Mamba (1988)

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

A clever and intriguing concept is poorly handled in this 'killer snake' thriller starring Trudy Styler (wife of pop icon, 'Sting'). This starts off brilliantly as twisted boyfriend and video game engineer, Greg Henry purchases a deadly black mamba off of nomad snake-handler (played well as usual by Bill Moseley in an all-to-brief appearance). This opening scene does a tremendous job of displaying the icy remorselessness of Henry's character as he disposes of Moseley just before unleashing the snake into the giant loft apartment of his artistic ex-girlfriend, Styler in order to play a sick revenge game. This takes a turn for the worst as Styler acts in the most ridiculous of ways. Instead of avoiding the mamba, she taunts it by yelling at it, throwing matches at it...etc. She sinks an all time low in her eccentric display of stupidity when she dumps powder all over the floor and gets on top of the refrigerator, pointlessly attacking the snake with eggs and shouting "filthy, filthy!", meanwhile, Henry watches on his computer in a near-by, high-tech stakeout. Its a decent premise wasted by one of the most annoyingly absurd characters in screen history. Styler eventually redeems herself in a clever and final confrontation with Henry, but by then, it loses interest, and the camera prowling about the floors of the apartment imitating the snake looks unrealistic. Its worth seeing for the good opening and Greg Henry as the cold and abhorrent villain, but Styler's character's attempted self-redeeming woman is just so laughable.

I had the dubious pleasure of attending a pre-screening of this movie at a Los Angeles studio in 1987 or 1988, and I find it really hard to believe that it ever made it out of editing room garbage cans. On the other hand, maybe I should take that back; there are good bad movies, and there are bad bad movies, and I have to admit that I really enjoyed guffawing in disbelief throughout this one. Still, my favorite part of the screening was filling out the evaluation form after seeing this gem: I have never had a more fruitful opportunity to exercise my limited abilities in sardonic wit. If I remember correctly, that document was my masterpiece in the genre. I wish I had a copy. Many thanks to my friend and student at the time, Sergio Canto, who got the passes to the screening.P.S. I could take a line or two to outline what I remember about the plot of the "film," but that's as much as the writer did, so I guess I won't bother.

You know how some movies are so bad, they're good? My wife and I laughed out loud more watching this than we do watching some comedies. DVR this...watching it double speed is fine - just slow down for the ridiculous rare dialog.The film appears to be entirely an Italian production. I kept guessing that the only way this was made was that it was written, directed, and starring Trudy Styler, and produced by Sting...to keep her busy. But nope, unless Sting paid off a bunch of Italian people, it looks like someone actually read this and thought "hey, this worth making". I can only guess that substantial drug use let this little turd get green lighted. Or Sting paid them off. But that's it - the only 2 plausible explanations.

A narcissistic intellectual video game designer doesn't appreciate the fact that his "weakling" ex-girlfriend has moved on with her life, trying to earn a living from her putty sculptures(?!)enjoying the fruits of her labor in a posh vast loft, blessed with limited windows, highly secure. Gene(Gregg Henry)decides to put an end to this by "inheriting" a deadly venomous black mamba, required by a snake handler(Bill Moseley, in one his many grubby roles..the actor has a whole trunk load of these parasites he can pluck for use)he dupes and murders. Gene's plan at eliminating an "ungrateful" inferior girlfriend is to seal Eva's(Trudie Styler, and hour or so of running time spent with her is enough for any wary viewer to endure)home, locking her inside with the Mamba snake, with a special tracking device on both of them, watching their "progress" from his car. Gene injects more hormones in the snake supposedly giving it a limited life expectancy providing the Mamba with "extra motivation" for attacking anyone in it's proximity..Gene even has a timer set on his computer as to when the snake would die if it couldn't release it's venom in time. So the main meat of the film is Eva by herself practicing meditation and yoga, talking and joking to herself, making funny expressions to herself in the mirror, and generally goofing off until she realizes the snake is in there with her..and the fact that her loft is locked tight with no exit it seems. The film often cuts to Gene in his vehicle, "sweating" it out as the counter clicks away and Eva often evades the deadly fangs of the Mamba.I would recommend seeing this film for those interested in Gregg Henry. The DVD release of "Just Before Dawn", and films like "Slither", "Payback" and "Body Double" feature his talents. But, I think his work here is exceptional. I think the point-of-view shots of the snake slithering around in the loft are quite reminiscent to those snake-cameras used by thieves attempting to find passages through difficult security systems in hi-tech actioners. The director often uses this device probably because it's a lot easier, and a bit more realistic. On paper, this film could be a winner. It probably is if you find Trudie Styler interesting or entertaining, because, in just my opinion, the film hangs on her likability..she is in the film the most and it's her plight we must be concerned with. I found her pretty annoying so her plight didn't concern me, to be honest. I was more interested in Henry, because he created this air of pomposity and I've always been a fan of actors who could create a quiet menace, seething underneath this calm exterior. I like how the director often shoots him from below as if he were standing on a pedestal looking down on his prey. I say if you like Styler's performance and character, the film will work..if not, then you'll feel the same way I did. Really, the interesting premise on paper never quite materializes on screen although, as I've mentioned already, Henry's villain is quite memorable. To be honest, in a real movie, a character such as Styler's would've been mincemeat. The funniest scene would have to been when Eva stares down the mamba with a lit cigarette lighter.