Venom

Plot synopsis:
The story opens with a Creole woman digging up a small briefcase from the ground in the pouring rain. She then proceeds to get in her car and drives down the Louisiana road. Meanwhile, at a local burger joint, high school senior, Eden (Agnes Bruckner), is working with her best friends, Rachel (Laura Ramsey) and CeCe (Meagan Good) while the rest of her friends hang around the place. Ricky (Pawel Szajda) is aimlessly flirting with Patty (Davetta Sherwood) and Tammy (Bijou Phillips) by giving them alcohol. Eric (Jonathan Jackson) and Sean (D. J. Cotrona) talk about important matters until Ray Sawyer (Rick Cramer) pulls up in his tow truck. Everyone stares and whisper rumors about him while Ray picks his order up. Ray is Sean's biological father. After he leaves, Rachel says how much he scares her, while Tammy flashes Ray while he eats in his truck. After work, Eden begins to bike home alone, but Eric catches up to her to talk to her about going to college in New York. While they were talking, Ray drives up and asks if Eden's alright. When he is sure, he begins to leave when another car, carrying the Creole woman from the beginning of the film - who is CeCe's grandmother - passes by. CeCe's grandmother's car falls halfway off the bridge. Ray gets out of the truck and helps Eric save the woman. Ray saves her, but the woman begs Ray to get the suitcase. As Ray reaches into her car to get it, the suitcase lid flies open as the car falls off of the bridge and begins to sink into the water below. Upon opening, the suitcase releases several horrifying snakes. As the car sinks into the bayou the snakes attack Ray. The ambulance arrives to find Ray dead along with CeCe's grandmother. CeCe arrives shaken up over the tragedy, and takes a charm that was on her grandmother's corpse. CeCe then surprises Eden and Eric by questioning them about the condition of Ray's body.
The same night at the coroner's office, the coroner examines Ray's dead body apparently having been bitten by venomous snakes – presumed to be water snakes. The coroner leaves the area and comes back to see Ray's body missing and then he is killed by Ray's possessed body. Deputy Turner is also killed while returning Ray's tow truck to the shop. The next day Eden is still recuperating from the night before. She visits her father's grave in the cemetery, and sees Ray's tow truck driving by. Rachel and her boyfriend, Sean, are at the lake, with Sean showing little emotion to Ray's death. He drank heavily leading to him ditching Rachel with Eden and having Eric chase after him. Meanwhile, Tammy and Patty are planning to go to the mall to shoplift and they come across Ray's towing business. Patty goes to pee, while Tammy fixes the tires. When she is done, Tammy goes to look for Patty, only to find her impaled by battery clamps attached to chains leaving her to hang. Tammy tries to escape but Ray traps her in the garage and crushes her torso with a lowered car and then sandblasts her face off with a blasting pump.
As Eric follows Sean to Ray's garage, Sean begins to show anger at Ray's death for his abandonment. Sean enters the area to find a picture of him when he was a little kid – showing that Ray did care about him. Sean storms out toward the garage and finds the remains of Tammy strewn around the floor. The night leads to Eden going to CeCe's grandmothers house, where she has a plethora of voodoo materials. CeCe then tells her that the snakes that killed Ray were full of the evil that her grandmother took out of men to purify their souls. Ricky, Rachel, Sean, and Eric arrive at CeCe's and find out what is going on. They try to escape town but their car is turned on its side preventing anyone from leaving the bayou. The kids all see Ray and begin to run and Ricky is caught by Ray when his leg is pinned to the stairs by a crowbar. His arm is then ripped off, causing him to bleed to death. Ray cannot enter the house because the house has been blessed with voodoo spells.
