real snakes are extremely impressive. you will never forget this images and will always be happy not to be a Chinese actor in this film. A film from the days when they did not spoil everything with cheap CGI-effects.

If you like more of this strange killer-animals-horror films from Hong Kong check also "Lewd Lizard", "Killer Snakes" (DVD), "Centipede Horror" (DVD)and "Sucubare"

Part of this film was used for a strange US-production called "Serpent Warriors" aka "Snake Inferno" (1985) "directed" by John Howard.

Bad.

[bombersflyup · 1/10 · 12 June 2023]

Calamity of Snakes is a farce of a film, essentially it's snakes in a can.

The scene of the master taking on the big snake is mildly amusing, but everything else is just bad. The wife of the boss finds him and tells him that she had a vision of snakes attacking, as he's about to massacre a bunch of snakes and he laughs it off, dismissing even the odds of that coincidence. At least a third of the entirety of the film is either snakes killing or being killed and there's not even a good death scene. It has a poor premise, with cheap execution, with bad dialogue and no perks, a clear waste of time.

Gruesome HK snake horror with hundreds of real snakes killed.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 8/10 · 4 October 2006]

A luxury apartment complex is being constructed,unfortunately the team discovers a huge nest of hundreds of snakes on the site.The boss refuses to delay the construction just because of the snakes and orders them all to be exterminated despite being warned by his wife and her nightmares of the situation.Not all the snakes end up getting killed and the survivors seek revenge on the construction workers.It isn't long before a giant boa leads the rest of the thousands of snakes inside the building to kill all the new inhabitants."Calamity of Snakes" by William Chang has to be seen to be believed.Literally hundreds of live snakes are butchered during the film.The climax certainly involves hundreds of snakes and wholesale slaughter of the animals.Snakes are chopped to pieces,burned alive,killed with shovels and gutted.So if you are an animal lover skip this film.However if you enjoy watching outrageous Asian horror films give it a look.

Greatest snake film ever!

[fertilecelluloid · 9/10 · 6 December 2006]

Oh my God, this is an Eastern exploitation treasure that is, without a doubt, the greatest killer snake film ever! After a nest of slithering nightmares (what else can you call them?) are found on a construction site, the developer uses earth moving equipment to squash them dead. Fortunately for us, the viewers, there are lots more snakes where this lot came from, so once construction gets seriously underway on the site, the serpentine scaremongers get their revenge in the bloodiest, nastiest way. But unlike recent snake entries such as "Snakes on a Plane" and "Anaconda", the snakes used in this movie are real, and there are thousands of them, literally! This also means that when the humans start fighting back against the snakes, real snakes get butchered, burned, sliced open, eaten and chopped in gruesome, graphic close-ups. As a confirmed animal lover, I found these sequences fascinating but very hard to stomach. I felt sorry for the great snake actors who had no idea of the fates awaiting them at the end of the movie. This insane, furious, savage flick is part Mondo, part Horror film. There is even an extended sequence in which half a dozen mongooses battle it out with dozens of angry, p*ssed-off snakes in an enclosure. It was like watching a lost scene from "Shocking Asia". The drama between the snake action is a little slow, so it's a fast-forward job on second and subsequent viewings. You will marvel at a snake master fighting a giant snake kung fu-style and you will recognize the music scores stolen from "Maniac" (Jay Chataway) and "Dawn of the Dead" (Goblin). I like the Chinese "Killer Snakes" and I've even liked American snake flicks such as "Stanley" and "Sssssss", but "Calamity of Snakes" truly takes the snake cake as far as snake flicks go.

Ophidiophobia At It's Best

[ElijahCSkuggs · 8/10 · 25 September 2007]

Holy crap this movie was something else. Calamity of Snakes is the absolute perfect title for this flick. I've never seen a calamity like this...and whowee was this a calamity. A hell of a calamity. A calamity with f'in snakes!! If you're looking for a film that portrays a calamity, don't look any further. Though if you suffer from ophidiophobia, then maybe you should pass, but again, if you're looking for a calamity based film or are a fan of calamity type films, this is a MUST see.

