Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rated by buyers PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Type of bind: DVD
EAN num: 9781573626552
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN number: 1573626554
Label: Lions Gate
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
Quantity: 1
Picture Format: Letterbox
Publishing house: Lions Gate
Region Code: 1
Release Date: August 10, 1999
Running Time: 93 minutes
Sale Popularity Level: 76438
Studio: Lions Gate
Theatrical Release Date: 1998
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Rated by buyers 
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In "King Cobra" Scott and David Hillenbrand bring us another giant snake epic. I have seen any number of this genre of films and this is actually one of the more entertaining of the bunch. The film borrows conceptually from the great "animals gone wild" films that came before it, most notably "Jaws", but does so in an entertaining manner that lets the film be derivative yet simultaneously amusing.
The film opens in a secret lab where there is a mutiny by several underlings who don't understand the scientific method at all well. The net result is the release of Seth, a giant half-cobra, half-rattlesnake mutant which was bio-engineered for maximum aggression.
Two years later a small town is preparing to host a lager festival, which is wholeheartedly endorsed by Erik Estrada in a hilarious and very flamboyant cameo completely unlike his typecast roles. After a few deaths the mayor is asked to call off the festival, but of course that's out of the question. An expert herpetologist is called. Who could it be? None other than Pat Morita, who comes up with a plan involving a vibrating machine, a large metal tube, and a goat to capture the snake. To say that the plan encounters difficulties is something of an understatement. (As an aside, is kung fu really a recommended method of self defense against a thirty foot long snake?) The plot is resolved and the cast is thinned out in a manner you may be completely expecting, but the scenes of the love-struck protagonists rolling a giant tube containing a huge snake around in the forest is a special treat.
The DVD has several extras including a decent commentary from the Hillenbrand brothers, a trailer for the film, and a making of feature that is brief but interesting. For all the cheesiness to be had here the actual models and special effects are notably better than many CGI snakes that have starred in other (even worse) giant snake films.
If you like implausible B-movies featuring giant creatures eating helpless small town citizens, this is a predictable, inane, yet fairly entertaining herpetological voyage.
Rated by buyers 
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Having had a life long fear of snakes in general it seems strange that I would actually get around to viewing and reviewing a horror movie which features the most oversized and vicious snake you could imagine. A while before "Anaconda", paved the way with its CGI snake creation, the production crew on "King Cobra", did a sterling effort in creating its own fearsome monster and putting together a very tense little drama that despite its many critics is alot better than many other snake efforts from the early part of this current decade. The creature of the title is a quite unique creation being a combination of an African King Cobra and a Diamond Back Rattle Snake and the end result is a fearsome as you would imagine it to be. I made the right decision in listing to the films excellent commentary before writing this review as it really goes into excellent detail about every facet of the creation of "King Cobra". Combined with quite good performances by the lead actors given the obvious limitations of the characters in such a story, and truly excellent cinematography "King Cobra", is a most worthy effort to be included in every horror movie lovers personal library.
The story begins in a vast laboratory where experiments are being conducted by Dr. Irwin Burns (Joseph Ruskin), and his team in the study of aggression whereby with the use of a new drug the aggressive elements in animals and people can be increased so as to be made treatable. Unfortunately one of the doctors assistants is impatient with his cautious way of research and tries to sped up the whole process after he locks Dr. Burns outside the lab. Unfortunately things go terribly wrong and the whole labratory explodes into a sea of flames that unfortunately has the result of mixing the biochemical matter of two of the animals the scientists were experimenting on producing one huge 30 foot long King Cobra/Diamond Back Rattlesnake which escapes from the ruins of the lab into the forest. We then move ahead two years and the setting is now the small rural town of Fillmore which is in the midst of its hectic preparation for the annual beer festival. The giant monster has settled in the area and being of a very aggressive nature begins to attack and kill a number of the locals. Local doctor Brad Kagen (Scott Hillenbrand), is involved with local policewoman Jo Biddle (Casey Fallo), and plans to leave for a new life in the city when he is brought in to examine the very strange deaths that begin occuring in the area. Sensing something is very wrong and after finding the shedded skin of the huge snake near one of the victims Brad realises he has more on his hands than he can cope with as well as facing strong opposition from the town's leaders who are only worried about th etown loosing its revenue from the gathering crowds present for the festival. After his own father is killed by the snake now nicknamed "Seth", Brad hires a noted herpetologist Nick Hashimoto, an expert on trapping exotic snakes to come to the town's rescue. Meanwhile some of the local men think it might be great "sport" to trap the elusive snake however this 30 foot monster is far too smart and aggressive for them and one by one they are struck down by the snake. Nick begins to set up his owns elaborate plan to trap and kill Seth however at the final confrontation Seth proves more than a match for Nick's years of experience and after a number of close calls it is finally left up to Brad and Jo to trap Seth in the specially made funnel that Nick has constructed and then pump gas into it to kill him which with much effort they succeed in doing. All ends happily with Brad deciding to stay in Fillmore afterall with Jo now that the giant snake is dead but as we see in the final shot, is it actually dead?