As the others panic inside, they look and it seems as if Ray is gone. Ray throws a chain through a window and winds it around Sean's neck, then drags him outside, while Eden grabs a rifle from the bedroom. Ray slashes Sean's face with his crowbar and then impales him through the chest. Eden and Eric shoot Ray with the rifle to buy them time to drag Sean inside and try in vain to stop the bleeding, but he dies on the floor. Rachel cries over the loss of her boyfriend, while Eden talks CeCe into turning Sean's body into a human voodoo doll to control Ray. Meanwhile, Ray hooks the towing hook to the foundation of the house and pulls a whole room off the house, dragging Eric and Rachel with it. Eric and Rachel run to get back inside, while CeCe finishes the spell, despite her leg being crushed by a support beam.
Ray begins to climb the wreckage toward CeCe, but CeCe stabs Sean's body several times to slow Ray down in his advance. Ray finally reaches her and takes the knife from CeCe to slash her throat, while Eden, Eric and Rachel leave. As the remaining three try to escape, Ray follows in his truck and pulls beside them. He tosses a chain around Rachel's neck and drags her halfway out of the car, but Eden grabs hold of her legs. As both cars are accelerating, Rachel screams and is impaled on a dead log. Eric and Eden then try to pass through the swamp to escape Ray, who dives beneath the murky water. As Eric and Eden head for dry land, Ray attacks, missing them both, but separating them. Eden ends up in the graveyard, and Eric deeper in the swamp. Eden makes her way into a crypt where she finds an altar and an open casket where all the victims are kept. Eden tries to leave but Ray comes and locks her in. In panic, Eden hides beneath Patty's body. Eric is then thrown into the crypt by Ray, who then goes to the altar. Eden starts to cry until Eric opens his eyes.
Eden can not hide her gasp, unknowingly drawing Ray's attention. As Ray looks in to inspect the bodies, he grabs Eden's foot, but Eric begins to groan to protect Eden. Ray then stabs Eric in the head with a screwdriver. Eden then fights Ray by setting him on fire and pushing him down a chute, but he drags her with him. She then uses a charm she got from CeCe that protects against evil. Ray submits, but the snakes possessing his body emerge to try to take the charm from her. Eden escapes up the chute, using the charm as a diversion. Eden then traps Ray and the snakes in the chute. As she tries to drive off in his tow truck, she hears an inhuman shriek, signaling Ray is back. Ray chases Eden out of the truck before she can do anything and she runs to hide in the bayou. She hides behind a bush close to Ray. He hears a rustling and hacks the bush, revealing she is not there. Just then the tow truck emerges through the underbrush and crushes Ray in half against a tree, killing him. Eden then staggers off into the trees, and the two snakes can be seen crawling out of Ray's decomposing torso to find another host.

Tags: violence

Review:
I had never heard of it, but luckily I have access to rental screeners before they are released, otherwise I never would have seen this film.Typical story, guy gets killed, guy comes back to life, guy starts killing people.
A bit of voodoo gets thrown in just for good measure.Sure, the story isn't the greatest, and it's not going to win any Oscars for best actors, but the film still is a fun little time waster for all horror fans out there.If you enjoy the slasher films of the late 70's and the 80's, be sure to check this one out.
The movie is your typical, teens outside in a wild area (this time a swamp instead of the woods) and are stalked and brutally murdered off by a killer who is literally unstoppable.If you want to go see a movie were people get killed and their is a lot of blood and gore, then go see this now.
If you want a movie that has good acting, great story, and is smart and suave, hold off of this and check out Cry Wolf.Or better yet, try to go out and see booth..
While the acting for the most part is typical teenager and a little disappointing except for the bad guy, the film looks fantastic, the actions sequences are great as well as the kills, some of which were hard to watch due to their realism.
While it is marketed to resemble a dozen movies similar to it, Venom has better than average plot development, an effectively eerie mood, and good suspense.
The film also avoids many horror movie clichés that would have otherwise dragged it down to a lower level.Venom is evocative of many Wes Craven movies, especially Cursed, where another kind of "monster" is out attacking young people.
The teenager Eden (Agner Bruckner) decides to pay a visit Cece (Meagan Good), the granddaughter of the voodoo priestess, with her friends trying to find an explanation, and they are advised to leave the place, since Ray is possessed by the souls of the most despicable villains milked by her grandmother from sinners.