The version you will most likely see is the Cantonese dubbed, non-subtitled version. But hell, it doesn't matter in the slightest. Here's the story. While during the construction of a Condominium/Hotel/Building the workers find a jam packed den full of snakes. The evil dude behind this all could give a crap about the snakes and personally disposes of the first batch he sees. Well, this doesn't sit too well with the snakes. They are a proud species. And who'd deny that? Nobody that's who! They've been around much longer than us, and will most likely be around after we kick the bucket. Well, the snakes take revenge. From cobras to green tree pythons to gigantic, tail bashing, whipping, smacking, reticulated pythons! They take revenge seriously. Ruining dance parties, baths, bathroom breaks, naps, and even sewing. Believe it! You wouldn't believe the human activities they end up ruining! The humans strike back, but are they up for the challenge when thousands and thousands of snakes are flying through the air, biting faces, ankles, fingers...oh my.

Calamity of Snakes is the first venture I've taken into Snakesploitation, and tell ya what, after seeing this, it won't be the last. Though, I do have to warn you, just in case you've chosen my comment to read and no others I'm kinda forced to tell you this. This movie has barely any special effects. The only special effects I saw was a fake snake, some bloody faces, and some speeding up to make the snakes seem more threatening. So that means when the people kill the snakes, yep, they are really hacking, slashing, biting, stepping, throwing, burning, biting these poor snakes. At first you're taken back, since it's kinda sad that they actually are killing these snakes. I have a ball python as a pet, and I'd hate to see my baby writhe on the ground in it's final attempts at survival. So if you're offended by animal cruelty, you may want to think about it. But at the same time, the movie has a silly, goofy tone to it as well. And it's arguably a really entertaining movie. Though if you're a big time animal rights person, nothing will sway you to seeing this movie...and I don't blame ya. But this movie is one hell of a ride, and it's one hell of a calamity too. A calamity that involves snakes! Now who wouldn't want to see that?! Hmmmm?

Must-see Insane Hong Kong Animal Attack Movie

[griffin-wanbaugh · 8/10 · 4 March 2012]

Wow. Talk about one crazy flick. I haven't seen so many snakes in one film before. And we're talking real snakes here, not any of that CG stuff in films of today. If your a fan of insane Hong Kong films, then this is a must see.

The plot isn't that important, but I'll go over it anyway. Mid- construction of a hotel, the workers find a nest of snakes getting in their way. So naturally, they slaughter all of them. However, this leaves massive consequences, as the snakes return again and rein havoc on the hotel as it opens.....

So, what makes this thing so crazy? Well, it seems almost as if there never is a dull moment in this film, with some kind of crazy stuff involving snakes always happening. There's a kung fu snake fight, a mongoose and snake battle (which could have been a lot shorter to be brutally honest), snakes attacking people at a disco , flying snakes, snakes getting chopped up with a samurai sword, and snakes being burned to death by silver jumpsuit-wearing men, and even more.

Now, I'm going to address a problem that a lot of people have with this film, and that's the animal cruelty. Yes, tons of real snakes are killed on-camera in this film, which is very unfortunate, but really, what did you expect? This film was made in 1983 in Hong Kong, quite frankly, I don't think they really cared much about the snakes during shooting. Personally, I don't find it that big of a deal, snakes are killed in the world all the time, what ever, it didn't bother me much. However, I will admit I did wince a lot during the opening scene where the snakes are being chopped up.

So, in conclusion, if you can get past the animal cruelty, Calamity of Snakes is a solidly entertaining Hong Kong animal attack film. If you like killer animal flicks, crazy cult movies, or just crazy Asian films, I highly recommend it.

Totally bonkers-doolally cinema at it's barmiest.

