VENOM

US, 2005, 85 minutes, Colour.
Agnes Bruckner, Jonathan Jackson, Laura Ramsay, Rick Cramer, Meagan Good, Bijou Phillips, Method Man.
Directed by Jim Gillespie.

Venom is just another scary horror movie. It was directed by Jim Gillespie who directed I Saw What You Did Last Summer and Detox.

Set in the outskirts of New Orleans, it focuses on voodoo practice and also on a group of teenagers (with nobody else much seen in the town).

An old woman who practises voodoo has a suitcase full of snakes which, apparently, contain the souls of dead criminals which she has collected. There is a car crash and the box is opened and the snakes bit a redneck driver of the district. He becomes possessed by the dead men’s souls – and pursues the young people with varying degrees of success, until he has eliminated all but one.

Nothing particularly new, a variation on the group being eliminated theme – and a lazy script full of four-letter exclamations. However, it may give some momentary scares to an audience susceptible to this kind of thriller.

1.The popularity of this kind of horror film? The voodoo touches? The snakes? The teenagers being pursued?

2.The atmosphere of Louisiana, the Bayous? The town? The young people?

3.The older woman, the voodoo rituals, collecting the souls, the snakes, the suitcase?

4.The teenagers, in the car, the encounter with Ray Sawyer? The crash, the truck, the car, the old woman, Ray and the old woman going into the water, Ray being bitten by the snakes?

5.The focus on the characters, Eden as the central character, her relationship with Eric? Rachel and Sean? Cece and her grandmother, the death, her knowledge of voodoo?

6.The story of Ray, his background, being possessed? His pursuit of the young people? The variations on the theme? Gradually eliminating them?

7.The teenagers, their characters, relationships, fears? The pursuit, the dangers, hiding in the house, the house being pulled apart? The variety of deaths? Even Cece with her knowledge of voodoo?

8.Eden and Eric, the final survival, their being attacked, trying to outwit Ray, Eric and his death, the group of corpses, Eden taking the weapon, her confronting Ray? The truck, the fire, his death?

9.The popular ingredients for this kind of horror show?