Anacondas - The Hunt For The Blood Orchid Details

It may have been daft fun, but did 1997's Anaconda really warrant a sequel? Watching this bargain bin film-making, the answer is a resounding “no”. In reality, anacondas aren't found in the jungles of Borneo, but here the giant serpents prey on scientists who are scouring the area for a rare orchid with youth-preserving qualities. For a movie that promises major snake nastiness, it takes an age for the predators to slither into action, and even then abysmal special effects render their activities ridiculous. Despite being labelled a “horror thriller”, there's nothing to set pulses pounding, while the largely unrecognisable cast members (Coronation Street's Matthew Marsden notwithstanding) are as risible as their dialogue. Had the feature been tongue-in-cheek like the original, it might have worked. Unfortunately, director Dwight H Little takes the whole ludicrous affair far too seriously.

A moribund sequel to Anaconda that could do with that movie's over-the-top performance by Jon Voight, though the crocodiles and snakes do chew the scenery every now and then.