‘Biggest bite since Jaws’
Fangs is a 1974 American darkly comedic horror film about a cantankerous old man who uses venomous snakes to kill his enemies. Also known as Holy Wednesday; Snakes and Snakelust
Produced and directed by Art Names [as Arthur A. Names] from a screenplay co-written with producer John T. Wilson (Girl in Gold Boots; The Black Klansman).
Associate producer Ray Nadeau was a post-production supervisor on Messiah of Evil (1973) and directed saucy Sasquatch movie The Beast and the Vixens (1974).
The movie stars Les Tremayne (Creature of Destruction; The Angry Red Planet; The Monster of Piedras Blancas; The War of the Worlds), Janet Wood (Ice Cream Man; Up!; The Centerfold Girls; Terror at Red Wolf Inn), Bebe Kelly (The Addams Family TV series), Marvin Kaplan (Dark and Stormy Night; Witchboard 2; The Severed Arm), Alice Nunn (Trick or Treat (1986); Dark Night of the Scarecrow; The Fifth Floor; The Fury), Bruce Kimball (Drive-In Massacre; The Thing with Two Heads; Brain of Blood; The Mighty Gorga; Curse of the Fly) and Richard Kennedy (Mortuary Academy; The Capture of Bigfoot; The Witch Who Came from the Sea; The Love Butcher; Invasion of the Blood Farmers).
Reviews:
“You don’t really consider the direction or cinematography in this, but that’s the best part of it. It just plays out in front of you, with you as the casual observer to one man’s meltdown. He just wants to be alone with his snakes and needs the help of others. And he needs that one night of marching band concerts.” B&S About Movies
“The premise of Snakes! is totally bizarre. There’s very little sleaze and hardly any violence or gore. And despite the title, there aren’t even a lot of snakes. This is a film that commits to its premise and takes itself seriously but pulls its punches. Nothing is taken too far.” Bleeding Skull!
“Like so many other oddities from the cinematic fringe, Snakes benefits (if that’s the right word) from crude execution. The lack of technical polish adds to the sense of this picture being a transmission from the outer edges of the human experience.” Every ’70s Movie
” …most of the laughs come from the bizarre rustic small-town types that inhabit the movie, with Snakey himself (played with perhaps too much gusto by Les Tremayne) one of the oddest of the lot, what with his snake obsession coupled with his love of Sousa marches. I suppose the movie is quite bad, but I was laughing too consistently to make that matter much to me.” Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings
” …this is one oddball motion picture experience! […] It raises a lot of questions, like why Wednesday? Why not Friday or Saturday? And why doesn’t Snakey ever change his filthy overalls? […] I give Holy Wednesday two plummeting automobiles! I might have given it more just for being so weird, but, sorry Snakey, I can’t stand Sousa marches…” Ha ha, it’s Burl!
“There are no SFX, no real blood and guts, and very little reptile action. As a character study or a thriller, it’s not entirely successful either, simply because resources were obviously so painfully limited. lt’s a shame because this could have been a late showcase for Tremayne, who displays enough ability to show that he was capable of so much more than he was able to achieve in his film career.” Mark David Welsh
“Fangs is a jolt of shambling, oddly specific eccentricity […] If you’re looking for sex, style, or shock you’d be better served elsewhere. However, if you’re looking for a genuinely inexplicable curio of the 70s indie genre film fringes, you might find Fangs fascinating in spite of itself.” Midnight Movie Monster
“Names sets up all sorts of whacked-out scenes – Les Tremayne and his demented Wednesday night meetings dancing to John Philip Sousa music; Bruce Kimball and his butch sister Alice Nunn making moves to both try and have their way with Bebe Kelly. The most fascinatingly torrid scene in the film is the one where Les Tremayne turns up on Bebe Kelly’s doorstep…” Moria
Cast and characters (in credits order):
Les Tremayne … Snakey Bender
Janet Wood … Ivy
Bebe Kelly … Cynthia Williams
Marvin Kaplan … Brother Joy
Alice Nunn … Sis
Bruce Kimball … Bud Palmer
Richard Kennedy … Burt
Cecil Reddick … Constable Al
Alfred Dennis … Storekeeper
David Bond
Michael Feeley
Charles Kight
Michael Kight
John Ruben
Filming locations:
East Texas
Technical details:
86 minutes
Audio: Mono
Aspect ratio: 1.85: 1
Release:
According to Temple of Schlock, the film had its world premiere on Friday, April 26, 1974, in San Bernardino, California as Holy Wednesday.
Fun facts:
Director Arthur A. Names was previously an assistant director to Ted V. Mikels.
Related:
Stanley (1972)
The Killer Snakes (1974)
Rattlers (1976)
