It’s not as if we haven’t had plenty of killer snake movies, Anaconda comes to mind; but we’ve never had a truly great one. It’s funny, because we’ve had great movies about loads of other deadly creatures, such as sharks, canines, and even birds. I think it’s pretty safe to say that Mike P. Nelson’s Beware Boiúna is the best killer snake movie of all, because it isn’t reliant on the snake alone to ramp up the non-stop thrills and action.
Beware Boiúna caught me by surprise because I think we’ve been trained to expect it to be like Anaconda, the cheesy 1997 original not the horrible comedy reboot from last year. The better model is something like Jaws, which is great because of the setting, the conflicts among the people, everything that orbits the shark itself. Written by Alan McElroy, Beware Boiúna takes a similarly character-driven approach. The snake is a chaotic component added to an already tense life-or-death situation.
Jessica Rothe, already a beloved scream queen from the Happy Death Day films (and the upcoming TIFF breakout, River) plays Alli, part of a humanitarian mission deep in the Amazon rainforest. The goal is to help treat the people there with medical care they can’t normally access. Rothe’s character is a bit naive going in; it’s clear she has the best of intentions but no real understanding of how cruel the world, and this area in particular, can be. Kiana Madeira is Lena, a local who moved away to the big city, and now has returned to help find her missing brother. Lena has a more realistic idea of what to expect. She knows the danger, she knows the people, and she knows the folklore that has terrified people of this region for generations.
Lena and Alli might have different views of the world, but they put all of that aside when one’s life is threatened and they are forced to act in self-defense. But this defense comes at a fatal cost, and the two women find themselves being hunted by Logan Marshall-Green’s Brennan Malloy, who is out for revenge.
I’ve always been a fan of Marshall-Green, especially for his performances in The Invitation and Upgrade, but he’s even better here as the main antagonist. When we first meet Brennan, he seems like a typial “ugly American” stereotype, invading a foreign land and robbing it of its natural resources for profit. Later, as we learn more about him, things are considerably less black and white. He has damn good reason to be angry with Alli and Lena, even if his method of payback is beyond the pale.
As for the snake, the Boiúna, it’s treated like an unstoppable force of nature and creature of legend. It’s always spoken about with a kind of reverence, like a queen (the creature is always a “her”) defending its kingdom. It’s man who are the interlopers into the snake’s territory. Visually, the special effects are a damn sight better than the recent Anaconda which probably had a bigger budget. I love how the Boiúna uses the surroundings to its benefit, often hiding in plain sight until the right time to strike.
So a killer snake attack in the middle of a revenge thriller? Yeah, it sounds crazy but it works, and the film leans into the chaos of the situation and how that chaos can breed unlikely relationships. While there aren’t a ton of kills that truly stand out, the deaths that do happen are significant and there are some real shockers here. Don’t expect all of your favorites to come out of it unscathed. Beware Boiúna is a blast that puts an awesome new movie monster on the map.
Beware Boiúna opens in theaters on October 2nd.
