Powerful

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This is nothing special. The premise is fun enough for a cult flick, and the story is worked out neat enough, but it's mostly amateur stuff. Marlene Clark as the Cobra Woman is a pretty spectacular dame, though, and she shows a fair amount of nudity as well. Joy Bang is also a sight for sore eyes, and yes, she bares some as well.The story is a bit like "when Nosferatu came to the Philippines in the form of a snake", and it's entertaining enough. The horror of it all (aka the gore and stuff) is essentially pretty cool, but none too overwhelming either. Someone elsewhere on the net mentioned the hunchback as a very welcome addition to the film, but I only agree partially there. The nice backdrop of the Philippino nature, the village and the city streets is something that I'm more into, and there's plenty of that.A very small 6 out of 10.

Rather obscure production from Roger Cormans' studio New World is admittedly a curio. It's far from being an unsung gem, but it's just weird, atmospheric - and sad - enough to make for mildly interesting viewing. The truth is that not that much ever happens, and the pace is pretty slow. Most of the acting is pretty underwhelming - some of these people have a hard time getting their dialogue out - and the dialogue isn't too hot. The filmmaking is crude overall, but there is something that's still compelling about this trashy and schlocky material.Sexy Marlene Clark plays Lena Aruza, a nurse during WWII who ventures inside a Filipino cave, where she's bitten by a special kind of cobra and for the next 20 plus years is able to maintain her youthful appearance - and can change into a snake as well. Then along comes a young supposed snake expert, Joanna (Joy Bang) and her boyfriend Duff (Roger Garrett). Lena and Duff are drawn to each other, but when the pet eagle that he bought on a whim kills Lena's god / companion Movini, she must find alternate methods for looking young by playing up to horny young men.Clark, who gets to show off a lot of her body, is good, but most everybody else here is dull, although it's always nice to see Filipino icon Vic Diaz, who's cast in two roles. The music by Restie Umali is actually quite nice. The makeup effects are not too bad for whatever budget this movie must have had, and there is one amusing gag involving the shedding of skin.Worth a look for B movie addicts who like discovering little known oddities like this one.Six out of 10.

Night of the Cobra Woman (1972) * (out of 4) Really bad Filipino horror movie starts off during WWII when a nurse (Marlene Clark) walks into a cave and is bitten by a special snake, which makes her live forever as long as she has its venom. Flash forward several decades and the nurse has her snake killed by a studying student (Joy Bang), which means she now needs sex to live. NIGHT OF THE COBRA WOMAN is a really, really bad movie that has a few moments that are so bad that they at least keep you mildly entertained. I'm not sure where to start on this sucker because pretty much everything here is bad. I guess the lack of a screenplay could be the biggest issue because scenes just seem to happen out of nowhere and deal with things that really aren't necessary to anything else in the movie. The movie never makes a lick of sense and it appears that the producers were just making things up as they went along. Even worse is that the special effects are going to be some of the worse you've ever witnessed but these here do get some of the biggest laughs in the picture. Just check out the transformation scenes of the woman turning into the "cobra" and have yourself a good laugh. As far as the acting goes, it's clear that most people were never trained and if you check their credits it appears most never appeared in another movie. The best thing about lead actress Joy Bang is her name. Mrs. Bang would appear in a few notable films including PLAY IT Again, SAM but this here was certainly one of her only lead roles. Clark, who appeared in a few cult movies including SWITCHBLADE SISTERS, has several nude scenes, which certainly adds some appeal. The supporting cast members are all equally bad and forgettable. The film does offer up some cheap sex scenes and nudity, which might help keep some awake but there's really no defending a movie like this. It's beyond cheap and so poorly produced that you have to wonder what the entire point was.

Joy Bang plays a brilliant scientist (hold on a second--I have to stop laughing hysterically) who is in the Philipines doing research on snakes. Her dorky boyfriend comes to visit, for some reason bringing his pet falcon with him. He goes exploring in the jungle and his falcon ends up killing a snake--bad news since this was the sacred snake of a Filipino snake cult led by an African-American woman (Marlene Clark) who has been using snake venom to keep herself young ever since she was accidentally bitten by a snake while serving as a nurse during World War III. Problem is all this snake venom apparently causes her to turn into a snake (at least, I think--they kept this particular transformation offscreen, possibly as a homage to the original "Cat People", but more likely because this is a cheap-ass Filipino production). But speaking of asses, it is left up to the owner one of the nicest ones of the early 70's (Bang) to save the day after her boyfriend is seduced into some interracial ((and perhaps inter-special) lovin' by the evil cobra women.Actually as Filipino productions go this isn't that bad. It has the same scruffy charm as the John Ashley/Eddie Romero "Blood Island" series and between Clark and Bang it almost approaches the T and A level of the Roger Corman/Jack Hill WIP films. It also seems to directed with a considerable amount of intelligence by someone who was clearly in on the joke (although being in on the joke is vastly overrated in my opinion). The acting is a little weak. Bang is a little miscast and not nearly as good as leading lady as she is as a character actor, and Marlene Clark is no Pam Grier (who really should have played this role). The interest of either of these women in the dipstick leading man is REALLY beyond me though.Not great, but Filipino horror/exploitation fans at least will certainly want to check it out.