Venom — Venom( UHD & Blu Ray)
Venom (not to be confused with the 2018 Marvel anti-hero film of the same name) is an early 80s thriller/ horror crossbred, featuring two notorious/unpredictable actors Klaus Kinski and Oliver Reed. The film is a mix of taut kidnap thriller, and stalking ‘n’ snapper creature feature, and it’s a wholly entertaining and tense ride. Here from Blue Underground is a dual UHD and Blu-ray, taking in a new 4k scan, new and old commentary tracks, and a good selection of new interviews
Venom( aka Snakes in a Box: Die Schwarze Mamba in Germany) is a 1981 British production, filmed in and around London, and Elstree Studios. The film was initially helmed by Tobe Hooper( Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Lifeforce)- but fairly quickly taken over by British director Piers Haggard. He has six feature-lengths to his name, as well as forty-nine TV credits. His features take in the likes of classic folk horror Blood On Satan’s Claw (1971), romantic period drama A Summer Story (1988), and small town set romantic comedy Conquest (1998).
Venom runs at a tight one hour and twenty-seven minutes. Building tension and thriller intrigue quickly. We first get introduced to our upper middle-class family, the Hopkins, and their staff in their large London house. Taking in smartly dressed glamorous mother Ruth (Cornelia Sharpe), ten-year-old Philp (Lance Holcomb), and her bearded/recovering from an operation father Howard(Sterling Hayden), who we find out used to be a tracker/surviving in nature expert. The family is joined by initially stern & respectful chaver Dave (Oliver Reed), and seemingly conscientious housemaid Louise( Susan George).
We drop into the family's life, as Ruth is getting ready to catch a flight to meet her rich husband in Rome. We find out Philp has a huge collection of different animals, and suffers from very bad asthma, with his mother concerned about leaving him, but she leaves in the end, and thus the tension notches up.
As we unfold the shifty/ creepy Jacmel( Klaus Kinski) is brought into the plot, he’s focused on kidnapping the boy, but things don’t go quite as planned as black mamber is brought into the situation. With the film effectively blending tense kidnap drama, and stalking ‘n’ striking snake horror film.
As you can imagine, the acting highlights here are Kinski & Reed. The former makes for a clever, but creepy European criminal. And the latter shifts from loyal, to crumpy/ sweary, and unpredictable. The supporting cast is all well picked too, there’s Nicol Williamson as Commander William Bulloch who's in charge of the Kidnapper/ hostage. And Holcomb, who plays a generally scared little boy.
I was only very vaguely aware of Venom, and I’ll have to say it went above and beyond my expectations. It's a pacy, at points quite jarring and terrifying film, with light touches of gore, and a decent twisting/engaging plot. Kinski & Reed are a bonus to the whole thing, as at points we get some great aggravation / flighty inaction between the pair.
Moving onto this new dual disc UHD and Blu-ray set, features a new 4k scan of the film, this is a nice clean and crisp affair, with good definition throughout. On the UHD we get the film and two commentary tracks, but more on those in a moment.
On the Blu-ray new extras, we have a commentary by Film Historians Troy Howarth, Nathaniel Thompson and Eugenio Ercolani. This is excellent- full of great research, observation, and banter. They begin by talking about the film's eclectic cast being similar to that of a 70’s disaster film. They touch on how that all of Haggard’s films feature division between different classes and ages. They discuss how the snake is the protagonist on all of the film’s posters across the world, with Susan George often being the key name. They debate if the film is part of the popular 70’s genre, When Animals Attack. We get talk about Alan Scholefield’s 1977 novel of the same name, which the film was based on, with the trio discussing the difference between the book and the film. They talk about the pictures score by Michael Kamen- touching on its release history, the score itself, and a bio of Mr Kamen. We find out unsurprisingly Klaus Kinski and Oliver Reed didn’t get with each other on set. Later on, they talk about the film reviews of the time, which were largely negative. We get a detailed breakdown of the trade press announcements regarding the production. They talk about why Tobe Hooper may have left the project- getting some great titbits of info regarding his version of the film, which apparently had Kinski dressed up in a Nazi uniform. All in all, a must play track.
Other new extras take in: Fangs For The Memories (26.12) Interview with Editor/Second Unit Director Michael Bradsell. A Slithery Story ( 21.00) Interview with Makeup Artist Nick Dudman. Mamba Memories (23.29) Interview with Author & Critic Kim Newman. Pick Your Poison (15.26) Interview with The Dark Side’s Allan Bryce.
On the archive side, we have a commentary track with director Piers Haggard. A trailer, TV spots, and expanded poster and stills gallery.
The set is finished off with a glossy twenty-page inlay booklet featuring a new essay by Michael Gingold, as well as a great selection of stills, poster art, etc.
Venom is a highly entertaining blend of thriller and horror tropes, with a great cast, decent plot twists, and some wonderful moments of tension and shock. As we’ve come to expect, the folks at Blue Underground have done another stellar job with this reissue, with an excellent print & a great selection of extras. All in all, one of 2025’s early highlights!