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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :- Most gruesome snake-horror film ever !!!, 10 August 2004 Author: haimoff (haimoff@bigfoot.com) from Zuerich - Switzerland
It's very difficult to get a good copy of this film - and if you can get hold of one, the tape is most often only in Cantonese language.During the construction of luxury apartment buildings a huge nest of thousands of snakes is discovered. Francis Chang (the boss) refuses to delay the construction and orders to kill all the animals. He is repeated warned by his wife, who had some nightmares concerning him and the snakes. They do not manage to kill all snakes and so they take revenge on the construction workers and Francis Chang. Soon thousands of killer snakes under the lead of a giant Boa invades the building an kill all the new inhabitants. Even a snake master can't stop them.The bad thing about this trash-film is, that they kill and burn the snakes for real ... (unfortunately NO Special-FX)! On the other side the scenes with thousands of real snakes are extremely impressive. you will never forget this images and will always be happy not to be a Chinese actor in this film. A film from the days when they did not spoil everything with cheap CGI-effects. If you like more of this strange killer-animals-horror films from Hong Kong check also "Lewd Lizard", "Killer Snakes" (DVD), "Centipede Horror" (DVD)and "Sucubare"Part of this film was used for a strange US-production called "Serpent Warriors" aka "Snake Inferno" (1985) "directed" by John Howard.
3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- Ophidiophobia At It's Best, 25 September 2007 Author: ElijahCSkuggs from Happy Land, who lives in a Gumdrop House on Lolly Pop Lane
Holy crap this movie was something else. Calamity of Snakes is the absolute perfect title for this flick. I've never seen a calamity like this...and whowee was this a calamity. A hell of a calamity. A calamity with f'in snakes!! If you're looking for a film that portrays a calamity, don't look any further. Though if you suffer from ophidiophobia, then maybe you should pass, but again, if you're looking for a calamity based film or are a fan of calamity type films, this is a MUST see.The version you will most likely see is the Cantonese dubbed, non-subtitled version. But hell, it doesn't matter in the slightest. Here's the story. While during the construction of a Condominium/Hotel/Building the workers find a jam packed den full of snakes. The evil dude behind this all could give a crap about the snakes and personally disposes of the first batch he sees. Well, this doesn't sit too well with the snakes. They are a proud species. And who'd deny that? Nobody that's who! They've been around much longer than us, and will most likely be around after we kick the bucket. Well, the snakes take revenge. From cobras to green tree pythons to gigantic, tail bashing, whipping, smacking, reticulated pythons! They take revenge seriously. Ruining dance parties, baths, bathroom breaks, naps, and even sewing. Believe it! You wouldn't believe the human activities they end up ruining! The humans strike back, but are they up for the challenge when thousands and thousands of snakes are flying through the air, biting faces, ankles, fingers...oh my.Calamity of Snakes is the first venture I've taken into Snakesploitation, and tell ya what, after seeing this, it won't be the last. Though, I do have to warn you, just in case you've chosen my comment to read and no others I'm kinda forced to tell you this. This movie has barely any special effects. The only special effects I saw was a fake snake, some bloody faces, and some speeding up to make the snakes seem more threatening. So that means when the people kill the snakes, yep, they are really hacking, slashing, biting, stepping, throwing, burning, biting these poor snakes. At first you're taken back, since it's kinda sad that they actually are killing these snakes. I have a ball python as a pet, and I'd hate to see my baby writhe on the ground in it's final attempts at survival. So if you're offended by animal cruelty, you may want to think about it. But at the same time, the movie has a silly, goofy tone to it as well. And it's arguably a really entertaining movie. Though if you're a big time animal rights person, nothing will sway you to seeing this movie...and I don't blame ya. But this movie is one hell of a ride, and it's one hell of a calamity too. A calamity that involves snakes! Now who wouldn't want to see that?! Hmmmm?
4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :- Gruesome HK snake horror with hundreds of real snakes killed., 4 October 2006 Author: HumanoidOfFlesh from Chyby, Poland
A luxury apartment complex is being constructed,unfortunately the team discovers a huge nest of hundreds of snakes on the site.The boss refuses to delay the construction just because of the snakes and orders them all to be exterminated despite being warned by his wife and her nightmares of the situation.Not all the snakes end up getting killed and the survivors seek revenge on the construction workers.It isn't long before a giant boa leads the rest of the thousands of snakes inside the building to kill all the new inhabitants."Calamity of Snakes" by William Chang has to be seen to be believed.Literally hundreds of live snakes are butchered during the film.The climax certainly involves hundreds of snakes and wholesale slaughter of the animals.Snakes are chopped to pieces,burned alive,killed with shovels and gutted.So if you are an animal lover skip this film.However if you enjoy watching outrageous Asian horror films give it a look.
