“Anaconda” is a 1997 horror-thriller about a documentary crew that gets taken hostage by a man hunting the world’s largest snake. It is directed by Luis Llosa and written by Jack Epps Jr., Hans Bauer and Jim Cash. The film stars Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Hyde, Owen Wilson, Kari Wührer, Vincent Castellanos, Danny Trejo, Frank Welker and Gary A. Hecker. The tagline promises trouble: “When you can’t breathe, you can’t scream.”
The setup is simple. A documentary crew travels the Amazon looking for a lost tribe. They meet a snake hunter named Paul Serone, played by Jon Voight, who offers to guide them. Serone is hunting a giant green anaconda — and he intends to keep the crew alive long enough to capture it. The film was a box office success and became a 1990s cult classic, though critics were mixed on its merits.
Trailer, via Sony Pictures Entertainment.
The Crew and the Hunter
The documentary crew is a ragtag group. Terri Flores, played by Jennifer Lopez, directs. Danny Rich, played by Ice Cube, handles the camera. Denise Kalberg, played by Kari Wührer, manages the production. Her boyfriend Gary Dixon, played by Owen Wilson, is the sound engineer. Warren Westridge, played by Jonathan Hyde, narrates. Dr. Steven Cale, played by Eric Stoltz, is an anthropologist. Mateo, played by Vincent Castellanos, is the boat skipper.
Paul Serone is the film’s engine. He is a professional tracker who has spent years pursuing the anaconda. He tells the crew he can find the Shirishamas, the lost tribe they are searching for. The film spends its middle stretch building tension between Serone and the crew, particularly Dr. Steven Cale, who clashes with him over the tribe’s lore.
The poacher, played by Danny Trejo, is a minor but memorable presence. He hides from an unknown creature in his boat and eventually commits suicide with his Colt Police Positive revolver. His death sets the anaconda loose on the crew.
The Snake and Its Victims
The anaconda is the real star of the picture. It is a giant green serpent, measuring 25 feet (7.6 meters) long. It kills its first victim early: Mateo falls into the water and is ambushed by the snake, which wraps around him and crushes him. The other two survivors, Danny and Serone, return to their boat unaware of what happened to Mateo.
Serone then manipulates Gary into helping him catch the creature. He promises a $1 million prize if Gary will help ensnare the snake. That night, Serone uses a dead monkey as bait. The snake emerges and attacks the crew. It coils around Gary, crushing him. Terri tries to shoot the anaconda, but the film cuts away before the shot lands.
The Critical Reception
Critics were not kind to “Anaconda.” The film received generally mixed reviews, though it performed well at the box office. The film is the first installment in the Anaconda film series, which continued with sequels and spinoffs. None matched the original’s cultural footprint.
The film has become a cult classic of the 1990s horror canon. It is the first installment in the Anaconda film series, which continued with sequels and spinoffs. None reached the same heights as the original.
The Performance Lineup
The cast is strong across the board. Jon Voight plays Serone with a quiet menace. Eric Stoltz plays Cale as a nervous intellectual who cannot escape the jungle’s dangers. Jennifer Lopez plays Terri as a capable director pushed beyond her limits. Ice Cube plays Danny as loyal and clever, while Owen Wilson plays Gary as the comic relief who becomes a victim.
Kari Wührer’s Denise is steady and practical, a foil to the chaos around her. Vincent Castellanos’s Mateo dies early, but his presence shapes the film’s early scenes. Danny Trejo’s poacher is a brief but effective villain. Frank Welker and Gary A. Hecker provide the voices of the snake itself, a role that requires no physical acting at all.
The Film’s Weak Points
The film’s problems are structural. The plot is thin, and the character development is minimal. The crew members are defined less by personality than by function: the director, the cameraman, the sound engineer, the narrator, the anthropologist, the skipper. Their relationships are hinted at but never fully explored.
The film also leans heavily on shock value. The snake attacks are graphic, but they are not staged with much finesse. The film is at its best when it is tense, and at its worst when it is trying to be gross. The pacing suffers in the middle stretch, where the crew waits for the snake to strike again.
The Sequel Line
“Anaconda” spawned a franchise. The sequels followed the same pattern: a group of people trapped in a remote location, a massive predator, a hunt for survival. None reached the same heights as the original. The series drifted from horror to action, losing some of the dread that made the first film work.
The sequels are a footnote to the original. They exist, but they are not essential viewing. The original remains the standard, and the sequels are best left unwatched.
The Final Word
“Anaconda” is a flawed but watchable film. It is not a great movie, but it is a good one. The cast is excellent, the premise is strong, and the direction is competent. The film’s failure is in execution, not conception.
The film is worth seeing once, but it is not worth seeking out again. It is a solid entry in the 1990s horror canon, a film that knows what it wants to be and delivers it, even if the delivery is rough around the edges.
The final scene, where Terri faces the snake, is the film’s high point. It is tense, well-staged, and genuinely frightening. It is a shame that the rest of the film does not match it.
Ranking the Elements
Here is how the film’s elements stack up:
- The snake attacks — tense, well-executed, the film’s best sequences.
- The cast — strong across the board, particularly Voight and Lopez.
- The premise — a compelling idea, wasted by a weak script.
- The direction — competent, but lacking polish.
- The sequel franchise — a footnote to the original, not worth revisiting.
Running Order
| Scene | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | The poacher hides from an unknown creature in his boat. The creature breaks through and corners him. He commits suicide with his Colt Police Positive revolver. |
| 2 | The documentary crew searches for the Shirishamas, a long-lost indigenous Amazonian tribe. They meet Serone, who offers to guide them. |
| 3 | Cale is stung by a wasp and nearly dies. Serone performs an emergency cricothyrotomy, saving his life. |
| 4 | Serone takes over the boat, revealing his true goal: capturing the giant anaconda. |
| 5 | Danny, Mateo, and Serone search the wreckage of the poacher’s boat. An old newspaper photograph reveals that Mateo, Serone, and the poacher hunted together. |
| 6 | Mateo falls into the water and is killed by the anaconda. Danny and Serone return to their boat unaware. |
| 7 | Serone manipulates Gary into helping him ensnare the creature. |
| 8 | The snake emerges and attacks the crew. It crushes Gary. Terri tries to shoot the anaconda. |
The film is a mixed bag. It is a guilty pleasure, a film that is fun to watch but easy to forget. It is not a masterpiece, but it is not a failure either. It is a solid, if uneven, entry in the horror genre.
It is a film worth seeing once, but not worth defending. It is a good movie that could have been great. It is a film that knows what it wants to be, and it mostly delivers on that promise.
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