While Ray is trying to reap more souls, the group has only the protection of the spelled house and a charm.When I see a slash movie, I certainly foresee the story: original and savage deaths; gore; beautiful unknown actresses; a few of survivors in the end, if any; a good soundtrack; and a hook for a possible sequel.
Nothing too memorable but just good enough to watch it.People tend to call these type of movies new age horror but fact is that these type of movies have been around since the '70's, in which a bunch of hot looking teenagers are all getting killed one-by-one by a maniac/monster.
He also wrote the previous Gillespie directed movie "I Know What You Did Last Summer", which became a success, though probably only because it got released so shortly after the success of "Scream" and the genre was hot and popular again at that time.This is not the type of horror movie that should ever scare you, it's more a movie that entertains with its horror, perhaps of the reason that everything happens in such a predictable way.
Just too bad that the didn't really used much of the voodoo concepts to make this movie a bit more interesting and original to watch.It's enjoyable enough for the fans of the genre and certainly not as bad as everyone tries to make you believe it is.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
If you don't spend too much time thinking about the plot and manage to overlook the general lunacy, Venom offers 90 minutes of dumb fun.As a horror fan, the most interesting aspect of the film for me was the joining of two horror sub-genres (for want of a better description) - the voodoo/hoodoo and slasher genres.
There are better voodoo films, Wes Craven's "The Serpent and the Rainbow" comes to mind, and certainly many better slasher films, but it was fun to watch the director mix the genres.Ray, originally known as "Jangles" in the computer game, makes for an interesting villain.
The director also gets carried away with CGI effects as the film progresses and spends far too much time making snake eyes move under Ray's skin than concentrating on the good, old fashioned gore that makes the first half of the film so enjoyable.The film's finale is fairly predictable and by then I had lost interest.
Gillesepie did a good job with I Know What You Did Last Summer, and he surely showed his skills directing this movie.VENOM (2005) stars: (1-30-06) Agnes Bruckner, Jonathan Jackson, Laura Ramsey, D.J Cotrona, Bijou Phillips, Rick Cramer, Meagan Good, Method Man, Pawel Szadja, and Davetta Sherwood..
But the action is quite good, mixed with a nice little bit of Vodoun, some competent performances, and a solid story line, this was highly enjoyable.This film works hard to deliver some excellent suspense, and it succeeds, leaving you on the edge of your seat here and there.
Venom Dimension 2005 color 85 minutes Horror-Thriller Agnes Bruckner, Johnathan Jackson, Laura Ramsey, D.J. Cotrona, Rick Cramer, Megan Good, Bijou Phillips, Method Man, Pawel Szajda and Stacey Travis star.
So dimension finished this film and fast tracked it for a September release instead of taking a bit more time to develop it slightly and marketing it better so people actually know it exists.
There is a town bad ass named Ray whom the kids tease and one night while riding her bike(because she's saving money for med school) home Eden (By far the worst name for a white character or anyone for that matter) has a run in with her ex boyfriend because of college reasons and becomes part of an accident involving a creepy old woman, Ray and a devilish suitcase.
However the good outweighs the bad and Venom makes for a fun night out at the movies especially with a date.
We're in front of our typical slasher film; good guy dies in a freak accident, then comes back to life turned into an evil killing machine.
It's a pretty overused formula, but in this case it works; the characters are likable and you find yourself rooting for them but at the same time, thinking about which one of them is going to get the nastiest demise next.Even though I'm not the kind of guy who gets scared by slasher movies, I did with this one.
The atmosphere was great, it was dark and intriguing; the surroundings were obscure (with the exception of the party at the lagoon and the gas station scene where the girls go for some fuel), those aspects helped the movie a lot and honestly, I can't think of any other place better for the story than the swamps of Louisiana; they nailed it at this one.The killings were really gruesome (as expected), the sequences were mostly intense, like the one at the grandmother's house and the last fight between our leading lady and the villain.
