Venom 4K 1981 Ultra HD 2160p

Storyline
In London, the boy Philip Hopkins lives with his wealthy family and collects pets, encouraged by his grandfather Howard Anderson who is a famous hunter. When his mother Ruth Hopkins travels to meet her husband in Rome, Philip stays with Howard, the maid Louise Andrews and the chauffeur Dave. However, Louise and Dave have plotted to kidnap Philip with her lover Jacmel. The plan begins to fail when Philip goes to the pet shop to bring the snake he ordered, and the owner commits a mistake and delivers a dangerous black mamba instead. When the owner of the mamba, Dr. Marion Stowe, receives the pet snake, she learns the mistake and calls the police. One police officer goes to Philip's home and is shot by Dave. Now the police, under the command of the tough Commander William Bulloch, puts the house under siege. Meanwhile, the black mamba is free inside the house and bites Louise who dies.

User Review
I've just had the pleasure of re-acquainting myself with this forgotten gem of early '80s British horror which scared me half to death as a little kid.

"High concept" years before the term was invented, the plot ostensibly hangs on a series of belief-stretching co-incidences which result in a hostage siege taking place in a posh London home, with the police camped outside and a deadly (as we are repeatedly reminded) black mamba snake loose in the heating ducts.

Made many years before CGI came along and gave us bloated nonsense like Anaconda and Snakes on a Plane the film-makers had to be fairly economical with their beastie's screen time. Going down the Jaws route , Venom makes highly effective use of POV camera shots, shadowy lighting and an unsettling score (an early work from the much missed composer Michael Kamen; and no, I have not forgotten that he was also responsible for that Bryan Adams monstrosity) to suggest the snakes' presence. When the creature is fully revealed it is more often than not the exceedingly dangerous real thing; borrowed from London Zoo, and provoked into getting the hump in the direction of the nearest camera by their, at the time, resident reptile expert Michael Ball (who gets both an un-credited cameo in the film, and himself played by a cranky Michael Gough in to the bargain).

However, all of these slithery shenanigans are a mere aside to the real terror on show here. The casting of the infamously intense and insane Klaus Kinski opposite the famously drunk and antagonistic Oliver Reed. By all reports these two hated each other on sight and spent the whole shoot at war with each other, with Reed referring to Kinski as a Nazi at every possible opportunity. However, what must have a nightmare situation for director Piers Haggard (parachuted in after Tobe Hooper walked with shooting already under way) as they share virtually every scene together, paid off in dividends as the warring actors enthusiastically pour every ounce of their scenery-chewing one-oneupmanship onto the screen. Stir into this mix a few more well-renowned "difficult" actors: Nicol Williamson (The famously OTT Merlin from Excalibur) getting his Sweeney on, Sarah Miles, and Sterling Hayden among them; and what results is a glorious bombast of angry intense thesping, that grabs this would-b-movie by the balls and drags it into "forgotten classic" territory. A daft, wonderful, guilty pleasure. Seek it out.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (74.2 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Info Audio

#English: FLAC 2.0
#English: Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos 7.1
#English: Dolby Digital 5.1
#English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Commentary by director Piers Haggard)
#English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Commentary by film historians Troy Howarth, Nathaniel Thompson and Eugenio Ercolani)

Info Subtitles