Michael Shanks in "Mega Snake"
courtesy of Sci Fi Channel
"Mega Snake" (Sci Fi Channel)

Here's one that will give you nightmares! The Sci Fi Channel presents the original movie "Mega Snake," which is all about - you guessed it - a giant snake. This snake eats anything and everything including men, women and children. So if you hate snakes like I do then this is the ultimate horror flick.

The movie starts in a Tennessee town back in 1986. A family lives there and belongs to a church that practices snake handling. The youngest son Lester doesn't like snakes and wants nothing to do with the ritual but his father insists he participate. When a snake gets loose and kills his father the boy is totally traumatized.

Twenty years later Lester (Michael Shanks) is still living in the family home and still afraid of snakes. One day his older brother Duff brings home a snake he has stolen from a Cherokee Indian. This snake is very rare, and like the "gremlins" of a certain movie, there are certain things you can not do with this snake. (1) Do not let it out of its jar (2) Don't let it eat anything (3) Do not fear its heart. So what happens? The snake gets loose and eats a cat. That starts its growth spurt and before you know it, it is seventy feet long and on a killing rampage.

There is also a subplot about Lester's fear of commitment to his girlfriend Erin. If he can conquer his fear of snakes maybe he can conquer his fear of commitment too. Stranger things have been known to happen.

Shanks, who also stars in "Stargate SG-1," is the big star here. He has the whole show just about to himself. But at the end of the movie "Feedback" makes an appearance. "Feedback" is the superhero who won last year's contest of "Who Wants to Be A Superhero?"

If you hate snakes, or if you love Michael Shanks, then you might get some thrills out of "Mega Snake." If you don't, well there isn't anything else that can draw you to this movie.

"Mega Snake" premieres on the Sci Fi Channel, Saturday, August 25 at 9PM.
 

 

 

 

 

©2007 Jackie K. Cooper

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