Sssssss Movie Review

Sssssss is a 1973 horror movie directed by Bernard L. Kowalski and starring Dirk Benedict, Strother Martin and Heather Menzies.

The movie begins with Dr.Carl Stoner(Martin) who is giving something away in a box. He is selling whatever it is to a freak show. He goes to see a friend of his, Dr. Daniels, to get his research grant extended. He wants a student to work with. He chooses David Blake(Benedict). Stoner has a pet snake called Harry. He also has a daughter called Kristina(Menzies) who David meets when he arrives at Stoner's house/lab. He shows David around and he gives him an injection which he says will protect him in case he gets bitten by a snake. Stoner has a King Cobra in a box and it is aggressive. Dr. Stoner performs a show with his snakes and people pay to see him.

David starts to feel different after a while. His skin starts to peel. The sheriff comes to see Stoner. He wants a tour of the snake lab. They are asking about a man called Tim who used to be his assistant. He is missing. David and Kristina become closer. It turns out that the doctor is turning David into a snake! David and Kristina visit a carnival and they see a snake man there. A local bully tries to fight with David and there is a scuffle. He comes to the house later and kills Harry. Stoner knows it was him and he goes off with a black mamba in a bag. He goes over to the bully's house and he finds the guy in the shower. He lets out his black mamba which bites the guy and kills him.

Dr Stoner finds out that Kristina and David have been spending a lot of time together and he isn't happy about it. David's face starts to change. Something is happening to his body. Stoner sends Kristina to pick up a snake for him to get her out of the way. Dr. Daniels comes looking for David. Stoner won't let him see David. Daniels tells him that he won't be getting his grant. He gets hit on the head by Stoner. He chains him up and he puts the key into a box filled with snakes. Daniels gets the key and gets attacked by a python. Kristina finds that she has time to kill and she visits the freak show again. She sees the snake man. She realises that it is Tim, the assistant. The Sheriff comes looking for Dr. Daniels.

David changes into a snake. Stoner keeps him in his lab. Stoner brings out his cobra and he gets bitten. He dies as David becomes a cobra. Kristina arrives back and sees what has happened. A mongoose is attacking David as she screams and the cops are there too. The movie ends with us not finding out what happened to either of them. This was a pretty good film. It is no masterpiece, by any means, but there is enough here to keep you entertained. I liked Dirk Benedict in this and the story is so bizarre, it's interesting. It isn't the greatest film, but the cast are pretty good and it is worth a look just to see a man transform into a snake!!! I will give this one a 5/10.