By
Don L. Stradley
“All
of my films have a sexual theme. I'm a sex maniac, so why not?" So says
director Piero Vivarelli, interviewed in the new Mondo Macabro DVD of his 1970
feature, The Snake God (Il Dio Serpente). You don't have to take his word for it.
Just a glance at the movie tells you he was a kinky son of a gun.
Paola (the beautiful Nadia Cassini) is a young
bride brought to the Caribbean by her wealthy, older husband. She enjoys the
luxury, but she's a little bored. Hubby, you see, keeps taking off for
business meetings, leaving Paola with nothing to do but laze around on the
beach and perspire. She befriends a young black woman named Stella (Beryl
Cunningham, Vivarelli's real life wife), a sexy school teacher who seems to
have a carefree lifestyle. Paola is envious after seeing Stella cavorting on
the beach with her hunky boyfriend, but Stella acts indifferent. "My
boyfriend is fun," Stella says, "But he's stupid." Stella
has more pressing interests involving local tribal customs, namely, those
involving a mysterious snake god. Quicker than you can say I Walked With A Zombie, Stella introduces Paola to voodoo. At one point
in the film Paola attends an island ritual and ends up thrashing on the
ground with Stella as if they’re both possessed by evil spirits. Paola is
a clean-cut European girl, so this scary island atmosphere is all new and
exotic to her. By the film's end, Paola has given herself to Djamballa, the
snake god. Isn't that always the way?
Vivarelli was a genre bouncer, moving easily from
rock & roll musicals, to comic book adventures. He earned his bones writing
screenplays for directors like Lucio Fulci and Sergio Corbucci, and even after
directing several of his own features, Vivarelli was often called upon to punch
up someone else's screenplay. That's why you'll see his name on everything from
spaghetti westerns to soft-core porn. He had an interest in songwriting,
too, often contributing musical ideas to his films. Hence, Vivarelli's features
were usually highlighted by vibrant scores, chockfull of brass and fuzz
guitars. Even The Snake God, which is heavy on mind-numbing tribal beats,
features a nice electric bass line that could've been lifted from an old
Ventures album.
Vivarelli, who died in 2010, was a rebellious soul
who often chided the movie business for its hypocrisy. In the DVD's
"about the film" section there's a lot of verbiage about how he was a
communist, and a pot smoker, and how The Snake God was his statement about colonization.
Gee, I thought the film's message was something about not leaving your younger
wife alone, because there's usually a snake god out there waiting to show her a
good time. To paraphrase something Vivarelli said during the interview,
once you've been in the sheets with a snake god, you don't go back to mortal
men.
The Snake God isn't Vivarelli's best work. Many of
the ritualistic scenes go on far too long in an effort to pad out a
thin story, and despite all of Vivarelli's close-ups of bare asses and
breasts, there's not much of an erotic charge here. The racial theme is also a
bit heavy handed, with the black characters depicted as earthy and
raw, while the white folks are shown as naïve and uptight (a theme
familiar to anyone who has enjoyed the films of Whoopie Goldberg). Also, there
was a period of time in cinema history when screen couples gazed into each
other's eyes while eating citrus fruit, as if fruit juice dripping down
someone's chin really jacked up the pheromones. If interracial fruit sucking is
your bag, there's a fair amount of it here.
The DVD is quite beautiful, though, courtesy of a
new anamorphic transfer. The Caribbean looks breathtaking, and the sunlight
bouncing off the ocean is nearly blinding. Kudos to Mondo Macabro for displaying
Benito Frattari's cinematography in such sharp detail, for Frattari's
camera work is the best part of a slow, dullish film. Do you like snake movies?
Go find Cobra Woman with Maria Montez and Sabu. You'll be
better off.
(The Snake God is 95 minutes long, and presented in widescreen (2.35:1/16:9). The DVD includes a handful of special features, such as the interview with Vivarelli, extensive production notes, newly created English subtitles, a trailer, and previews of other Mondo Macabro titles.)
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