Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

lost-in-limbo What could have been promising in a silly, entertaining manner ends up being rather mediocre rushed and seriously confined. "Spasms" is a daft, cheaply made creature feature shocker from the early 80's with two recognizable stars attached; Oliver Reed and Peter Fonda collecting their pay cheques, but delivering two extremes in their acting. Reed hauntingly hams it up "I really believe I'm bounded to it", while Fonda keeps it cool and collected. Outside of those two, there were some other familiar names involved. Director / co-writer William Fruet is no beginner to the genre with making films like "Death Weekend" and "Funeral Home" before this one. Cinematographer Mark Irwin shows up. Then you have the Tangerine Dream adding to the score. Although these curious inclusions don't add too much and it shows in the final product. A gigantic, deadly serpent is transported from a Pacific island back to the States and is kept boxed up at a university where Dr. Brazilian is hired by wealthy businessman Jason Kincaid to experiment on the telepathy link Kincaid shares with the serpent. However before doing so, it comes loose and goes about terrorising the community. The systematic plot actually starts of rather well setting up the mood, but it really does lose its way when it goes on the rampage becoming simple-minded, outrageous and ending on a very lousy, incoherent climax. Neither is it that fun when the rampage transpires or in its tackiness. Even the muddled script has a few story threads, which are incompatible and abrupt like the sub-plot involving a religious snake worshiping fanatic. Director Fruet's handling is cramp and rudimentary in its execution with lopsided pacing by lingering on many talky exchanges. Supposedly the production run-out of money towards the back-end and its shows by padding it out with recycled snake-vision shots that happened early on in the film. The attack sequences are too little and the ones that occur are vicious and jolting in an exploitative manner, but rather tensionless with the snake mainly staying off-screen and the victim being thrown around. We only get glimpses of the serpent, until it comes to the final reel when the rubber beast is fully shown. It doesn't look that great and you could see why the lighting was mostly dim. On the other hand blue-filtered serpent vision got a real work out and was well-done. The most memorable thing about this production would have to be the aftermath of the serpent's attacks, as the ghastly make-up FX was vivid in its depiction of the skin bubbling and blistering. Outside the two stars there were decent support from Kerrie Keane and Al Waxman."Spasms" has a poor reputation and rightfully so, but I was slightly entertained.

BaronBl00d I think I liked this a whole lot more than most as it is indeed riddled with the most obvious flaws - all of which somehow come back to a script that doesn't work completely nor is allowed to due to budgetary problems. Oliver Reed plays a wealthy businessman who had gone on a hunting trip with his brother seven years ago. While there he was bitten by this supernatural snake whose venom mysteriously didn't kill Reed(though did his brother) but rather made a psychic connection with him instead. ? Anyhow, the film opens with Reed having some hunters capture the beast in Micronesia and bring it to him in San Diego. Reed enlists the help of Peter Fonda as a psychic specialist giving him a full laboratory and underwriting for research. While this is going on a snake cult leader wants to abduct this snake(how they initially knew about it is even a greater mystery)and they have hired Warren Crowley(Al Waxman) as the sleazy man who will get them the snake for their cult - not to be worshiped but because the snake is the great Satan or some crap like that. The story quickly erodes however into the snake being unleashed in San Diego and going on a killing spree. What exactly do we see? It surely isn't the snake. We get some angles of his head but never a body shot. We do get these color muted scenes that are suppose to be things from the snake's POV as well as Reed's once the psychic hot-line is stronger. Believe it or not, this POV stuff works and is not really that bad. But the rest of the film cannot carry these small moments terribly far nor a plot that just wasn't finished. We never get any closure with the snake cult - it just disappears at some point in the film. Peter Fonda is barely in the film despite a prominent role. Oliver Reed, looking like he could use a trip or two to the gym, walks(with a cane) through his role with unrealistic calmness at some points and unbelievable hysteria at others until the end comes and it is the low point of the film in every definition of that word. Despite all those things, I kind of liked Spasms. Director William Fruet has obvious skills though he doesn't always share them with us. Reed and Fonda are indeed bad but in an enjoyable manner. Al Waxman is a hoot. There are some weird, inexplicable plot threads beyond explanation - what about Reed's relationship with his niece? Were they going for some incest thing or something else? We never do find out though the foundation had been laid much earlier. The biggest problem with the film is not the acting, the direction, or the ridiculous story but the misnamed title. This film should never have been called Spasms. Yes, we some faces bloated and popping all over when bitten by this snake. The effects are intriguing to say the least. The film would have been better served if called something that was more closely related to what the film was about. How about The Seven Year Snake Meets the Seven Year Itch. Snake Eyes. Snake in my Head. Okay, a more serious attempt might be Venom or something simple. Again, I concur this is a very bad film but one that I liked for being somewhat fun. There are a couple scenes which stand out: the darkened opening scene where you see(barely due to the poor lighting) the men Reed has hired to catch the serpent looking on when the serpent opens assault on the natives. How about the greenhouse at the university where Fonda and niece run from the snake. The three girls being snaked to death in their home(catch the pretty blonde in the shower sans clothing) Or my favorite scene is the girl in the bikini catching a ball in a park. Man was that a snug fit...uh hummm...Spasms is a fun trashy film to some degree...take it from me.

torgo7 Wanted to drop a quick note here in defense of Brent Monahan, a high school buddy and friend of my husband's. Brent has stated that the movie's script was altered at least 75% from the original story that he had penned--a common practice in Film Land. Even "An American Haunting" suffered a deviation of 30% from his original story. He will be having a new film produced from one of his works, but only on the stipulation that his own script is used. So lets hope that we will finally get the chance to see his entire novel as it was written.In my experience, unless the original author gets to write the script, stories are often massacred beyond recognition.

brandonsites1981 Underrated thriller about a serpent that is shipped off to a college for a rich trophey hunter (Oliver Reed), but the serpent escapes and begins murdering people. Reed also has a psychic link to the serpent and witnesses the murders through the eyes of the serpent. Scary, exciting thriller with a good cast and some good shock effects. Rated R; Graphic Violence, Nudity, and Profanity.