‘What a horrible way to die!’
Rattlers is a 1976 horror film about a herpetologist investigating a series of fatal snake attacks and discovering that the reptiles have been infected by a mysterious nerve gas disposed of in the desert by the military.
The movie was produced and directed by John McCauley (Deadly Intruder) from a screenplay co-written with Jerry Golding. Harry Novak, head of Boxoffice International Pictures, was the executive producer.
The movie stars Sam Chew, Elisabeth Chauvet, Tony Ballen, Dan Priest, Ron Gold, Darwin Joston and Gary Van Ormand.
Rattlers was one of many 1970s ‘animals attack’ ecological-themed horror movies, such as Frogs, Squirm, Empire of the Ants and Piranha. In 2021, Dustin Ferguson (Arachnado; Angry Asian Murder Hornets; Ebola Rex; Amityville: Evil Never Dies; The Amityville Legacy; Camp Blood 4 and 5; Meathook Massacre) directed a very belated sequel titled Rattlers 2 but the footage from this original movie was subsequently edited out and it was renamed Big F*ckin’ Snake.
Plot:
When two young boys are savagely attacked and killed by a legion of rattlesnakes in the Californian desert, the local sheriff (Tony Ballen) calls upon herpetologist Doctor Tom Parkinson (Sam Chew), a Los Angeles college professor, to discover why the snakes are displaying abnormal aggression and swarming behaviour. The sheriff teams Parkinson with feminist war photographer Ann Bradley (Elisabeth Chauvet).
As more people in the desert town are killed by the abnormally aggressive rattlesnakes, Parkinson’s and Bradley’s investigation leads them to a nearby army base. However, the commanding officer, Colonel Stroud (Dan Priest), becomes evasive when a mysterious mineshaft is mentioned…
Reviews:
“A nice night at the drive-in — laughs, shivers, and groans included. The snake attack scenes induce goosebumps by nature alone, but can’t shake their obvious defects — unconvincing edits, a thin supply of snakes, and out-of-focus shots. That sets us up for an endless run of healthy bad acting chops and laffs…” Bleeding Skull!
“It was fun enough. It had lots of fun attacks and ridiculous touches like the woman who has to take a bath this very minute […] The movie also features more than its share of supporting actors who come in here and there to deliver unexpectedly genuine performances, and it wraps itself up right on time.” Cinema de Merde
“More fun comes from an array of sexist jokes, the kind of thing common in genre films until about 1980. But even Rattlers’ detractors must admit that the writer-producer-director McCauley seems sincere to want to entertain us. The dialogue is lively, the pacing is quick, and several scenes offer tidbits of fun like snake-eye-views, a stop in Las Vegas, and – most famously – the bubble bath snake attack.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers
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“Some of the snake attacks are scary and will probably make you hate these slithering critters after viewing it, but most of the scenes are sloppily shot, substituting unconvincing Rattler stock footage in some instances. Rattlers is a passable time-waster that doesn’t compare to the more fun AIP films of this sort.” DVD Drive-In
“The plotting of Rattlers is stiffly mechanical, the dialogue ranges from mediocre to substandard, and the characterizations are inconsistent. For every quasi-credible scene, there’s something quite silly. That said, the movie more or less delivers when the time comes for proper suspense scenes…” Every ’70s Movie
” …the acting is merely adequate, the plot is pretty standard but gets weaker as it goes along, and some parts of it are horribly cliched. The scare scenes are only so-so as well. Still, even with this, you get to like the characters enough that it helps you get through it.” Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings
“Although the sheer pleasure of seeing a parade of stupid people get bitten becomes muted by a talk-heavy Act 3 and an abbreviated, anticlimactic ending, these Rattlers aren’t for show — they kick ass.” Flick Attack
“Between the investigating and bickering, we get some rattlesnake attacks on unsuspecting victims. Maybe if you have a great fear of snakes they’ll creep some people out, but for the rest of us, they’re average at best. It’s routine stuff – someone looking around, seeing the snakes, screaming, panic, rattler strikes.” Haphazard Stuff
“After about the halfway point the movie becomes insanely hilarious from the out of the blue trip to Vegas for a romantic date between the duo to a soldier bursting into a tent filled with snakes and spraying the floor with a machine gun magically not injuring either of the two people inside the tent with his blind barrage of bullets. Although it hasn’t aged well at all it is still a great choice for sharing some laughs with friends and reminiscing about the genre’s early roots.” The Liberal Dead
“Rattlers could have been much better than it turned out to be. The overabundance of stock footage coupled with profoundly wooden performances combine to sink this one to the bottom. The pointless subplots with the military and the contrived conflict between the leads (he’s a sexist and Bradley is a feminist) really feels out of place in a killer snake movie. I repeat: this is a killer snake movie…show me snakes!” Monster Shack
“The snake attack scenes are often crudely filmed and plotted, but if you’re afraid of snakes, you won’t care. Despite what technical flaws they may have, they worked on me and they will probably work on you too.” Oh, the Horror!
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