Slasher Crap?: Venom (2005)

Can you really blame a natural disaster for a film's failure?  Today's film is Venom, a movie that didn't get exactly get a proper release.  The big problem was that it came out just after Hurricane Katrina and it was set in New Orleans.  Granted- the company behind its release barely advertised (supposedly only a week before its release) and barely even bothered to put it out (putting it in less than 500 theaters).  So why should you care about the film after nearly 7 years?  Well, it is by- in part- Kevin Williamson.  Yeah, that should do it for some of you.  While I couldn't care less, he is a notable name in Teen-Based Horror.  The plot involves Voodoo, random sub-plots and a Jason-style killer.  To find out if the whole thing is worth remembering, read on...

In the intro, a Voodoo Priestess- who is the only other black lady in the film BTW- collects a bunch of snakes in a briefcase and goes to get rid of them.  Why does this matter?  You'll see.

In a roundabout coincidence, the snakes get loose and kill this Tow Truck Driver who tries to help her.  I should probably mention that the snakes are the hosts for evil souls, shouldn't I?

Hey, a Rapper is in this movie- playing a Cop no less.  I wonder what's going to happen to...oh, he's dead.

The killer is the reanimated corpse of the Truck Driver, now possessed by evil spirits.  Wouldn't they just be trapped in that body?  Mind you, I took Intro to Voodoo in High School, so I might be rusty.

Bonus points: Netflix's descriptions calls the killer 'Mr. Jangles.'  Nobody does that in the movie.

The killer takes out a bunch of people as part of its plan to...um, do something Voodoo-like.  Yeah, they're vague about this.  Ooh, scary.

The other black lady in the film- the Priestess' grand-daughter- gives us the info dump on the villain.  Thanks to Netflix's sleeve, this bit of dialogue is entirely-pointless.  Yea.

The climax of the film takes place at the Farm House and gives us some brief moments of gun-physics that would make the folks over at Mythbusters cry.  Yes, that happens when you're shot in the head!  Whee!

With the film's cast boiled down to one (it's the obvious Final Girl), the killer thinks that he/they has/have victory in sight.  However...

The heroine manages to run him down with his own truck- vehicular irony!- and cause his body to, well, explode.  Yeah, that makes sense...if your body is a balloon!

Regardless, the villain is dead...or is he?  There's no sequel, so, yeah, he's dead.  The End.

Eh, I kind of liked it.  To be honest with you, I've never been the biggest fan of this kind of movie.  No, not just Kevin Williamson movies, although that's true too.  No, I mean these slasher-style movies made for teenagers.  I grew up during the modern revival period of them and still didn't give half a shit.  To give you some idea, I've never seen Scream 2 or Scream 3.  I say all this not to draw up Comments, but to make it clear where I stand on this.  As far as this movie goes, it could have been better and it could have been worse.  I liked the setting and tone they were going for, but wish that they could have evolved beyond the obvious stereotypes.  Here's another thing: was there a point to one guy being the illegitimate son of the Killer (pre-possession)?  I mean, they don't play it up as a shock thing.  There's no dialogue after his death like 'If he could kill him, there's nothing he won't do' or some such thing.  Rather, the guy just off-hands mention his past and dies a couple scenes later.  This film has all of the makings of a series and its kind of a shame that it never got that.  Of course, my real reason is the desire to see Mr. Jangles...in space.  Take us away, best parts of the movie... 

Next up, a film about a Rest Stop.  Let's all do the torture porn tango!  Stay tuned...