The unusual title beast here is really the film's chief claim to fame and the giant snakes construction outlined in the included making-of documentary makes fascinating viewing whereas if the same film was being made now most of this creature would have been created on computer.Although made as an independant feature which I doubt received much of a theatrical release anywhere, this film boasts alot of excellent production qualities that really heighten the tension of the story. The technique of viewing much of the action from the snakes point of view is very effective, in particular in the attack scenes as th esnake approaches its victim and it was a wise move by the production team to keep the views of this ferocious snake to a minimum until the real climax of the story takes. When talking about performances in a film like this we are really looking at something which is often secondary to the action. Scott Hillenbrand who was also one of the producers with brother David does a great job I feel in the lead as the reluctant hero planning to leave town for big city excitement but who finds himself thrown into trying to stop the killing spree of the terror in the town's ... Read More
Rated by buyers 
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I went into "King Cobra" wanting to hate it. And I do mean hate; the sort of all consuming, all caps HATE I reserve for my list of worst films. Why should I bear such animosity for a film I haven't even watched yet? Moreover, why bother watching a movie that I will probably loathe? The answer to the former is this: "King Cobra" is yet another tired entry in the tired "animals run amok" genre revived by Spielberg's 1975 magnum opus "Jaws" and later rescuitated by the same director's CGI masterpiece "Jurassic Park." If you've seen one "Jaws" knockoff you've probably seen them all, and "King Cobra" makes it very apparent almost from the beginning that its paying "homage" to Spielberg's monster movies. The answer to the second question is more elusive, mired somewhere deep in my brain. I don't know why I like watching bad cinema. I can say that it's great fun to watch a movie fail, as much fun as watching a good one succeed. Too, I get an enormous charge out of reviewing horrible movies. It's amusing to bash a piece of celluloid trash that deserves whatever nasty things I can say about it.
All of which brings us to "King Cobra," a film directed by Scott and David Hillenbrand, special effects provided by the Chiodo Brothers (who brought us "Killer Klowns from Outer Space"), and starring has beens Hoyt Axton, Courtney Gains, and Noriyuki "Pat" Morita. Yep, Pat Morita tops the bill in this "so bad it's good" car wreck. Before all you Mr. Miyagi fans get your knickers in a bunch, however, let me inform you that "King Cobra" is not a cinematic tour de force. Rather, it's an atrocious rip-off so loaded down with plot holes that it makes Uwe Boll's work look like "Citizen Kane." When Dr. Irwin Burns's (Joseph Ruskin) laboratory goes up in flames thanks to a reckless assistant (Courtney Gains), a king cobra/diamondback rattlesnake hybrid some thirty feet long named Seth is born. Flash forward two years (?) to a little California town holding a beer festival. Local cop Jo Biddle (Casey Fallo), her disenchanted boyfriend Dr. Brad Kagan (Scott Hillenbrand), Sheriff Ben Lowry (Eric Lawson), and hotshot herpetologist Nick Hashimoto (Morita) must band together to stop the hungry Seth from wreaking havoc in the woods outside of town. Sounds great, doesn't it?
