Venom (1981 film)

Last updated

Venom
Venom1981.jpg
US theatrical release poster
Directed by Piers Haggard
Screenplay byRobert Carrington
Based onVenom
by Alan Scholefield
Produced by Martin Bregman
Starring
Cinematography
Edited byMichael Bradsell
Music by Michael Kamen
Production
companies
  • Morison Film Group
  • Venom Productions Limited
Distributed by HandMade Films (Distributors) Ltd.
Release dates
  • 28 November 1981 (1981-11-28)(Japan)
  • 19 January 1982 (1982-01-19)(United Kingdom)
Running time
92 minutes [1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£7.5 million [2]
Box office$5.2 million [3]

Venom is a 1981 British natural horror-thriller film directed by Piers Haggard and written by Robert Carrington. It stars Sterling Hayden, Klaus Kinski, Sarah Miles, Nicol Williamson, Cornelia Sharpe, Susan George, Lance Holcomb, and Oliver Reed. The film is based on Alan Scholefield's novel of the same name.

Contents

Plot

International criminal Jacques Müller and his girlfriend Louise Andrews plan to kidnap Philip Hopkins, the grandson of Howard Anderson, a retired hunter and the wealthy owner of a hotel chain. Louise goes undercover as a maid working for Philip's mother Ruth and seduces her chauffeur Dave Averconnelly, convincing him to help in the kidnapping. On the day of the kidnapping, Müller tricks Howard and Ruth into leaving home while Louise and Dave kidnap the boy. Philip leaves briefly to retrieve a pet snake, which is accidentally swapped with a black mamba meant for toxicologist Dr. Marion Stowe. Howard returns home early, and the black mamba is released and bites Louise in the face repeatedly before fleeing into the ventilation system.

Müller and Dave take Howard and Philip hostage, while Louise dies from the black mamba's venom. Dr. Stowe contacts the police, having discovered the mix-up, and a police officer is dispatched to the Hopkins residence. The officer is shot and killed by Dave with one of Howard's rifles, but the officer manages to call for backup before he dies. More police officers arrive, led by commander William Bulloch, and after learning about the hostages, Bulloch has the street sealed off and tries to negotiate with Müller, but refuses to give in to Müller's demands for transportation and one million in different currencies. Dr. Stowe arrives with a case of anti-venom and informs Bulloch of the black mamba. Bulloch and Dr. Stowe warn both the kidnappers and hostages of the snake, and Müller lies that Louise is still alive, and orders Dr. Stowe to come to the front door with the anti-venom to treat her. Dr. Stowe complies and is taken hostage.

Bulloch discovers a secret entrance through the cellar, and he and two other officers try to enter. Dr. Stowe suggests turning off the central heating source, as this would send the black mamba into a coma. Dave and Howard climb into the cellar at the same time Bulloch and the officers enter. Bulloch shoots and injures Dave, and the black mamba attacks, forcing Bulloch and the officers to flee while Howard flees from the cellar and back onto the first floor. Dave is unable to escape and is killed by the black mamba.

Müller gives Bulloch a severed finger, which he falsely claims belongs to Dr. Stowe. Unable to enter the cellar with the black mamba inside, Bulloch gives in to Müller's demands and brings him his getaway car, which was previously confiscated. Bulloch demands to see the hostages, and Müller forces Dr. Stowe onto a balcony, forcing her to tell Bulloch Howard and Philip are fine. Philip and Howard notice the black mamba and allow it to attack Müller, who stumbles onto the balcony while grappling with the snake. Howard pulls Dr. Stowe out of the line of fire, and police snipers proceed to shoot Müller and the snake multiple times, and Müller and the black mamba tumble off the balcony. The hostages are rescued and Ruth embraces Philip. The final shot of the film reveals that the black mamba had laid an egg in the vents, which hatches and slithers off.

Cast

Production

Tobe Hooper was originally attached to direct but quit because of "creative differences", and Piers Haggard replaced him. [4]

Kinski chose to do this film instead of Raiders of the Lost Ark because the salary was higher. In his autobiography, Kinski Uncut , he also stated that the script for the Spielberg movie was "moronically shitty". [5]

Haggard later recalled:

