Coventry
The Curse part two?? The only thing this modest 80's horror production is cursed with is the burden of getting linked to another and entirely unrelated B-movie that just happens to be produced by the same greedy Italian (Ovidio G. Assonitis). "The Curse", a.k.a. "The Farm", is a poorly made and incredibly cheesy movie about a meteorite crash-landing on a farmland and subsequently mutating the crops and the inhabitants. It's a personal guilty pleasure of mine, but the majority of horror fans – clearly with a better taste in movies than me – dislike it and therefore are likely to avoid "The Bite" based of their prejudices. Not that this movie is an absolute must-see or anything, but it's simply unfair to promote something as a sequel when it tried to be original. No meteorites or infected crops in sight here, as "The Bite" revolves on genetically altered snakes and the disastrous effects their bite cause. Trying to reach Albuquerque via a short cut, hunky Clark and his cute girlfriend Lisa pass through an abandoned military zone in the middle of the desert. Not entirely abandoned, however, since the place is full of virulent and – more importantly – genetically altered snakes. One of the little buggers slithers into the jeep and sees its opportunity to bite Clark in the arm. From that moment on, "The Bite" becomes an absurd and laughable 80's cheesefest. Clark's arm gradually mutates into a ravenous snake-monster and the rest of his mind and body goes through some vast transformations as well. The film is somewhat oddly structured and contains a couple of twists with an extremely high "WTF"-level. For example, the script puts a lot of effort into a sub plot about an amateur medic (with a gigantic nose) chasing the young couple because he gave Clark a wrong antidote and fears a lawsuit. The guy even leads a communication network with deranged truckers! Then there's also a really peculiar twist involving a family of exaggeratedly religious freaks near the end. Weird… and quite boring often, too! Oh well, don't worry too much about the oddness, because the obvious elements to enjoy here are "Screaming" Mad George's engrossing special effects and the enchanting appearance of 80's beauty Jill Schoelen. Screaming Georgie's snakes are awesome and, even though the monstrous effects are not always convincing, this certainly isn't a film I would recommend to people with a phobia for slithering animals! Loads of icky stuff crawling out of people's mouths' and all, you know! The climax is completely unhinged. It looks and feels as if the producers had some extra money left and offered Screaming Mad George the opportunity to experiment and go really berserk with his special type of repulsive art.
slayrrr666
"Curse II: The Bite" is a marginally better sequel, but still suffers from some problems.**SPOILERS**Traveling to Bakersfield, California, Lisa Snipes, (Jill Schoelen) and her boyfriend Clark Newman, (J. Eddie Peck) are warned away from going there but decide on a shortcut to get there. Along the shortcut, they come across a horde of snakes in the road, and getting back to a hotel, he gets bitten. A fellow proprietor, Harry Morton, (Jaime Farr) offers an antidote and they leave, only for him to discover later on that it was a mutated snake which was responsible and races off to find them. While chasing them down, he begins to mutate into a deadly creature from his hand and refuses to have anyone do anything with it. Taking matters into his own hands, he goes on the run and tries to get away, only for the snake to return and force a final showdown.The Good News: As far as cheesy 80s creature features go, this one isn't that bad. The fact that the monster's origins, as well as the few early shots of the creature itself provide, the cheese here is really abundant and far too much for most to take. For the fans, though, the slimy prosthetics are prime enjoyment. They look like really cheesy creations and have the goods to back it up, as one look at them will undoubtedly do. This is nowhere more obvious than during the two transformation scenes, which come off as great as long as the cheese is preferred. Both are really fun scenes and really go all out in providing some great work in the film. The snake comes off really well and looks great as well, another factor in helping them get over, which is also aided by the fact that both occur during the big action scenes, the house massacre as well as the final confrontation at the end. Both feature these as the centerpiece of the scenes, and are therefore full of other facets that make them fun. The body count is also upped slightly compared to the past, and there's some good kills in here. One has their throat bitten out, another swallows the snake when it's forced down their throat, another is bitten around the mouth and neck, leaving a large wound around the area and another is choked out when a prehensile tongue shoots out and wraps around the neck, among others. The last big factor is the film's fast-paced finale, which is simply loads of fun. From the brutal massacre at the house, the chase to the car and the ensuing fight that leads into the construction zone and the final confrontation there is all meshed together into a spectacular series of events that leave a fantastic lasting impression due to them. These here are the film's good points.The Bad News: This one here isn't that bad, except for the cheese. That is a huge turnoff to some, and is perhaps the biggest flaw here. The make-up on the snake transformation is perhaps the most glaring, as there's plenty of obvious rubber parts used for the shots, especially once the transformation begins. The snake is shown rarely, and when the start of the change happens, there's a little more seen but it's still a really hard to tell what it is, since the few times it is the plasticity of the face is so obvious that there's no way around how bad it looks. The snake head coming out of the hand whipping and thrashing about makes for unbridled laughter more often than not. It's not so much the fact that what's going on looks cheesy, but also the fact that this one has a really easy time discerning the fake-ness of the creature in it's scenes that this is where the complaint comes from. It's action scenes get cheesy, but the fact that there's a lot of bad special effects goes against it as well. This can be seen in two scenes, the first attack in the gas station and the fight atop the car at the end, as both are pretty much hurt by both of these areas and really stand-out from the film. There's even a few other problematic scenes, including the one in the bathroom where he cuts his hand off in the hopes of ending the curse. That leads to a scene which looked like it was intended for suspense but only comes off as goofy. The lame insurance salesman following everything is rarely better, and the scenes here are pretty bad. As it stands, though, the cheesiness is the main thing keeping it down.The Final Verdict: With a little bit of good points and some really noticeable flaws, this one does have a slight factor against it. Fans of the first one or of pure cheese creature features will find a lot to like in this one, while those who tend to prefer more straight-forward, serious affair will find this one lacking seriously.Rated R: Violence, Graphic Language and a mild sex scene
willywants
After a young man is bitten on the hand by a radioactive snake, his hand changes into a lethal snake head, which attacks everyone he comes into contact with. Also, his body becomes filled with snakes. Now, he must prevent himself from hurting others. "Curse II" is not only poorly made, but is also boring as watching paint dry. There are some gruesome parts, and screaming mad George's special effects range from really bad to acceptable, but the script is awful, the acting is so-so, and the music is extremely annoying. Don't watch 'Curse 2: the bite". it's a typical excuse for a sequel. (By the way, what does this have to do with the original?) 2-2.5/10.
