By Jeffrey K. Lyles

I was shifting around in my seat, neither tremendously bored or entertained by the first 20 minutes of “Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid,” the not-so timely sequel to the 1997 horror/thriller, but as soon as one of the fork-tongued creatures emerges from a lake and makes off with dinner (see also an important cast member) the film no one was waiting for had my full attention and kept it throughout the rest of a surprisingly entertaining thriller.
Despite the presence of Jennifer Lopez “Maid in Manhattan”) and Ice Cube (“Barbershop 2: Back in Business”) the original “Anaconda” was only a moderate success that helped to establish the duo as the main stars of a film. Sure, the film featured a lot of cool visuals, the anaconda would literally swallow his prey whole while the heroes struggled to stay alive, but it wasn’t so mind-boggling that it had to have a sequel.
Better late than never, a seven-man writing team including the writers of the original story have come up with a reasonable excuse to have a new movie about anacondas, if for nothing else it can be set in mating season, which means a ton of snakes to squeeze, swallow and otherwise terrorize our heroes.*
A group of scientists take a dangerous journey into the Borneo jungle in search of a blood orchid that the lead scientists Gordon (Morris Chestnut, “Breakin’ All the Rules”) and (Matthew Marsden, “Helen of Troy”) believe holds the secret to be the source of a youth-preserving serum.
In a scene that is a tad too familiar with “Star Wars” and the introduction of Han Solo, the group secures the services of Capt. Bill Johnson (Johnny Messner, “The Whole Ten Yards”) the rebel without a cause to take his boat to the orchids. Bill* abandons his pursuit of money along the journey to help this ragtag group survive. Messner‘s character reminded me of the kinds of roles that Vin Diesel used to take, you know, before he became a serious actor and stuff, in that he gets all the cool lines while the other characters just are amazed at him. Maybe it’s the coolness factor, or maybe it’s because they can see his six-pack through his T-shirt? Who knows?
In most horror films, the characters are established and then they started getting killed one by one after the audience has come to care about a handful of them, but it’s not until the first group member gets killed that the diverse personalities begin to emerge and the characters distinguish themselves from Dead Meat #1, Dead Meat #2 and so on. Eugene Byrd (“8 Mile”) definitely takes advantage of being able to give his character, Cole, some life and becomes a character you hope doesn’t become snake bait anytime soon.
Speaking of the real stars of the movie – the anacondas – Director Dwight Little (“Deep Blue”) employs the “less seen the scarier” technique to help make the snakes all the more intimidating and truly gets the maximum scare each time they appear on screen. Not that the CGI work on the snakes is mediocre by any means. There’s little disconnect between the human actors and the CGI snakes and they actually appear to be in the same area and not digitally inserted in afterwards.
When the anaconda claims its first victim, it serves as a spectacular wake up call not just to the characters but also the audience who Little manages to lull into a false sense of security with false alarm snake sightings and narrow escapes. The other killings are just as memorable and managed to stay with me even after I left the theater, a true sign of a good thriller.
Granted, there are some problems with the film inherent in all horror films such as the characters’ amazingly bad decision-making process, their seemingly expert manner in which they manage to get separated from the others among others and the anacondas’ almost personal grudge with the characters.
If you’re in the mood for an entertaining summer flick with mindless action and some genuine seat-jumping moments, “Anacondas: The Hunt For Blood Orchid” definitely is a sequel that packs a bite.