Calamity of Snakes – original title: Ren she da zhan – is a 1983 Hong Kong/Taiwanese horror film directed by Chi Chang as William Chang Kee. It stars Lei Chang, Chung-Lien Chou, and Tung-min Huang.
When a construction crew kills a large group of snakes while building a hotel, an ancient snake curse is cast on the building and all hell breaks loose…
Some scenes from Calamity of Snakes were spliced into the 1985 English language production Serpent Warriors, an unsurprisingly low-budget affair starring Clint Walker as a zoologist sent in to get rid of a nest of snakes (controlled by a voodoo priestess played by Eartha Kitt) infesting a construction site. None of the animal death footage, which the film is notorious for, was used.
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Reviews
“Calamity of Snakes is a strange beast. On the one hand, it’s kind of incredible with scene after scene of amazing set-pieces, but then you remember that you’re watching hundreds upon hundreds of snakes being massacred and you start to feel depressed. It’s one hell of an experience.” Mondo Exploito
” …the issue of whether the killing of dozens of animals in order to produce a cheap B-list horror picture is justified is not really something that can be distilled and discussed thoroughly in the confines of a short internet review. But I will say that there is a certain segment of people out there that have a love for this sort of cinema, and, for them, Calamity of Snakes deserves its’ elevated status in the genre.” HKFilm
” …makes all the Italian cannibal stuff look like a conservationist fun camp by comparison. It’s a cavalcade of suffering for all concerned. I usually enjoy the ‘anything goes’ factor but this one is strictly for those who want their minds broken in a hurry. Calamity of Snakes is as nasty as it comes.” Craig Lines, Den of Geek!
“If snakes make you queasy, avoid this film. Thousands of them are featured throughout the movie, including a 50-foot monster-serpent at the film’s conclusion.” Thomas Weisser, Asian Cult Cinema, Boulevard Books, 1997
“Calamity Of Snakes demands attention and respect . You’ve been warned but largely because this is an incredible piece of exploitation.” So Good Reviews