It's not, not by a long shot, but "King Cobra" is one of the funniest films I've seen in ages. That it's not marketed as a comedy makes little difference; the stuff we see here is gut busting, throw back your head and howl hilarious. Let's get the laughs rolling by looking at the relationship between Biddle and Brad Kagan. The doctor plans on leaving town for the big city in search of excitement, but Biddle likes her life and refuses to join him. In a scene obviously meant to be serious but as far from it as possible, Kagan and Biddle debate his reasons for leaving. At one point in the pointless narrative, actor Hillenbrand stares at Biddle with such a stupid look on his face that I couldn't help but giggle. O.K., hardly the belly laugh I promised, but the film is just getting started. As an aside, I find it ironic that the only intentional laugh getter in the movie, a group of local yokel hunters who eventually fall prey to the snake, isn't funny in any way, shape, or form. The rest of the cast provides more laughs than a Rodney Dangerfield concert, but these guys induce barely a snicker. Anyway, the serious yucks fade in when we see Erik Estrada waltzing down the street camping it up as a flamboyant gay man. As embarrassing as the scene is to watch, I'm adding a star to the overall review for the sheer audacity it took to put such an idiotic sequence in the movie.
I could write a doctoral dissertation on Pat Morita's role in this movie--or an obituary for his acting career. He shows up to help when contacted by Dr. Burns, roaring into town in a mobile home with a bunch of gimcracks to catch the snake. He tells us to "respect" the snake, and later on launches into one of the biggest piles of bunkum ever heard in a b-movie, namely that he injects himself with venom every couple of months to keep his immunity levels up. His blood, we learn, is worth "a couple of million dollars" as anti-venom. Uh huh. I ultimately bought the explanation because the august Morita delivered the lines like he believed them. Well, that and I was too busy trying to retrieve the lung I coughed up while laughing to really question what he said. But what really takes the cake is Morita's standoff with Seth. Folks, if I live to be a hundred years old I will never witness anything as funny as this sequence. Not only does Morita stare down the cheesy looking snake, he soon suffers bite after bite. His character absorbs enough venom to kill the population of China and he's still on his feet. Morita's death scene--complete with facial expressions that looked like the actor bit into a lemon, a camera spinning around the actor in an effort to simulate his death throes, ... Read More
Rated by buyers -
This is just an average snake movie starring Pat Morita from the Karate Kid movies & Scott Brandon. Scott is a local doctor at a small town in California, Kasey Fallo is his girlfriend & a local cop. Pat Morita comes in around halfway through the flick as a snake expert.
It opens when 2 disgruntled scientists pissed at the pace of the research decide to lock the head in his office & speed up the pace of the work, in the process they get carried away & cause a huge explosion & fire where Seth, the snake escapes & kills the head guy's daughter from a bite, but the head guy lives to escape. The other 2 were killed by the explosion & fire.
Later on, the snake makes its presence known in town by going a spree of killing people, by the 2nd attack Scott, Kasey, & the mayor get worried about what they're dealing with, esp. when a deputy finds a huge snakeskin intact. They realize its a 30-footer & decide to get antivenom & summon the help of the expert. The 2nd half is mainly just battle planning, dialog about the severity of the situation, & the showdown between Pat & Seth. A cheesy scene is when some local hunters decide to pursue Seth with Rambo-esque tactics & state of the art weaponry, but they're killed off one by one.
The camerawork is good, it is very well done & keeps you on the edge of your set. The acting is good, but uneven at times, esp. a cameo by Erik Estrada as a gay brewmaster which was really pointless, I felt. The story & plot are good, but the pacing is very uneven, a lot of moments of on-the-edge-of-your-seat suspense & some scary scenes, but also a lot of meaningless dialog & romancing by Scott & Kasey.
Not a bad snake at all, it's better than it's given credit for, but far from the greatest around.
Rated by buyers 
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I reccommend Komodo instead. I prefer shark movies, but I liked Komodo better than all the croc,gator,snake movies i've seen.
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