Snakes on a Train
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Snakes on a Train | |
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| Directed by | The Mallachi Brothers |
| Written by | Eric Frosberg |
| Starring | Julia Ruiz Giovanni Bejarano Al Galvex |
| Distributed by | The Asylum |
| Release date(s) | August 15, 2006 (US) |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Snakes on a Train is an action/horror B-movie released direct to DVD by The Asylum on August 15, 2006. Continuing The Asylum's notorious tradition of capitalizing on major films with low-budget films with similar titles/plots, many aspects of the film are inspired by the film Snakes on a Plane which was scheduled for theatrical release three days later on August 18, 2006. However, this film contains significantly more violence and gore than its counterpart and includes some supernatural elements as well.
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[edit] Plot
Although taking the same basic idea from Snakes on a Plane (lots of deadly snakes loose on a claustrophobic, high speed means of transport), the background story of how and why the snakes are there is significantly different. In this movie, a woman has been put under a Mayan curse which causes snake eggs to hatch inside of her and eat their way out. In order to stop this, she must take a train to Los Angeles where a powerful Mayan shaman can lift the curse. When she gets on the train, things go wrong and the eggs start to hatch, leaving the rest of the people on the train to deal with the killer snakes. Eventually, and inexplicably, she transforms into a gigantic snake herself and proceeds to swallow the train whole.
While the box promises "100 Trapped Passengers - 1,000 Venomous Vipers", in reality there are only about a dozen passengers and a handful of snakes. There is also a wholly unconnected subplot regarding two female passengers smuggling drugs. It should also be noted that the train involved consists on the inside of old post-World War II streamliners, rather timeworn and thus resemblant of late pre-Amtrak and early Amtrak trains. The movie's depictions of the train exterior is a study in inconsistent use of stock footage: the trains consist of rolling stock that appears to change magically, ranging anywhere from a full train of Bombardier bilevels to an Amfleet set to, perhaps, a chain of Superliners, and at almost no time do the exteriors shown match the interiors (which remain consistent throughout the movie). Only the final sequence where the train is devoured by the giant snake was specially created for the movie, and again featured a differently designed train. The interiors shown in the movie for a Los Angeles-bound train have been outdated for at least three decades, if not more.
[edit] Reception
When reviewed by Variety magazine, it was described "neither undiscriminating action fans nor connoisseurs of high camp will find much bite in this latest direct-to-video product from The Asylum."[1] Scott Foy, reviewing the film for Dread Central wrote "how the hell do you produce a rip-off this dispirited".[2]
[edit] Trailers
The official trailer was made available for download on The Asylum's official site. It has been televised on G4's Attack of the Show.
[edit] References
- ^ Joe Leydon. Snakes on a Train. Variety. Retrieved on 2006-08-27.
- ^ Scott Foy. Snakes on a Train (DVD). Dread Central. Retrieved on 2006-08-27.
[edit] External links
- Official Site
- Interview with Eric Forsberg, screenwriter of Snakes on a Train at Dread Central
- Review by Scott Foy at Dread Central
