Anaconda's: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid DVD Review:

After discovering that a compound found with the flower of the illusive Blood Orchid could hold the secret to extending life, Dr. Jack Byron (Marsden) sees this as his chance to make billions. The problem is that the flower is only in bloom for another two weeks and will not appear again for seven years. In a race against time, Bryon gathers together a team and heads to Borneo only to find that the rainy season has started and he cannot charter a boat to take him up river. Local riverboat owner Bill Johnson (Messner) agrees to take them for $25,000 but they soon discover that it is not just the river that is dangerous in the jungles of Borneo.

The original Anaconda movie was extremely poor but seven years after the original, can the sequel be any better? Yes but that doesn’t take very much.

Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid is a popcorn movie, plain and simple. Built on a flimsy greed and eternal life plotline, the film is all about who is going to be devoured by the snake next and who is going to survive. You just sit down, switch your brain off and let it flow over you. This isn’t life changing or life affirming stuff but it is slightly above average harmless fun.

It is the cast that makes the movie that much more watchable. Unlike the original, which had Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, Ice Cube and John Voight, this is a cast of relative unknowns but the film is better for it. When you have a collection of stars you know that most of them are going to survive or at least live for most of the picture, with this cast you don’t have a clue who is going to be eaten. This slightly increases the tension and makes the scares a bit more unpredictable.

Out of the cast there are a few possible future stars. KaDee Strickland is starting to make her name known and her role, as Sam Rogers will help her gain more attention. She plays the scream queen of the piece who conquers her fears to kick some butt. Matthew Marsden makes the transition from Emmerdale and Coronation Street to Hollywood to play a typical role for a young British actor, the villain. Salli Richardson and Morris Chestnut are also good as two arguing colleagues that are probably attracted to each other.

The star of the film is Johnny Messner. He is an old school, action hero type who shows a lot of promise. He plays adventurer and riverboat captain Bill Johnson with great gusto, making the character a lot better than he should have been. He shows great potential and possible leading man aspirations.

Anacondas: The Hunt of the Blood Orchid is a throwaway popcorn flick that is more entertaining than it should have been. The special effects are passable with the giant snakes looking scary enough to eat the cast at any time. The main problem with the movie is with the setting of the story, as Borneo doesn’t actually have any indigenous Anacondas, they are only native to South America.

Star Rating = * *

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen with a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack, this is a good transfer. The picture quality is sharp throughout with no pixelation, even during the many nighttime scenes. The sound quality is also good, filling your speakers and really getting that base unit going during the action sequences.

BONUS FEATURES

Special Effects Toolbox: Creating Anacondas (10.39 mins)

Director Dwight Little, visual effects supervisor Dale Duguid and stars Matthew Marsden, Morris Chestnut, KaDee Strickland, Salli Richardson, Nicholas Gonzalez and Johnny Messner take you behind the scenes of the special effects for ‘Anacondas: The Hunt of the Blood Orchid’. Looking at the CG and animatronic techniques utilised to bring the gigantic snakes to life, we see the amount research and development needed to make the snakes believable. The featurette also covers the waterfall stunt and the amount of preparation that went into that sequence.

Deleted Scenes (8.47 mins)

Four deleted scenes that show how the original boat was cancelled, the Borneo nightlife, the finding of a new orchid and a romantic interlude in the village. With a commentary track however, we don’t know why these scenes where removed.

Trailers
The theatrical trailer for ‘Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid’ and previews of ‘Frankenfish’, ‘Resident Evil: Apocalypse’ and ‘The Forgotten’.

OVERALL

An extremely average film receives an extremely average DVD treatment. The lack of a commentary track makes you think that the filmmakers know that the film isn’t that good and the absence of a track on the deleted scenes doesn’t help either. The featurette is good however but this isn’t enough to disguise a poor DVD.

DVD Star Rating = * *

Jamie Kelwick

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