2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :- Totally bonkers-doolally cinema at it's barmiest., 18 June 2008 Author: BA_Harrison from Hampshire, England
Cobra crushing, python pounding, boa bashing, mamba mashing, and all round general asp annihilation: Calamity of Snakes' catalogue of real-life cruelty to the lowly serpent is simply quite staggering, and makes this early 80s example of Hong Kong snakesploitation unmissable for fans of the downright weird and absurd (although definitely not one for animal lovers).Featuring more scaly skin than Judith Chalmers in a hall of mirrors, William Chang's unbelievably silly snake-snuff movie sees thousands of the wriggly critters invade an exclusive high-rise apartment block seeking revenge for the wholesale slaughter of their pals during the construction of the building. As the hissing horde slithers and slides from room to room to attack the residents, a group of highly trained reptile exterminators (in fetching silver overalls and matching helmets) race to the rescue, armed with dry ice and flame throwers. But will even they be able to handle the ferocious monster boa that leads the reptilian rampage?Totally outrageous from start to finish, with endless animal violence (no budget for fancy animatronics in this one!), 'crazy' Hong Kong comedy (speeded up footage ala Benny Hill, a fat woman who eats like a pig, and an old bloke whose hair stands on end), snake-fu, and dreadful disco dancing, Calamity of Snakes is one of those rare treats that makes hunting for obscure movies worthwhile. Apart from a few talkative scenes which do slow down the action a little, this is pure trash entertainment.
3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :- A Snake Revenge Extravaganza!..., 14 December 2006 Author: EVOL666 from St. John's Abortion Clinic
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
If you don't like CALAMITY OF SNAKES, you're either a direct relative of a snake, or some super-PETA-cry-baby. This one has it all! More snakes than you can shake a f!ckin' snake at - and then even MORE snakes. My copy has no subs/dubs - f!ck it, you don't really need 'em.A construction crew comes upon a lair of snakes and tries to get rid of 'em. Even though their efforts are strong - they can't kill 'em all, and the snakes come back to wreak havoc on humanity...And I thought KILLER SNAKES was cool...CALAMITY OF SNAKES has it beat. Snakes versus construction workers and machinery, snakes versus mongooses (mongeese? - or some other rodent-like creature), snakes versus a kung-fu expert (in a scene that must be seen to truly appreciate...), snakes versus an old lady in a wheel-chair, snakes versus disco-dancers...forget it - this one is completely insane. no one is safe from the plethora of snakey-destruction. Snakes get mauled, hacked, gutted, stomped, crushed, etc...with reckless abandon in the way that only the Hong Kong-ese could ever fabricate. And this ain't a bunch of cheezy cut-scenes, folks - this is true ridiculous snake massacre-osity. If you hate snakes - this is the one for you. If you like completely crazy animal-horror exploit films - this is the one for you. If you have pet snakes and have "feelings" for them - watch it anyway and then STOMP YOUR SNAKE INTO THE DIRT. An absolute classic of an under-appreciated genre - the only downside was a few "talky" parts that I didn't understand...8.5/10
2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- The title ain't lying, this is a real calamity. Barmy HK snakesploitation, 27 August 2008 Author: t-birkhead from United Kingdom
I'd wanted to see this for a while, after reading that it was one of the most bonkers of the early eighties HK horror outings. I generally really like those films and the reviews on this page really intrigued me. Calamity of Snakes pretty much lives up to its awesome name, in a tale of snake vengeance after a colony is decimated underneath a construction site. Of course, the survivors don't like this one bit so come to cause mayhem for the unwelcome humans. The film gains a tremendous amount of power from its use of real snakes, in their hundreds and deploying them in some real nutsoid situations attacking humans in cars, baths and numerous other places as they go about their human business. Im pretty sure some of the scenes must have been pretty dang dangerous for the cast unless all of the copious snakes had been de venomed. At the very least, the scenes have a real squirmy intensity to them because just the thought of having lots of live snakes crawling over you is pretty nightmarish. The use of live snakes does lead to the main problem that I had with the film. Because the attack scenes have real snakes, the film lacks any significant gore inflicted upon the humans, presumably because it would have been near impossible to coordinate fake gore effects on a person at the same time as having live snakes crawl over them without ruining the continuity. The attacks are still very effective but the only real gore of the film comes from a lot of real snake slaughter. Snake lovers, PETA members and any animal rights whiners should give this film a very wide berth, because the snake body count is easily in triple figures and they often die in gruesome fashion. There's stomping, hacking, slicing, burning and other methods and its pretty reprehensible stuff if it bothers you. I wasn't too bothered, but it is kinda disturbing. A slightly lesser problem is that it takes a fair while for the snakes to mount their full on attack and the first hour has the odd slow moment (though there are still several jaw dropping scenes, especially one involving mongoose). In all, if totally barmy Hong Kong whack job cinema or films about calamities are to your taste and you can stomach remorseless massacring of our slithering friends then Calamity of Snakes is highly recommended.
