Night of the Cobra Woman (1972)
Film Information
Director: Andrew Meyer
Writer: Andrew Meyer
Date Released: January 1, 1972
Cast:
Joy Bang as Joanna
Marlene Clark as Lena Aruza
Roger Garrett as Stan Duff
Vic Diaz as Japanese Soldier / Lopé
Rosemarie Gil as Francisca, Lope’s mother
Vic Silayan as Dr. Tezon
Rating = 2/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
During World War II, nurses Lena and Francisca visit a cave in the Philippines in order to find some herbs. When Lena goes into the cave, she is bitten by a venomous snake becoming the cobra woman. Meanwhile, Francisca is raped and shot by a Japanese soldier but healed by the new Lena. Years after the war, student Joanna wants to study the effects of venom to be used for curing ailments. However, she and boyfriend, Duff, find that Lena is still alive and the only way she can stay young is by having sex with other men.
Gore Factor
There is not much gore in this film. However, as people are injected with poison, their skin starts to deteriorate. Otherwise, there is nothing outright grotesque. There is, however, a good amount of nudity.
The Grave Review
Night of the Cobra Woman presents a story about a woman who needs to constantly be intimate with men in order to stay young. The 1970s was a unique time in horror history where writers and directors were attempting to take the genre to an entirely new genre whether it was through enhanced graphic violence or sexploitation. Unfortunately, the other aspects of the films were not as explored and resulted in sub par acting and poor execution of the story. Night of the Cobra Woman was one of these films, in part.
The main eye sour of the film came from Marlene Clark who played Lena, the cobra woman. Her performance was tranquil but pleasant to watch. She was the center of attention whenever she was in a scene and rightfully so. Her character was both beautiful and intimidating at the same time. Unfortunately, Clark’s co-actors were not as memorable. Most of the acting was subpar and at certain parts simply bad. Although, Roger Garrett, who played Duff performed as good as he could with the role and script he was given.
One of the biggest flaws of the film is the post production editing. At multiple points in the film, not only are there big time jumps but there are also poorly done transitions from scene to scene.
Overall, the story of the film was entertaining but the film as a whole but not great.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Night of the Cobra Woman (1972) two graves out of five graves.
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