I took over that at very short notice. Tobe Hooper had been directing it and they had stopped for whatever reason. It hadn't been working. I did see some of his stuff and it didn’t look particularly good plus he also had some sort of nervous breakdown or something. So anyway they stopped shooting and offered it to me. Unfortunately I had commitments, I had some commercials to shoot. But anyway I took it over with barely ten days of preparation—which shows. It doesn't become my picture, it's a bit inbetween... [Oliver Reed was] scary at first because he was always testing you all the time. Difficult but not as difficult as Klaus Kinski. Because Oliver actually had a sense of humour. I was rather fond of him; he could be tricky but he was quite warm really. He just played games and was rather macho and so on. Klaus Kinski was very cold. The main problem with the film was that the two didn't get on and they fought like cats. Kinski of course is a fabulous film actor and he's good in the part, the part suits him very well. They were both well cast but it was a very unhappy film. I think Klaus was the problem but then Oliver spent half the movie just trying to rub him up, pulling his leg all the way. There were shouting matches because Oliver just wouldn't let up. None of this is about art. All the things that you’re trying to concentrate on tend to slip. So it was not a happy period. [4]

Release

The film was released theatrically in the United States by Paramount Pictures on 29 January 1982. It grossed $5,229,643 at the box office. [3]

The film was released on special edition DVD by Blue Underground on 29 July 2003. It features audio commentary by Haggard. [6]

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 43% based on 7 reviews with an average rating of 4.8/10. [7] Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote, "If Venom doesn't turn out to be the silliest film of 1982, it's a good bet that it will land within a hoot and a holler of that distinction." [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Hardwicke</span> English actor (1932–2011)

Edward Cedric Hardwicke was an English actor, who had a distinguished career on the stage and on-screen. He was best known for playing Captain Pat Grant in Colditz (1972–73), and Dr. Watson in Granada Television's Sherlock Holmes (1986–94).

<i>Virtuosity</i> 1995 American film

Virtuosity is a 1995 American science fiction action film directed by Brett Leonard and starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. Howard W. Koch Jr. served as an executive producer for the film. The film was released in the United States on August 4, 1995. Virtuosity had an estimated budget of $30 million and grossed $37 million worldwide.

<i>Fitzcarraldo</i> 1982 film by Werner Herzog

Fitzcarraldo is a 1982 West German epic adventure-drama film written, produced, and directed by Werner Herzog, and starring Klaus Kinski as would-be rubber baron Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an Irishman known in Peru as Fitzcarraldo, who is determined to transport a steamship over the Andes mountains to access a rich rubber territory in the Amazon basin. The character was inspired by Peruvian rubber baron Carlos Fitzcarrald, who once transported a disassembled steamboat over the Isthmus of Fitzcarrald.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piers Haggard</span> British film and television director (1939–2023)

Piers Inigo Haggard, OBE was a British director who worked in film, television, and theatre.

<i>Das Experiment</i> 2001 German thriller film by Oliver Hirschbiegel

Das Experiment is a 2001 German drama thriller film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. It is based on Mario Giordano's novel Black Box and deals with a social experiment which resembles Philip Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment of 1971.

<i>The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu</i> 1980 film by Peter Sellers, Richard Quine

The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu is a 1980 comedy film. It was the final film featuring star Peter Sellers and David Tomlinson. Based on characters created by Sax Rohmer, the film stars Sellers in the dual role of Fu Manchu, a megalomaniacal Chinese evil genius, and English gentleman detective Nayland Smith.

<i>Nosferatu the Vampyre</i> 1979 film by Werner Herzog

Nosferatu the Vampyre is a 1979 gothic horror film written and directed by Werner Herzog. It is set primarily in 19th-century Wismar, Germany and Transylvania, and was conceived as a stylistic adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, taking the title, setting and titular character's design from F. W. Murnau's 1922 film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. The picture stars Klaus Kinski as Count Dracula, Isabelle Adjani as Lucy Harker, Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Harker, and French artist-writer Roland Topor as Renfield. There are two different versions of the film, one in which the actors speak English, and one in which they speak German.

<i>Five Deadly Venoms</i> 1978 Hong Kong film

Five Deadly Venoms, also known as The Five Venoms, is a 1978 Hong Kong martial arts mystery film directed and co-written by Chang Cheh and produced by Runme Shaw for the Shaw Brothers Studio. It stars Chiang Shieng as Yang Tieh, a martial arts pupil who aims to follow his master's dying wish: to find the new identities of the master's five previous pupils, and kill them if they have turned towards evil. While doing so, Yang stumbles onto a web of murders and investigations involving all five pupils. Each of the master's previous pupils practices a unique animal-themed style, with the animals being based on the Five Poisonous Creatures of Chinese folklore.

<i>Renaissance</i> (2006 film) 2006 film by Christian Volckman

Renaissance is a 2006 animated tech noir film. The film, which was co-produced in France, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg, was directed by Christian Volckman. It was released on 15 March 2006 in France and 28 July 2006 in the UK by Pathé Distribution and on 22 September 2006 in the US by Miramax Films. In the English-language version, some of the main characters are voiced by Daniel Craig, Jonathan Pryce and Ian Holm. Renaissance uses a style of motion capture animation in which almost all images are exclusively black-and-white; only occasional colour is used for detail. The film concerns a French policeman investigating the kidnapping of a scientist who may hold the key to eternal life in a futuristic and slightly dystopian Paris.

