Venom (1981)

Venom is a 1981 British horror film directed by Piers Haggard, written by Robert Carrington, and starring Klaus Kinski, Oliver Reed and Nicol Williamson. It is based on Alan Scholefield's novel of the same name.

Plot
International criminal Jacques Müller and his girlfriend Louise Andrews plan to kidnap Philip Hopkins, the grandson of Howard Anderson, a retired hunter and the wealthy owner of a hotel chain. For this purpose Louise goes undercover as a maid working for Philip's mother Ruth and seduces her chauffeur Dave Averconnelly into helping them in the kidnapping. On the day of the kidnapping, Müller tricks Howard and Ruth into leaving home while Louise and Dave kidnap the boy. Philip leaves briefly to retrieve a pet snake, which was accidentally swapped with a black mamba meant for toxicologist Dr. Marion Stowe while Howard returns home early.

The black mamba is released because of it and bites Louise in the face repeatedly before fleeing into the ventilation system. Müller and Taylor then take Howard and Philip hostage, while Louise dies from the black mamba's venom. Dr. Stowe, having become aware of this mix-up, contacts the police and a police officer is dispatched to the Hopkins residence. The officer is shot and killed by Dave with one of Howard's rifles, but the officer manages to call for backup before he dies. After that more police officers arrive at the scene, led by Cmdr. William Bulloch, and after learning about the hostages, Bulloch has the street sealed off and tries to negotiate with Müller, but refuses to give in to Müller's demands for transportation and 1 million in different currencies.

At this moment Dr. Stowe arrives with a case of anti-venom and informs Bulloch of the black mamba, the most dangerous and poisonous snake in the world, in the house, which is even more dangerous, when it is in close confinement, like a house, and which, in the meantime, has devoured aggressively the pet animals in the house in a room.

Bulloch, realizing the grave problem, then warns together with Dr. Stowe both the kidnappers and hostages of the snake. Müller then lies that Louise is still alive, and orders Dr. Stowe to come to the front door with the anti-venom to treat her. Dr. Stowe complies and is also taken hostage by him.

Bulloch later discovers a secret entrance through the cellar, and he and two other officers try to enter. Dr. Stowe suggests turning off the central heating source, as this would send the black mamba into a coma. Dave and Howard climb into the cellar at the same time Bulloch and the officers enter. Bulloch shoots and injures Dave, but then the black mamba attacks, forcing Bulloch and the officers to flee while Howard flees from the cellar and back onto the first floor. Dave, however, is unable to escape because of his gunshot wound and is killed by the black mamba.

Müller then throws a severed finger from the balcony, which he falsely claims belongs to Dr. Stowe and which in reality belongs to Louise. Unable to enter the cellar with the black mamba inside, Bulloch gives in to Müller's demands and brings him his getaway car, which was previously confiscated. Bulloch demands to see the hostages, and Müller forces Dr. Stowe onto a balcony, forcing her to tell Bulloch Howard and Philip are fine. Philip and Howard in the meantime notice the black mamba and allow it to attack Müller, who stumbles onto the balcony while grappling with the snake. Because of it Howard pulls Dr. Stowe out of the line of fire, and while Müller manages to kill the black mamba by shooting it with his pistol obsessively, the police snipers proceed to shoot Müller because of his shooting, and Müller and the dead black mamba then tumble off the balcony.

The hostages are rescued and Ruth, who has found out in the meantime what was going on and has returned, embraces Philip. However, the black mamba had laid two eggs in the vents before its death, one of them which hatches and slithers off.

Cast

 * Klaus Kinski as Jacques Müller (Jacmel)
 * Sterling Hayden as Howard Anderson
 * Sarah Miles as Dr. Marion Stowe
 * Nicol Williamson as Cmdr. William Bulloch
 * Cornelia Sharpe as Ruth Hopkins
 * Susan George as Louise Andrews
 * Lance Holcomb as Philip Hopkins
 * Oliver Reed as Dave Averconnelly

Production
Originally Tobe Hooper was supposed to diresct it, but he quit it because of "creative differences". After that Piers Haggard replaced him.

Kinski chose to do this film instead of playing one of the villains in Raiders of the Lost Ark because the salary was higher. Additionally, in his autobiography, Kinski Uncut, he also didn't play it, because he didn`t like the script for the Spielberg movie.

Once everything was in place the filming on Venom began. It started on February 7th, 1980 and concluded on December 20th. It was filmed at EMI Elstree Studios in London, England. It was also filmed on different real locations in London.

Release
The film was at first released theatrically in France on 20 January 1982. On 29 Jauary 1982 it was also theatrically in the United States by Paramount Pictures and it was released in the United Kingdom on 11 March 1982. It grossed $5,229,643 at the box office.

The film was released on special edition DVD by Blue Underground in 2003. It features audio commentary by Haggard.

Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 43% based on 7 reviews with an average rating of 4.8/10. Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote, "If Venom doesn't turn out to be the silliest film of 1982, it's a good bet that it will land within a hoot and a holler of that distinction."