Fangs

I recently watched Fangs (1974) on Shudder. The storyline follows an old hermit on the outskirts of town who keeps to himself and takes care of his pet snakes. When he's down on his luck and asks for help from the townspeople they turn their backs on him. He decides to use his snakes to go on a killing spree.

Directed by Art Names in his inaugural directorial project, the film stars Les Tremayne (War of the Worlds), Janet Wood (Foul Play), Bebe Kelly (The Streets of San Francisco), and Alice Nunn (Minnie Dearest).

This is a unique movie with a solid villain and premise. The soundtrack, cars, and cinematography authentically capture the era, providing a grindhouse vibe. There are captivating scenes, including some with dancing ladies. However, the snake bite scenes tend to be more comical than thrilling, often featuring characters in tighty whities pretending to be scared of snakes.

In conclusion, Fangs is a mediocre to bad addition to the horror genre. It has enough distinctive elements to engage genre enthusiasts, but the humorous snake scenes detract from its overall impact. I would rate it a 4/10 and recommend a one-time viewing.

In FANGS (aka: SNAKES), Les Tremayne stars as Snakey Bender, the local snake seller in a small, rural town. This befuddles the town preacher, Brother Joy (Marvin Kaplan), to no end. Snakey has quite a surprising little side business with his writhing reptiles, and the womenfolk are... um... all worked up about it.

When Snakey's slithery friend, Lucifer the King Cobra is killed, it's payback time.

This is definitely one weird movie. The town appears to be an innocent place, but it sure has a darker, rather perverse side! In addition to the "house calls" of Snakey Bender, there's also the creepy duo of Sis and Bud Palmer (Alice "Large Marge" Nunn and Bruce Kimball), who both set their lascivious sights on the school teacher (Bebe Kelly).

The real action starts around the 40 minute mark, when murder and mayhem ensue. From this point on, things veer off into psycho-ville, in a good way. Watching Snakey's homicidal glee is a true wonder to behold! This is probably the best performance that Mr. Tremayne has ever given.

The Bottom Line: Do not mess with Snakey's Wednesday night routine!...

I actually own this film. Why is a unique story in itself, but suffice to say, I found it to be a funny camp movie. Of course it's bad. It's made in the 70's with a $100 or so budget and employs all the locals around Oak Glen/Cherry Valley California. Hysterically funny every time Snakey drives the SAME CAR off the cliff and marches back to town. I am surprised this has not shown up in midnight movie houses complete with characters in costume.

Some familiar faces show up in this movie and while you've seen them before in bigger better flicks, there is no comparison for the "acting" job done here.

Why, doesn't every town in CA have an old codger who collects snakes from the local school children? Ya gotta love Snakey. Hey Snakes are people too!

A pretty memorable movie of the animals-killing-people variety, specifically similar to "Willard" in that it stars an aging character actor (in this case, a step down a bit to the level of Les Tremayne, who puts in the only distinguished performance I've seen him give) in a role as a man whose life is unbalanced and who subsequently decides to use his animal friends to exact revenge on those who have wronged him. Yes, this is one of those movies where pretty much everybody is despicable, so that you will cheer when they die, and really the selection of actors, locations, etc. couldn't be better at giving the film an atmosphere of shabby decadence.

Tremayne's character is "Snakey Bender", and he is certainly the most interesting thing about the movie: an aged snake collector who is obsessed with John Philip Souza's music. When the local preacher clamps down on his practice of collecting small animals from the local schoolchildren as bait for his snakes, and his friend gets married to a stripper (thus upsetting his ritual Wednesday night band concert) he goes on the rampage, in the process creating a memorable pile-up of clunkers beneath the cliff where he dumps the wrecks after disposing of their unfortunate owners. One amusing game you can play while watching "Snakes" is to place bets on which cars will land the farthest down the cliff.

All in all, very cheap and exploitative, but will really be a lot of fun for fans of these kinds of movies.

Ok well if you've come this far, you can't be expecting anything good. I can tell you this much though, I would file this movie under instant classic. Not a good movie, but there is something about it that you just can't put your finger on. Whether it be the ancient look of the film, or the band music that plays after Snakey Bender has given what is owed to those comrads who turn against him due to peer pressure. Also a bonus is Sis, perhaps she looks familiar and for good reasons. Take a peek at Large Marge in Pee-Wee's big adventure and you might notice some similarities. I do. Well its a fun night with Fangs so I would recommend it to you B-Movie fans.