‘I’ve seen too many dead bodies to be afraid of him…’
Some cinematic monsters become legends. Everyone knows King Kong and Godzilla. Everyone knows the Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Blob. The Reptile? Not so much. Why there is no clamour for more films about this big ol’ snake woman I don’t know…
As with so many Hammer Horror films, one rich man dies to be replaced by another rich man who shows up with his young wife amidst hostile locals and a series of mysterious deaths. Harry George Spalding (Ray Barrett) is our replacement rich man. Valerie Spalding is his young wife (Jennifer Daniel). Dad’s Army alumni John Laurie is the most notable of the villagers playing the spectacularly named character Mad Peter. Jacqueline Pearce is the snake woman. It’s all good fun.
Filmed as a companion piece to The Plague of the Zombies (director John Gilling reused the village set from that film and both movies were filmed weeks apart), The Reptile was supposed to be a quick money spinner for the famous horror studio and that’s the general vibe of the finished product. That being said, the make-up is weird and convincing (Pearce hated wearing it so much that she vowed never to wear creature make-up again), the cast are committed and the whole thing zips by at just over 90 minutes.
The Reptile is not classic Hammer territory but it’s unusual enough to still be entertaining even if it does feel as though it were created in a different world to the one we currently inhabit. Pleasingly old-fashioned.