[Review] "Snakes on a Plane" (2006)

Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you the successor to the "Rocky Horror" throne. The cult movie for the next thirty years..."Snakes on a Plane."

The theater I saw it in tonight was about a third full. Most people at this particular theater wanted to watch "World Trade Center" or "Talladega Nights" instead of this wonderful B-movie.

Now don't get me wrong...this is a B-movie in the truest sense, but it embraces what it is rather than fights it, and with that, it rises above mere B-moviehood.

The director knows when to break the rules. He broke the "never interrupt the motivational speech" rule back in "Deep Blue Sea." In this one, he broke the "never really put the kids at risk" rule and the "never mess with the whacked out clean freak" rule, both to great effect. He also knows when to use humor. Every single snake death or plane death cliche that he could possibly use ends up on screen in all of its gory glory.

And there is gore...lots of it. This is not a movie for children by any stretch of the imagination. My wife, a woman who was weaned on horror flicks since birth, actually left the theater ill for five minutes because the combination of her fear of flying, her fear of snakes, and a scene involving an infant and a rattlesnake got the better of her. You will see snakes everywhere in this movie. Snakes on a breast. Snakes up a dress. Snakes in a toilet. Snakes in a tank. Snakes in a light. There's one point about thirty minutes in where every single man in the audience will...well...I better leave you to figure that one out for yourself.

This is a crowd movie. It's a good movie in its own right, but the crowd can really make or break this film. The audience applauded the opening credits, applauded SLJ's first appearance, applauded the snakes, applauded "the line," and even sang along to Cobra Starship's "Bring It."

This was a movie for the crowd. If you're going to see it, see it this weekend in the evening...because you'll never get the chance to experience it like this again until they start swapping out "Rocky Horror" nights for "Snakes" nights.

Note: After the "Bring It" video ends, there's nothing left at the end of the credits, so go ahead and leave so the cleanup crew can get to work.