Movie of the Week: The glorious camp stupidity of ‘Snakes on a Plane’
It was the release of Steven Spielberg’s iconic 1975 monster movie Jaws that would pave the way for the animal exploitation movie, films where nature runs amok and terrorises humans in a number of various bizarre ways. Copycats like Alligator, Piranha and Razorback soon followed in Spielberg’s footsteps, and the subgenre would take on new life in the 21st century when Sharknado would hit TV screens in 2013, making way for Cocaine Bear to come sniffing a decade later.
Such movies have long been popular with audiences, providing a level of mindless thrills that prove perfect for pre-teen sleepovers, silly cinema trips and lazy Friday nights. The best films of the self-dubbed ‘anisploitation’ genre manage to balance the idiocy of their central concept with a competent story that helps vehicle the idea, preventing it from becoming stale, overused and predictable.
With this considered, it’s worth casting your mind back to 2006, a time when George W. Bush was still in office, Twitter was still a mere startup and Snakes on a Plane was an internet sensation. Disregarded by critics and dismissed by Hollywood, thanks to its sub-standard box office returns, the David R. Ellis-directed film went on to gain a considerable cult following largely due to its nonsensical titular plot.
As the title suggests, Snakes on a Plane tells the story of an aircraft that becomes infested with deadly ophidians, forcing FBI agent Neville Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson) to take the situation into his own hands and help save as many passengers as possible. Flynn’s only on the flight to protect a witness, Sean (Nathan Phillips), being flown to LA to testify against a powerful mob boss, with the character being introduced in a ridiculous opening montage that features him speeding through the countryside of Honolulu on a dirt bike.
Perfectly absurd, Snakes on a Plane takes little time to get started, inviting the audience in on the joke early in the film’s runtime, allowing for plenty of time to enjoy the reptilian carnage. With the passengers in place, director David R. Ellis and screenwriters John Heffernan and Sebastian Gutierrez pull up their sleeves and begin using them as meat sacks in their twisted set pieces, with snakes attacking everything from eyes and mouths to breasts and penis’.
Though an esteemed industry star, Jackson isn’t averse to a bit of Hollywood schlock, choosing to star in Snakes on a Plane as it seemed like “a good time,” as stated in an interview with Time magazine. “I knew I was going to do the movie when I saw the title,” the actor recalled, explaining: “I’ve always watched movies like that and they’re funny and more exciting in some ways than doing regular dramas or straight-ahead action pictures…I like to think I have an audience member’s sensibility, and the title just puts it all right out there. You either get it or you don’t”.
Without Jackson, the “snakes on crack” movie, as described by his character, wouldn’t be anywhere near as enjoyable, with the actor leading from the front line, visibly enjoying his part in the insane animal exploitation movie. Indeed, it is the Pulp Fiction star who possesses the film’s most powerful moment, exclaiming in hilarious earnestness toward the end of the film, “Enough is Enough! I have had it with these motherfuckin’ snakes on this motherfuckin’ plane! Everybody strap in! I’m about to open some fuckin’ windows”.
It’s lines like this that remind you why cinema is such a glorious feast of creativity, consisting of infinite ideas that swirl with vibrant expressiveness. No wonder the film became so beloved by online fans who proposed a number of hilarious alternatives, including but not limited to: Steaks on a Train, Cats on a Plane and Snakes Who Missed the Plane. The camp stupidity of Snakes on a Plane helps elevate the 2006 film from being a forgettable, middling action film to an unforgettable ‘anisploitation’ romp.
