I saw it on TV in 1976-77 as an 11 year old. It scared the crap out of me. To this day I'm afraid of snakes because of this movie.
shareMy wife and I each saw this movie the one time it was shown on local television in 1979 (despite our not meeting for another 21 years). It creeped us both out big-time. We saw it again in 2004, and it had much the same effect. Its one of the best horror movies with mediocre production values you're likely to see (certainly in the top 10 for the 1970s).
shareI still remember this from when I was a teenager. My brother and I made fun of it for weeks afterwards. I'd like to check it out again and see if it still is as creepy and out there as my memory says it was. I had a crush on Dirk Benedict for a while afterwards and when he later turned up on "Battlestar Galactica" (the original TV series in the 1970s) my brother and I said "Look! It's the snake guy!"
I loved both truly frightening movies and bad scary movies when I was growing up. This belongs to the latter category, I'm sure. But as a creepy pulp thriller you can't beat it. I remember it being kind of a throwback to the 1950s & 60s "horror" movies like Wasp Woman and The Reptile.
Dirk was horrible in this movie. Good in the A-Team though. If only Mr. T could have been involved. in Sssssss.
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I think I saw this movie on TV as a kid and it freaked me out. Is this the one where in the end, the main character (I guess Dirk Benedict) is turned completely into a snake, and then a mongoose eats him? I just remember the abruptness of it totally scaring me. I remember the female lead screaming and sobbing as she watches and then it ends. Same movie?
By the way, the thing that reminded me to check for a write up on this board was a basketball commercial that's running now - it has a mongoose and a cobra facing off at center court. I will always think of SSSSSSS when I see a mongose. It seemed so counterintuitive when I was a kid that a mongoose could fight a cobra and win.
shareYep, this is the same movie you remember. The screaming heroine was Heather Menzies, a delectable gal who later married Robert Urich, I believe.
I saw SSSSSSS at a drive-in when it came out and was really creeped out by it for about a week afterwards. The "half-cobra" victim ("Tim"; I think he was portrayed by a real multiple amputee) left a chilling sensation in my chest. Steve.
I loved this movie as a kid. I didn't find it scary, though. I always liked reptiles. I found it to be sad; I felt sorry for Dirk at the end when he was killed by the mongoose and the scientist's poor daughter had to watch.
sharewatching this movie cemented my belief that mongooses are one of the ugliest creatures on this planet.
shareI agree!
This movie scared the S... out of me! I was 8 years old! Is this on DVD?
This is on DVD, saw it last night for the first time and was very impressed. While the production values were decidedly low, the use of real snakes was frightening. The cast got in there with the snakes, and from what I could tell, several of the bites were real. The pre-CGI transformation was also impressive (although at one point, he looked like a walking bathmat). I remember when this movie was playing at a local theatre in Brooklyn NY (with Boy Who Cried Werewolf) and it was pulled only after several days. The rumor around our schoolyard was that it was too scary and disgusting for people to take. I now assume that the rumor was untrue, but this movie was a real surprise.
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When I saw it a long time ago, I thought the ending was the best special effects when Dirk Benedict turns into a snake.
sharei saw this movie when i was young too...remember the girls pet boa that tried to protect her?...well i guess thats one of the reasons i own boas now lol. Crappy movie...awesome snakes though...
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