Main cast: Tara Reid (Nicky Swift), Jonathan Scarfe (Cal Taylor), Jessica Steen (Dr Vera Collins), Genevieve Buechner (Maggie Martin), Stephen E Miller (Hank Brownie), Don S Davis (Dr Jim Silverton), Mark Humphrey (Sheriff Tom Hendricks), Mercedes McNab (Georgie), Aaron Pearl (Jack Martin), Claire Rankin (Ellie Martin), and Corbin Bernsen (Mr Burton)
Director: Brian Katkin
Don’t be fooled by the creepy and kinda sexy movie poster. Vipers is a typical Syfy humans versus cheap CGI movie, and one knows what they will be getting into once they keep that in mind.
In the idyllic island of Eden Cove, Nicky Swift runs the local inn, The Garden, and grows pot on the side. This does not endear him to Ellie Martin, whose rebellious daughter Maggie is also upset because Ellie has recently broken up with her husband Jack, and Jack is shacking up with George, the owner of the local car rental business. The local law enforcement duties fall onto Sheriff Tom Hendricks, who has feeling for Nicky but is BFF with Ellie, so he is caught in the middle.
It will be fine if domestic disputes had been the only source of drama in these people’s lives, but yikes, CGI horned vipers that had been genetically engineered to provide venom that can cure cancer are now loose and they are killing people in that island, especially those that fornicate for some reason. Maybe they had been injected with the DNA of Jason Voorhess, who knows.
Dr Vera Collins and her employer Mr Burton’s security guy arrive to work with the local doctor Jim as well as the new guy in town Cal Taylor to track down these CGI snakes, and as usual, everyone soon learns that they can’t trust the megalomaniac boss of a Big Pharma company.
Unlike many movies of this sort, I give it some credit for trying to flesh out some of the main characters a bit so that they aren’t just walking meat bags. However, the overall subpar performance by the cast means that this effort is kind of wasted. Nicky Swift, for example, is said to have some inner demons and a lot of hurt, but Tara Reid probably feels that she hasn’t been paid enough to emote on top of just showing up on the set.
Still, the movie is quite entertaining for a time waster, as while it isn’t the most original by any stretch of the word, it delivers the obligatory kills and near-kill drama adequately. Some characters have very obvious plot armors, and much of the tomfoolery is perpetuated by idiotic, overemotional female characters that force everyone else to come to their rescue and even get killed as a result. However, looking beyond these two eye-rolling aspects of the movie, the rest is okay.
In other words, this one is a by-the-numbers Syfy offering that try to be a little bit more than that now and then, but ultimately, it just ends up staying on the safe and predictable lane. It is what it is, and folks that are aware of this will get what they expect.
