Sun 31 Dec 2017
A Horror Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: RATTLERS (1976).
Posted by Steve under Horror movies , Reviews[11] Comments
RATTLERS. Boxoffice International Pictures, 1976. Sam Chew, Elisabeth Chauvet, Dan Priest, Ron Gold, Al Dunlap, Dan Balentine. Director: John McCauley.
Schlock and awe is the name of the game in Rattlers, a low budget when-animals-attack movie from the 1970s. And yes, it’s a very 1970s movie. There’s a subplot about feminism and equal rights and some absolutely beautiful shots of vintage (from today’s perspective, that is) cop cars being driven around the California desert. And then there are the snakes. Although there’s nothing particularly 70s about them. To be honest, not all of them are rattlesnakes and it’s not even clear how close the actors got to them.
But that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that, despite its obviously low budget nature, the film doesn’t come off as an amateur production. I know now it’s trendy to poke fun at these types of films and, on some level, I get it. There are some unintentionally comedic moments to be found in Rattlers. But it’s not aiming to be high art either. It’s meant as escapist entertainment and was part of the zeitgeist. How many when- animals-attack films were there in the mid- to late 1970s? How many were inspired by the success of Spielberg’s Jaws (1975)?
Sam Chew, who went on to become the narrator of Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, portrays University of California herpetologist Dr. Tom Parkinson. He’s asked by a sheriff in the Mojave Desert to investigate a string of bizarre deaths. This is not the work of a serial killer, however. The culprits in this case couldn’t hold a knife to save their ophidian lives.
Parkinson teams up with the very single and very feminist war photographer Ann Bradley (Elisabeth Chauvet) to investigate what is causing these snakes to attack humans in such a brutal manner. This leads them both to a local military facility where a megalomaniac officer is conducting illegal research on nerve agents. I think you can put two and two together.
Laugh at Rattlers if you must, but unlike a lot of contemporary quickie low budget horror films that are little more than joyless gore fests, this one was actually attempting to be socially conscious and to say something.
December 31st, 2017 at 6:48 pm
This is an enjoyable and informative review. Thank you!
I’d never heard of this film. Will put it in my queue.
You make a very good point. Watching non-comedy films to laugh at them is usually a bad idea. It makes you miss whatever is good about the movies. You’re much better off just sitting down and watching a film sincerely, hoping for the best. Usually you get far more out of the experience, that way.
December 31st, 2017 at 9:08 pm
First day I lived in Wet Texas there was a huge headline in red in the oval paper, RATTLESNAKE ALERT!
I’ve lived long enough with them. I think I’ll writhe away from this one despite Jonathan’s great review.
December 31st, 2017 at 9:15 pm
I’m reminded of Sam Chew Jr., as he was billed in the early part of his career.
He was often cast as various members of the Kennedy family in TV movies about that earlier period; for example, he played Bobby Kennedy in Tail Gunner Joe (at one point he refers to G. David Schine as “Young Lochinvar”, plainly not meaning it as a compliment).
Just wondering if Mr. Chew is still using the Hyannisport accent (or something like it) these days …
December 31st, 2017 at 9:49 pm
I don’t know what accent he might have used, but I was intrigued enough to check out some of the other things he was in. Turns out he was in three episodes of High Tide, the TV series reviewed here on this blog by Michael Shonk not too long ago.
January 1st, 2018 at 12:28 pm
Sounds like they pressed all the 70s buttons there. Maybe because I lived through it, these films seem more dated to me than many made in the 1930s & 40s.
January 1st, 2018 at 2:10 pm
Not more dated Dan, just lousier.
January 1st, 2018 at 4:39 pm
I don’t think the 70s were a total waste, Barry. Tastes and opinions vary, of course, but here’s a list of several movies that come to mind for me:
DELIVERANCE
THE GODFATHER
KLUTE
DIRTY HARRY
THE STING
JAWS
CHINATOWN
MARATHON MAN
ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN
THE FRENCH CONNECTION
ALIEN
HALLOWEEN
STAR WARS
ROCKY
NASHVILLE
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
Whatever entertainment value or other social significance RATTLERS may have, I agree that it’s not a film that’s going to be on lists like this put together by many other people.
January 1st, 2018 at 5:29 pm
Looking at my list of favorite 1970’s films, most are either foreign films, or made-for-TV (there were quite a few good ones in the 1970’s). Only a few are regular Hollywood films made for theaters.
And maybe half of those are by studio-era veterans hanging in in the last days of their careers, like Cukor or Robert Aldrich.
January 1st, 2018 at 7:39 pm
3. Mike and 4. Steve. HIGH TIDE like to reuse background characters. When I noticed that Samuel Chew as he was credited did not have a character name I figured he played a character with a couple of lines and no name.
I think he played the secret fiance in “Dead In the Water.”
Check around 38:35 or so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8lbhbSEEtE
January 1st, 2018 at 7:43 pm
Steve,
No disagreement. My comment was directed specifically at Rattlers and its many brothers.
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:58 am
Understood!
I had fun listing all those good 70s movies, though. And I’m sure I could come up with another dozen just as good just as quickly. Makes me want to see some of them again soon.