Venom (2005)

Elevator Pitch: In a town in the deep south swamplands a group of teenagers gather for the summer, some of them witnessing the rescue of a voodoo witch from her car, and the apparent deatht of reclusive tow truck driver Ray, who is trapped in the car as it falls into a river. But he has been bitten by voodoo snakes, which according to the witch’s granddaughter have turned him into a monster dealing death to all he comes across. In the witch’s house some of the teens take refuge, but will they survive.

Content: Ray and his tow truck seem to be evil, and that’s before he has been bitten. The teens sit about at the diner, a couple of them acting as waitresses. They go swimming, allowing one of the girls to appear in a bikini.  Ray kills several people with a crowbar. A group hide in the witch’s house but Ray gets to them, resulting in a lot of screaming. There is a fair bit of blood, but it is in the dark so you don’t see too much. They are gradually picked off until only one or two are surviving, wading in the swamp, while Ray, now zombie like, is able to attack them from under water.

A View: I was mildly entertained when Ray managed to pull the corner of the witch’s house off with the tow truck, but this did not compensate for the overall darkness and the noise of teenage girls screaming for most of the time. There is usually something to be made of small towns in the swamps, but this movie did not manage it. On the plus side, there was a story and a conclusion. It can’t have cost much but even so probably did not cover its costs. Not worth your time, even if you like the genre.

Additional Info: Probably encouraged by the success of other teen slasher movies the producers throught they might have a franchise in the making, and arranged the ending for that purpose, but it was disliked by the test audience so much that they changed it.