[BA_Harrison · 8/10 · 18 June 2008]

Cobra crushing, python pounding, boa bashing, mamba mashing, and all round general asp annihilation: Calamity of Snakes' catalogue of real-life cruelty to the lowly serpent is simply quite staggering, and makes this early 80s example of Hong Kong snakesploitation unmissable for fans of the downright weird and absurd (although definitely not one for animal lovers).

Featuring more scaly skin than Judith Chalmers in a hall of mirrors, William Chang's unbelievably silly snake-snuff movie sees thousands of the wriggly critters invade an exclusive high-rise apartment block seeking revenge for the wholesale slaughter of their pals during the construction of the building. As the hissing horde slithers and slides from room to room to attack the residents, a group of highly trained reptile exterminators (in fetching silver overalls and matching helmets) race to the rescue, armed with dry ice and flame throwers. But will even they be able to handle the ferocious monster boa that leads the reptilian rampage?

Totally outrageous from start to finish, with endless animal violence (no budget for fancy animatronics in this one!), 'crazy' Hong Kong comedy (speeded up footage ala Benny Hill, a fat woman who eats like a pig, and an old bloke whose hair stands on end), snake-fu, and dreadful disco dancing, Calamity of Snakes is one of those rare treats that makes hunting for obscure movies worthwhile. Apart from a few talkative scenes which do slow down the action a little, this is pure trash entertainment.

A Snake Revenge Extravaganza!...

[EVOL666 · 8/10 · 14 December 2006]

If you don't like CALAMITY OF SNAKES, you're either a direct relative of a snake, or some super-PETA-cry-baby. This one has it all! More snakes than you can shake a f!ckin' snake at - and then even MORE snakes. My copy has no subs/dubs - f!ck it, you don't really need 'em.

A construction crew comes upon a lair of snakes and tries to get rid of 'em. Even though their efforts are strong - they can't kill 'em all, and the snakes come back to wreak havoc on humanity...

And I thought KILLER SNAKES was cool...CALAMITY OF SNAKES has it beat. Snakes versus construction workers and machinery, snakes versus mongooses (mongeese? - or some other rodent-like creature), snakes versus a kung-fu expert (in a scene that must be seen to truly appreciate...), snakes versus an old lady in a wheel-chair, snakes versus disco-dancers...forget it - this one is completely insane. no one is safe from the plethora of snakey-destruction. Snakes get mauled, hacked, gutted, stomped, crushed, etc...with reckless abandon in the way that only the Hong Kong-ese could ever fabricate. And this ain't a bunch of cheezy cut-scenes, folks - this is true ridiculous snake massacre-osity. If you hate snakes - this is the one for you. If you like completely crazy animal-horror exploit films - this is the one for you. If you have pet snakes and have "feelings" for them - watch it anyway and then STOMP YOUR SNAKE INTO THE DIRT. An absolute classic of an under-appreciated genre - the only downside was a few "talky" parts that I didn't understand...8.5/10

There's a snake in my boot!

[morrison-dylan-fan · 8/10 · 13 June 2020]

When looking at a DVD sellers page a few years ago (!),I was taken by a insane looking poster for a Hong Kong Horror. Despite wanting to see if it lived up to the poster,the disc somehow kept being left at the end of my unwatched pile. Recently dipping into my CAT III DVD's,I finally slithered this into the player.

Note:Unlike other reviews here who saw a unsubbed version, my disc was uncut,and English dubbed.

View on the film:

Killing mountains of snakes within the first 10 minutes, co-writer/(with Kang-Nien Li and Kuo Jung Tsai) director Chi Chang & cinematographer Yung Hu unleash a scuzz CAT III Grindhouse atmosphere covering the screen in every type of snake they can get their hands on, throwing them over the brave cast,who play dead as real huge snakes crawl over them.

Backed by Sherman Chow's spacey electronic score,Chang builds the revenge attacks of the snakes on the rich in a new apartment building to a fantastic,off the wall level of weirdness, kicking into slow-mo on Snake-Fu being performed against burning kitsch colours, and rapid-fire zoom-ins treading on a emergency group in hazmat suits finding that their flame-throwers can't stop the calamity of snakes.