Director: Don E. Fauntleroy
Year: 2009
Country: Romania/USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
Traveling around Eastern Europe, a research team trying to find out the origins of the earlier group run into a scientist concerned with the giant killer snake on the loose and try to outlast the deadly creature.
Review:
This one was a decent if decidedly lacking sequel. There's still some rather good stuff here in dealing with the tactics of the snake as the last half is rather full of snake encounters featuring a lot of clever getaways which makes the scenes more enjoyable due to that, with the flower-scent-on-the-clothes trick is rather cool and unique and the several different ways of attracting the snake after different members of the group are really nice. Even just normal defensive tactics such as the traps around the safe-house and the gas-tank bomb make for some great moments spread throughout the film.
There's also some rather fun action scenes in here which are the confrontations with the snake. The opening in the mine is one of the better scenes in the film which has a lot going for it in the rather claustrophobic surroundings of the area with the inherent tension, the action in the chasing through the different tunnels and the way it works the different escapes makes it really good, while the chase through the woods after the snake breaks through the camp is really good from the snapping twigs and off-screen noises of the snake breaking through the branches to the need for a hiding spot and really adds some nice action into the mix. There's also the fun to be had with the finale where the film mixes in a spectacular chase concept with the snake going after the fleeing car while a big brawl rages on the outside leading to a fun, exciting and really enjoyable scene. The last plus here is the film's blood and gore, even though there was a couple of things here that didn't work too well.
One of the biggest factors here is the film's tendency to lead to a long series of scenes that offer up little excitement, lasting a while before snake attacks. The early parts of the film makes for lots of chewed up screen-time as they travel through the underbrush to get to the camp as well as the back-and-forth styles of the two other groups involved in the action, where the scenes with the mercenaries following them are pretty much there to see the body count get bigger. They don't serve any purpose at all into the film's main plot and feel more like they're in there to tie up the connections from the first one, which didn't need it as all of these different elements severely hampers the pace and the amount of time spent with the snakes.
There's also a rather irritating habit of seeing everyone in here purposely put themselves in danger just to get the action going, from exiting out a car the opposite side the snake's attacking on to purposely blowing a hole into a wall where the snake's at as well as trying to run away on foot from a sixty-foot snake, it features a lot of these scenes that aren't so logical just so that an action scene can be brought into the film. The last flaw here is the atrocious CGI used for the titular creature which is pretty-much common-place for these films and doesn't really deserve more than that. Otherwise, these re the film's problems.
Overview:***.5/5
Much like the previous effort in the franchise, this one manages to feature enough cheesy action and silly effects that can look awful but are appropriate for the kind of film this is. Give this a look if you're into these kind of silly, cheesy creature features, the previous films in the franchise or the channel's output, while those who are completely turned off by any of these factors will have no interest in this one.
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