Snakes on Film

September 27, 2006 4:37 PM

Snakes on Film — at last, a definitive resource for moving-picture snake identification and serpentine fact-checking! Care of our very own mcwetboy! [via mefi projects]
posted by cortex (9 comments total)

It's a job that needs doin'.
Somebody should point out that all movies starring snakes have stunt doubles, and they are usually harmless.
Good job, mcwetboy!
posted by unrepentanthippie at 5:18 PM on September 27, 2006

That Tarantino bothered to use (if only in cutaway shots) an actual black mamba in Kill Bill 2 is heartening.
posted by cortex at 5:36 PM on September 27, 2006

Nice work! And although it's obviously fictional, would you care to comment on the basilisk in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"?
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:38 PM on September 27, 2006

I'll comment on the basilisk just as soon as someone provides a real one I can compare it to.
posted by mcwetboy at 5:47 PM on September 27, 2006

Mcwetboy: Here you go.

Seriously-excellent job. As someone who has been fascinated with snakes since childhood I have wished someone would do a site like yours. Keep up the good work.
posted by TedW at 6:27 PM on September 27, 2006

The real, running-on-water lizard hadn't occurred to me, but then again, the name of the project is not "Lizards on Film." I meant the mythical, petrify-your-sorry-ass beastie, which the lizard is named after.
posted by mcwetboy at 6:31 PM on September 27, 2006

Perhaps you should collect records of fictional specimens—screenshots, descriptions—and put together some sort of speculative archeobiological analysis. Or something.
posted by cortex at 6:40 PM on September 27, 2006

In terms of what's next, I've added a list of movies I think I should take a look at for future entries to the site (here). These are just off the top of my head. I'll see what else I can track down as well. Any other suggestions?

Romancing the Stone was on TV the other day, and for the life of me I couldn't tell what the goddamn bushmaster was in reality, except that it wasn't a real goddamn bushmaster, insofar as I could tell without a TiVo.
posted by mcwetboy at 11:07 AM on September 28, 2006

You must do "Frogs". I haven't seen it in years, but they had more different kinds of snakes than I knew existed, all purporting to be the same snake in one shot.
Allegedly, they imported a bunch of exotic toads and frogs for the thing, and a lot of them escaped. It was made in 1972, so if there were ecological ramifications, I would assume they'd know that by now.
posted by unrepentanthippie at 9:49 AM on September 29, 2006