Venom is to me, an above average flick which brings u flashbacks to the good ol' -80's when every horror movie was like this, with the big difference, this one is pretty good.The director made a descent job out of a descent material, the actors acted...
The acting with a few of the actors was, like I said before, a little shaky, and the graphics were okay for a lower budget horror flick (as they all are), and the movie was definitely better than any Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th that I have ever seen.
"Venom" deals with the same voodoo storyline as the far superior "The Skelton Key." It is about what happens when a car accident between a truck driver and a voodoo priestess lets loose some nasty looking snakes, and ends up attacking the usual group of teenage friends.
A Very decent slasher film with some emerging young stars in the cast like Agnes Bruckner (Blood & Chocolate), Laura Ramsey (The Covenant, The Ruins).
the death scenes were good definitely enough blood some good voodoo violence is great for a movie.it was a little predictable in some parts but not enough to ruin it for me.
Venom wasn't the greatest thing ever, but it's something that I would sit through again and againYou're not gonna find any Oscar-worthy acting here, but it's not putrid like the acting in the Black Christmas remake.Some of the kills were very inventive, and I liked the idea of this lonely, harmless man turning into a serial killer who is no Freddy or Jason or Hannibal, but he is smarter than some of the other brain-dead serial killers that appear in slasher films these days.
Overall, if you are looking for an Oscar movie with this, than turn elsewhere, but if you are looking for a good slasher film for a Saturday night, than I would say rent this.
The other scenes here are just as fun with the thrilling stalking scene in the garage workshop taking out the friend using the car equipment to trap and terrorize her, a rather fun chase through the woods as they try to escape his monster towing truck in their small jeep that includes one of the film's best kills and a truly creepy stalking out in the bayou swamps where he continually dives under to sneak up on them which really uses the locations and scenery to absolutely great effect.
i haven't actually seen this movies and i was wondering and wanting someone to tell me the following: Does the guy that gets ripped out the window die and if so how, does Meagan good (the black girl) die if so how, does the blonde who goes flying from the jeep to Rays truck die and if so how, and does Bijou Phillips who plays Tammy (the ditsy brunette) die and if so how.
I think that if the director was given a more promising script and group of characters like I know what you did last summer, he could have made a better film.
The zombie is now possessed by the snakes, which are the souls of evil men and is adding to his list.Among the victims are Jonathan Jackson (Riding the Bullet), Meagan Good (Waist deep, Stomp the Yard), Bijou Phillips (Hostel II), Laura Ramsey, and Davetta Sherwood.Slashed throats, knives in head, crowbar as tool of choice, and a really great ending.If blood and gore are your cup of tea, then this has what you are looking for..
I don't think that I've ever seen a worse horror movie and that says someone who liked ''I know what you did last summer''.
Because it really doesn't hold a candle to the 70's and 80's gold-era of horror, this is of course where personal taste comes in.This movie just falls into the category of "New generation of slashers" in my book, the cast is the typical ones 18-24 years and potential models.
That's like watching a porno movie and hope for a great story in the meantime.Why the old-school slashers still works, at least for some people.
I've read a few of the previous reviews,and can only assume a majority who favourably rated it,either haven't seen nearly enough films,or more than likely are around there teen years and thus end that explanation.Its truly terrible for all the reasons Hollywood is mocked for its machine like output of predictable dirge for the teenage masses.We have a collage of all the worst recent horror flicks made into a brand new,but even more awful slash flick.
Not Bad. Venom (2005) ** (out of 4) A voodoo woman is killed in an accident and the man trying to save her gets bitten by her thirteen deadly snakes.
The movie start with ray who helping to kids out the car after crash however there is some kind old box on the back seat as he goes to get the car that was half hanging of a very low bridge , Which falls and snakes come out the box, this is as some really bad effects and ray is taken to morgue only for his body to go missing.Then people are being killed of one by one by ray, Who Seem to be some kinda of voodo zombie snake man The acting in this movie as got be some of the worse I ever seen in a very long time.I am going to give this movie a 3 out 10.
