Shocktober 2024: Spasms (William Fruet, 1983)

Millionaire philanthropist and big-game hunter Jason Kincaid (great name) is obsessed with a giant venomous snake, ever since his brother got killed by the creature during a hunting trip to Micronesia. Kincaid was also attacked, and survived, miraculously — but has been driven half-mad by the trauma, and is now convinced he shares some kind of psychic bond with the snake. Eventually, Kincaid’s accomplices capture the snake and deliver it to San Diego, where Dr. Tom Brasilian (another great name) will study it, sponsored by Kincaid. Would you be shocked to learn that the snake soon breaks out of its confines and starts to wreak havoc on USD campus?

This is a decent Canadian creature feature, clearly inspired by Jaws — very du jour, basically every variation imaginable of ”Jaws but X instead of a shark” was produced circa 1977-1983. It might be the Canada of it all but I also thought of Cronenberg’s Scanners, especially when Kincaid has his telepathy episodes.

Kincaid is played by a constantly sweating, brooding Oliver Reed in fine form; Peter Fonda plays Brasilian. Fascinating meeting of acting styles — laidback Fonda pretty much sleepwalks through the movie, mind on the paycheck no doubt, while Reed, ever the serious thespian no matter how inane the material, simply cannot not Act. He is, if nothing else, an insanely powerful on-screen presence — drop him in anywhere, even in a B-movie like this, and he just pops.

The movie frequently employs a very silly blue-tinted SnakeCam featuring the creature’s POV. Directed by Canadian horror veteran William Fruet. Complicated release, became almost lost and was only issued on modern formats in 2016 — with some fragments apparently sourced from a VHS master. Dr. Runtime approved (90 mins).