Monsters and Matinees: In ‘Venom,’ a kidnapping with unexpected bite turns a thriller into a horror film

One of nature’s most powerful killing machines is loose. Not
only is it the deadliest in its class, but the fastest, too. Beyond its
physical abilities are its lethal personality traits: it is unpredictable, paranoid
and deadly aggressive.

That’s the key to the 1981 British horror thriller Venom (unrelated to the Marvel character). Think of it as a variation on O. Henry’s The Ransom of Red Chief, where kidnappers get more than they bargained for after abducting a wealthy man’s spoiled child. Venom makes that story look like child’s play as the kidnappers of a British boy face the world’s most dangerous snake, the black mamba.

Venom also has a great cast with Klaus Kinski, Oliver Reed, Susan George, Nicol Williamson, Sterling Hayden and Sarah Miles. (It’s not hard to figure out who plays the bad guys.)

Young Tommy is a smart, likable 10-year-old with asthma, an overprotective mother and a “zoo” off his bedroom with adorable bunnies, birds and gerbils. We meet him reading an oversized book on snakes as his wealthy mom is fussing over him being outside. Grandpa, played by the reliable Sterling Hayden, is a world-renowned hunter and wildlife authority, which will come in handy.

Time is not wasted on playing coy with the identity of the bad guys or in setting up the kidnapping. We know all early with the introduction of the lovely housekeeper Louise (played by Susan George) who has seduced the family chauffeur Dave (the great Oliver Reed) into becoming part of the scheme. His role in the caper is to get Tommy’s mom on a flight to Rome, leaving the boy in the three-story townhouse alone with Louise.

Dave drops off mom, then immediately picks up a man in a white trench coat with a thick accent and shock of blonde hair. (His photo would work in the dictionary under “stylish European movie villain,” like we would later enjoy personified by Alan Rickman in Die Hard.) Played by Klaus Kinski, you’ll believe it when he leaves the much more physically menacing Oliver Reed quivering with a simple slap across the face.

The bad guys have rented a secluded house with a bedroom set up for the boy with the same breathing machine he has at home, books and a metal grate across a window. It was a lot of work for nothing since they’ll never make it there. Everything that can go wrong will, trapping the kidnappers, Tommy and Grandpa in the townhouse with a killer snake inside and the police outside.

* * * * *

How did we get there?

At the London Institute of Toxicology something is wrong with a new snake. “It’s not a mamba – it’s not attacking anything,” the lab assistant says to his boss, Dr. Marion Stowe (Sarah Miles).

But we know what happened: There was a mix-up at the “pet shop” where Tommy was mistakenly given the mamba to take home and his African house snake – a harmless pet – was delivered to the institute.

The kidnapping plot is thrown off from Tommy’s impromptu visit to the pet shop, his insistence on opening the small crate to see his new pet snake and Grandpa’s early arrival home. Then there’s the policeman sent to the townhouse to inquire about the snake and – did I mention the nervous chauffeur has a gun?

Venom is an engaging, multilayered thriller. There’s only one snake in the film, but it’s the worst in the world, and I found it more terrifying than films with multiple snakes or even a giant one because you don’t see this one coming.

Death via a mamba is excruciating – there’s no eating you in one bite and getting it over with. Instead, it’s a slow, agonizing death from the mamba’s venom and, as the saying goes, it’s not something to wish on your worst enemy.

The snake’s-eye view of the surroundings works well because it is used sparingly and in the right situations such as when it enters the “zoo” in Tommy’s bedroom where the mamba sees his prey in the sweet pets like the ill-fated bunny.

Venom does get crazy at times because there’s so much going on but that’s good for the viewer. Tommy and his Grandpa are fighting to survive the kidnappers and the snake. The bad guys – who don’t play well with each other – are battling threats from the black mamba and the police while still thinking they can salvage their kidnapping plot. And it is fun to watch the imposing Oliver Reed play a sweaty, nervous guy who unravels before our eyes.

The police, led by Nicol Williamson and his great screen presence, have their hands full trying to subdue the kidnappers, fend off the snake and keep innocents alive. Things don’t even go right all the time for them despite the help of the toxicologist.

Venom is an engaging, multilayered thriller and that’s what I like most about it. Take take away the horror element and you’re left with a solid thriller that stands on its own. Adding the killer snake means there’s no respite for the viewer who, like the characters, is caught up in the whirlwind of so much that has gone wrong.

And though there’s only one snake in the film, it’s the worst in the world, and I found it more terrifying than movies with multiple snakes or even a giant one because you don’t see this one coming.

We expect the snake will get in and out of small spaces, but there is something deeply menacing about the way the mambo easily slithers through the house – and especially the air ducts – that gives the film a relentless tension. It could be anywhere – and is everywhere. That’s a deadly lesson you don’t want to learn.

* * * * *

A newly remastered 4K version DVD/Blu-Ray of Venom is now available via Blue-Underground with new features including an interview with makeup artist Nick Dudman and editor/second unit director Michael Bradsell, along with previously released extras.

– Toni
Ruberto for Classic Movie Hub

You
can read all of Toni’s Monsters and Matinees articles here.

Toni Ruberto, born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., is an editor and writer at The Buffalo News. She shares her love for classic movies in her blog, Watching Forever and is a member and board president of the Classic Movie Blog Association. Toni was the president of the former Buffalo chapter of TCM Backlot and led the offshoot group, Buffalo Classic Movie Buffs. She is proud to have put Buffalo and its glorious old movie palaces in the spotlight as the inaugural winner of the TCM in Your Hometown contest. You can find Toni on Twitter at @toniruberto or on Bluesky at @watchingforever.bsky.social