Film Reviews

Anacondas - The Hunt

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Eugene Byrd
• Details: US/ 97 mins / (15PG).

Even by Hollywood's standards, one suspects that there wasn't much of a public demand for a sequel to Anaconda, the appalling movie that helped set the template for Jennifer Lopez's career back in 1997. Indeed, about the nicest thing that can be said for its sequel is that it makes you almost nostalgic for the original.
The plot is every bit as farcical as you'd expect from a film with a title so long it deserves its own postcode. Deep in the jungles of Borneo it is alleged that monster Anaconda snakes live, having grown to massive sizes thanks to their consumption of an exotic flower (hence the title, folks). A pharmaceutical company thinks that they may be able to use the plant for profitable purposes and pops off an expedition of thinly disguised stereotypes to the jungles in an effort to locate it.
Low rent sniping aside, you could probably make the argument that Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid is no worse than a dozen other movies currently doing the rounds, and at least it's not trying to hoodwink its audience into believing that it's anything other than a trashy horror thriller where the work experience kids seemed to have final say on the special effects. Faint praise indeed.

Review by Garreth Murphy