Crimes
- Working fakey snake effects into a clumsy viral-outbreak scenario full of telling coughs and smug villains
- Using an early tongue-in-cheek tone as a license to be blatantly stupid later
- Traveling in a slow, steady line from the opening credits to the close
Defender
Director Ed Raymond (a.k.a. Fred Olen Ray)
Tone Of Commentary
Straight as a rail. Given the number of B-movies he's cranked out (in an era practically devoid of true drive-in fodder), Ray should be more of a schlock auteur, but instead he prattles on dully about the slick camera moves and sharp look, typically finishing sentences with "I think this works pretty well."
What Went Wrong
Ray makes fun of his own plot holes ("Why is the cafeteria in the basement?" "Where are the springs in Santa Mira Springs?" "Why does he leave that gun for the hero?"), but he obviously didn't care enough to fix them. What did worry him? "I was a little concerned that every time you got to like somebody, they died a horrible death. What a sad little movie." So he tried to inject levity and "some action into what's basically a non-action picture." His biggest concern, though, appears to have been location scouting. "I usually try to find locations right in the neighborhood of my own house, so I don't have to drive on the freeway to get to the set."
Comments On The Cast
Ray points out everyone's TV credits with genuine admiration, until he comes to "this girl who won a daytime Emmy… her name escapes me."
Inevitable Dash Of Pretension
None. This is Fred Olen Ray talking.
Commentary In A Nutshell
"This is a movie about snakes. About rattlesnakes."