He also manages to make the teenagers not unlikable well rounded characters but at the end of the day you're left with the feeling VENOM is merely an adeqoute film on a story that's been done to death and would have been better getting released straight to DVD.
Go out and make a better one." Thankfully most of the critics of horror films will never write, nor direct any movie for cinema so we won't have to suffer their "I told you so's", thank goodness.So on a more positive note - as one viewer fairly pointed out "...had this been made in the 1970's..." a fairly astute comment simply given the fact that "Venom" is knowingly a hark back to the days of Sean Cunningham and the events of 'Camp Crystal Lake'.
Sure, they didn't manage to create a new Jason, or a Michael Myers, but the film is certainly no worse than "Friday 13th", but neither is it any better.A reliance on CGI in modern film-making means that writers, producers, and directors MUST look for something fresh and original in order to satisfy the 'horror-saturated' audiences of today, whose tastes are not necessarily more sophisticated but certainly more demanding in terms of creative blood-letting.
It felt like she didn't really believe in voodoo herself so it made it hard for the audience to really care.The death scenes were pretty good and effective.
Really cool.FINAL VERDICT: It's good enough to watch if you like the slasher films..
But that won't completely stop him, and he begins to kill them one by one as they flee through the swamps in a dash to save their lives."Venom" is no superior horror film, it's your average chop and slash teen horror movie with a supernatural bent, but it's still a very fun movie and keeps you entertained.
There are some pretty wildly creative sequences (the girl strung between the two cars was great), and there are quite a few spooky moments.The bottom line is, "Venom" is your standard slasher movie mixed with some voodoo and magic, and it turned out to be pretty decent.
I rented this DVD because  let's face it  there is nothing good out there and it doesn't look like the situation is going to improve any time soon I was ready for a generic, mindless tubetop slasher film and this is exactly what I got.
The Voodoo woman's niece Cece (Meagan Good) then tells the tale of how there were 13 evil souls captured within the snakes in the box & now Ray has come back as a zombie killing machine as he is now possessed by them...Originally to be called Backwater, based on a video game that wasn't even made when it came out & virtually ignored by it's distributors Dimension Venom was directed by Jim Gillespie I personally thought it was OK, it isn't any sort of masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but it was fun in a cheesy way.
I saw the trailer for Venom last year and I thought it didn't give a lot away and the guy with the chains actually looked like he might be a really good villain.
So I give them some credit in the sense that I will always remember that.The thing that surprises/disappoints me about Venom the most is that the first 20 minutes or so, the acting is actually pretty good and you can sort of get into the story.
Also, there is a scene where the characters spend about 15 minutes preparing a body to be a real-life voodoo doll and when it comes time to use it, it BARELY works and is used for about 1 minute and then forgotten about and never mentioned again.The only people who will like this movie are people in the 12-17 age group who think "OMG ROXXORZ a Zombie movie I'm so scared!!" After the "zombie man" makes his appearance, all of the acting and the story goes right down the tubes.
I suppose i expected a bit more from this considering that it came from Jim(i know what you did last summer)Gillespie which i thought was quite good.The overall look of Venom and where it was filmed is really good which is what makes me feel like it could have been a lot better.This wasn't a direct to video release although it probably should have i don't think it even took £1 million at the box office in America.
Venom is a film that doesn't use the horror movie formula.
If you've seen any other "teenagers getting killed" horror movie, you've already seen everything in Venom.
If you have 90 minutes to kill and want to watch a horror movie that believes you can defeat a magical enemy by just hitting them hard enough, you could rent Venom.
All of the most interesting characters are immediately killed off in the first third of the movie and then it just becomes a not-particularly-interesting countdown until we know it's just The Creepy Janitor and The Final Girl.I suppose I must be a little jaded, but as a horror film fan, I'm left wondering why I should have bothered when I could easily have written a better screenplay myself.
"Hi, this is a horror movie fan watching yet another slasher film with dumb teens getting butchered to bits.