<i>House III</i> 1989 American slasher film

House III: The Horror Show is a 1989 American slasher film directed by James Isaac, from a script co-written by Allyn Warner and Leslie Bohem. Produced by Sean S. Cunningham, it serves as the third installment House film series. Presented as a standalone installment in the series, it stars Lance Henriksen and Brion James in the lead roles. Centering around Detective Lucas McCarthy, who arrests a serial killer known as Max "The Cleaver" Jenke; the plot revolves around the latter's return from the dead as a malicious spirit to terrorize the detective and his family in their house.

<i>Sssssss</i> 1973 film by Bernard L. Kowalski

Sssssss is a 1973 American horror film starring Strother Martin, Dirk Benedict and Heather Menzies. It was directed by Bernard L. Kowalski and written by Hal Dresner and Daniel C. Striepeke, the latter of whom also produced the film. The make-up effects were created by John Chambers and Nick Marcellino. It received a nomination for the Best Science Fiction Film award of the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films in 1975.

<i>The Bostonians</i> (film) 1984 film based on the novel by Henry James

The Bostonians is a 1984 historical romance drama film directed by James Ivory. The screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala is based on the 1886 American novel The Bostonians by Henry James. The film stars Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Reeve, Madeleine Potter, and Jessica Tandy.

<i>The Avenger</i> (1960 film) 1960 film

The Avenger is a 1960 West German crime film directed by Karl Anton and starring Heinz Drache, Ingrid van Bergen and Ina Duscha. It is based on the 1926 novel The Avenger by Edgar Wallace. It was shot at the Bavaria Studios in Munich. The film's sets were designed by the art director Willi Herrmann.

<i>The Squeaker</i> (1963 film) 1963 film

The Squeaker is a 1963 West German-French crime film directed by Alfred Vohrer and starring Heinz Drache. It was part of a very successful series of German films based on the writings of Edgar Wallace and adapted from the 1927 novel of the same name.

<i>The Pleasure Girls</i> 1965 British film by Gerry OHara

The Pleasure Girls is a 1965 British drama film directed by Gerry O'Hara and starring Francesca Annis, Ian McShane and Klaus Kinski.

<i>Death Smiles on a Murderer</i> 1973 film

Death Smiles on a Murderer is a 1973 Italian horror film directed by Joe D'Amato and starring Ewa Aulin, Klaus Kinski and Luciano Rossi.

<i>Kidnapping Freddy Heineken</i> 2015 film directed by Daniel Alfredson

Kidnapping Freddy Heineken is a 2015 British-Dutch crime drama film directed by Daniel Alfredson based on the 1983 kidnapping of Freddy Heineken. The screenplay, based on the 1987 book by Peter R. de Vries, was written by William Brookfield. The role of Freddy Heineken is played by Anthony Hopkins, with Sam Worthington as Willem Holleeder, Jim Sturgess as Cor van Hout, Ryan Kwanten as Jan Boellaard, Thomas Cocquerel as Martin Erkamps and Mark van Eeuwen as Frans Meijer.

<i>Snatched</i> (2017 film) 2017 film by Jonathan Levine

Snatched is a 2017 American comedy film directed by Jonathan Levine and written by Katie Dippold. The film stars Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn, with Joan Cusack, Ike Barinholtz, Wanda Sykes, and Christopher Meloni in supporting roles, and follows a mother and daughter who are abducted while on vacation in South America.

Inner Demon is a 2014 Australian horror film directed by Ursula Dabrowsky, starring Sarah Jeavons, Kerry Ann Reid and Andreas Sobik. Production Designer Theo Benton.

References

  1. ↑ "VENOM (AA)". British Board of Film Classification . 2 February 1982. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  2. ↑ "Back to the Future: The Fall and Rise of the British Film Industry in the 1980s - An Information Briefing" (PDF). British Film Institute. 2005. p. 30.
  3. 1 2 "Venom". Boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  4. 1 2 Piers Haggard interview, 2003, MJ Simpson accessed 11 April 2014
  5. ↑ Dwight Garner. "Kinski Uncut". Salon Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 August 1999. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  6. ↑ "Venom". Blue-underground.com. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  7. ↑ "Venom (1981) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  8. ↑ Vincent Canby (5 February 1982). "Venom". New York Times . Retrieved 29 April 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.