''King Cobra'' is a 1999

Trimark Pictures Trimark Pictures was an American production company that specialized in the production and distribution of television and home video motion pictures. The company was formed in 1984 by Mark Amin as Vidmark Entertainment with Vidmark Inc. (later T ...

direct to video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

horror/

sci-fi film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...

directed by Scott Hillenbrand and David Hillenbrand with featured special effects by

The Chiodo Brothers The Chiodo Brothers (Stephen, Charles & Edward Chiodo; ; born in Bronx, New York) are an American trio of sibling special effects artists, specializing in clay modeling, creature creation, stop motion and animatronics. Known for their film ''Ki ...

. Starring

Pat Morita Noriyuki "Pat" Morita (June 28, 1932 – November 24, 2005) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his roles as Matsuo "Arnold" Takahashi on ''Happy Days'', Mr. Miyagi in ''The Karate Kid'' film series, Captain Sam Pak on the sitco ...

, Scott Hillenbrand,

Hoyt Axton Hoyt Wayne Axton (March 25, 1938 – October 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He became prominent in the early 1960s, establishing himself on the West Coast as a folk singer with an earthy style and powerful voic ...

Joseph Ruskin Joseph Ruskin (born Joseph Richard Schlafman; April 14, 1924 – December 28, 2013) was an American character actor. Also appeared in several underworld character roles on the tv series The Untouchables (1959-1963) Early life Ruskin was born ...

, and

Courtney Gains Courtney Gains (born August 22, 1965) is an American character actor best known for his portrayal of Malachai in the 1984 horror movie '' Children of the Corn''. Career Gains achieved success during the 1980s with a variety of roles in films su ...

, the film was released April 27, 1999. In the film, an experiment with snake venom goes wrong and a giant,

genetically engineered Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

of an

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

n King Cobra and an

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake The eastern diamondback rattlesnake (''Crotalus adamanteus'') is a species of pit viper in the family Viperidae. The species is endemic to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the heaviest venomous snakes in the Americas and the largest ...

escapes from his lab and into a small town. When snake-bitten bodies turn up everywhere, the mayor of the town wants things hushed up to protect the town's upcoming microbrewery festival. Expert reptile wrangler Nick Hashimoto (Morita) is then hired to bring in the snake before things spiral out of control.

Plot

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physicia ...

run by Dr. Irwin Burns (

) to research aggressive behavior has an accident, resulting in a

chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wi ...

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

and

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known ...

, and the escape of a long

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

with traits of both the

n King Cobra (in the film, it is referred to as the African King Cobra, even though the King Cobra species doesn't inhabit the African continent) and the

. Loose in the countryside for two years and filled with the experimental aggressiveness drug, the snake, nicknamed "Seth", eventually outgrows his woodland prey and begins hunting the residents of the small brewery town of Filmore. Dr. Brad Kragen (Scott Hillenbrand) conducts an autopsy on a recently found body and determines that the death was caused by a huge snake. He and Police Chief Jo Biddle (Casey Fallo) go to town mayor (and Jo's father) Ed (

) and demand he cancel an upcoming town lager festival. Ed refuses, but after more deaths, the town eventually brings in

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and rept ...

and hunter Nick "Hash" Hashimoto (

Cast

as Nick "Hash" Hashimoto * Scott Hillenbrand as Dr. Brad Kagen (as Scott Brandon) *

as Mayor Ed Biddle *

as Dr. Irwin Burns *

as Dr. Joseph McConnell *

Eric Lawson Eric Lawson (born February 12, 1981) is an American mixed martial artist, who is perhaps best known for his fight stint with now-defunct promotion Strikeforce. A professional mixed martial arts since 2004, Lawson holds a record of 9–5. Mixe ...

as Sheriff Ben Lowry *

Erik Estrada Henry Enrique Estrada (born March 16, 1949) is an American actor and police officer. He is known for his co-starring lead role as California Highway Patrol officer Francis (Frank) Llewelyn "Ponch" Poncherello in the police drama television series ...

as Bernie Alvarez *

Nick Jameson Nicholas Jameson (born December 5, 1950) is an American actor, musician and producer, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Russian president Yuri Suvarov over three seasons on the show '' 24''. He currently resides in Reykjavík doing live co ...

as Jurgen Werner *

Megan Blake Megan Blake is a pet lifestyle expert and an actress based on Malibu, California. She was Miss Georgia (U.S. state), Miss Georgia in 1983. Career Blake host segment, produces and writes for Animal Attractions Television. The show's mission ...

as Grace Stills * Casey Fallo as Jo Biddle (as Kasey Fallo) * Arell Blanton as Jesse * Jerry Kernion as Conrad * Michael Leopard as Buck * Cedric Duplechain as Deputy Bud Fuller * Paul Morgan Fredrix as Dr. Pat Kagen

Development

When David Hillenbrand and Scott Hillenbrand developed the concept for ''King Cobra'', the film ''

Anaconda Anacondas or water boas are a group of large snakes of the genus ''Eunectes''. They are found in tropical South America. Four species are currently recognized. Description Although the name applies to a group of snakes, it is often used to re ...

'' was not yet "in the pipeline". They wished to take an approach in the genre in a similar vein as ''

Jaws Jaws or Jaw may refer to: Anatomy * Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth ** Mandible, the lower jaw Arts, entertainment, and media * Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker'' * ...

'' or ''

Alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

''. Production problems allowed ''Anaconda'' to beat their film to release.

Reception

In 2001, G. Noel Gross of ''

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

'' wrote that the snake effects of ''King Cobra'' were "better than the CGI-addled

Python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (pro ...

that followed" and made note of a "hilarious cameo" appearance by

. Derek Armstrong of

Allmovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...

panned the film, calling it poorly conceived and absurd, with the special effects of the snake "so cheap-looking that it can only be seen in flashes". ''DVD Verdict'' also panned the film, writing that what was promoted as "30 Feet Of Pure Terror!", was "more like 93 minutes of pure boredom". While noting that

Trimark Trimark Pictures was an American production company that specialized in the production and distribution of television and home video motion pictures. The company was formed in 1984 by Mark Amin as Vidmark Entertainment with Vidmark Inc. (later T ...

gave the film a nice treatment on its DVD release, they concluded that it was "an incredibly worthless film".

Release

It was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and VHS. Both have since been discontinued and have for long gone out of print. It is available to view on Vudu, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

by LionsgateVOD. It is also available for Google play and

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

in some countries.

References

External links

* * {{Hillenbrand brothers Films about snakes 1999 films 1999 horror films American natural horror films American science fiction horror films 1999 science fiction films Trimark Pictures films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films