2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- Greatest snake film ever!, 6 December 2006 Author: fertilecelluloid from Mountains of Madness
Oh my God, this is an Eastern exploitation treasure that is, without a doubt, the greatest killer snake film ever! After a nest of slithering nightmares (what else can you call them?) are found on a construction site, the developer uses earth moving equipment to squash them dead. Fortunately for us, the viewers, there are lots more snakes where this lot came from, so once construction gets seriously underway on the site, the serpentine scaremongers get their revenge in the bloodiest, nastiest way. But unlike recent snake entries such as "Snakes on a Plane" and "Anaconda", the snakes used in this movie are real, and there are thousands of them, literally! This also means that when the humans start fighting back against the snakes, real snakes get butchered, burned, sliced open, eaten and chopped in gruesome, graphic close-ups. As a confirmed animal lover, I found these sequences fascinating but very hard to stomach. I felt sorry for the great snake actors who had no idea of the fates awaiting them at the end of the movie. This insane, furious, savage flick is part Mondo, part Horror film. There is even an extended sequence in which half a dozen mongooses battle it out with dozens of angry, p*ssed-off snakes in an enclosure. It was like watching a lost scene from "Shocking Asia". The drama between the snake action is a little slow, so it's a fast-forward job on second and subsequent viewings. You will marvel at a snake master fighting a giant snake kung fu-style and you will recognize the music scores stolen from "Maniac" (Jay Chataway) and "Dawn of the Dead" (Goblin). I like the Chinese "Killer Snakes" and I've even liked American snake flicks such as "Stanley" and "Sssssss", but "Calamity of Snakes" truly takes the snake cake as far as snake flicks go.
2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- severe snakesploitation, 8 July 2006 Author: Scott-from-Modesto (andrea_yates_clogged_drain@comcast.net) from United States
Here's a flick you should avoid if you're of the PETA mindset. Frankly, the death of animals doesn't bother me in the least when I see it on film. Some classicks of cruelty really up the ante for the whole "animal vioence in films" debate which frequently pops up when fans discuss fare like Cannibal Holocaust, Cannibal Ferox, or Slave of the Cannibal God.In Hong Kong, the exploitation of snakes is part of daily life. Snakes are made into soup, their blood is drunk for health and virility, and their hearts are eaten as aphrodisiacs. That is all shown in Calamity of Snakes. The film also gives you TONS of sadistic and unnecessary animal violence after a construction crew uncovers a massive snake congregation which leads to shovel-slicing madness, stomping, and a thoroughly bloody mashing done with an excavator given to a pit full of serpents. A plague of snakes takes revenge on Hong Kong and many people are killed. There's severe violence throughout the film as snakes are killed en masse with fire, sprayed with dry ice, and sliced in midair by a swordsman in a scene ripped off from The Killer Snakes (a much better movie, in my opinion, but not nearly as violent). There's also some human makeup effect gore thrown in for good measure and a cleverly edited but ridiculous wire fu brawl between a largish constrictor or Burmese python and a kung fu expert.If you are a fan of Hong Kong exploitation cinema, I highly recommend tracking this rarity down. It certainly isn't the best "animal horror" film I've ever seen and is difficult if not impossible to track down subtitled, but if you're jonesing for some of the characteristically exploitive horror that only that tiny Chinese nation can deliver it'll be good company. The extreme animal violence has only been outdone by the massive carnage seen in Mago, as far as I'm concerned--8/10.
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