SSSSSSS

Universal

The mid 70s were a golden age for made-for-tv movies. Pray for the Wildcats, Killdozer, Trilogy of Terror. Every week offered a new one. What's more, these movies gave some wonderful character actors regular work, as well as the chance to play the occasional lead.

Now, before some of you geeks get all in a tizzy and scream "Sssssss wasn't made for tv!" let me say that I'm well aware of that-Universal released it in 1973 as part of one of the last double features they would ever distribute. Still, I've always considered Sssssss a made-for-tv movie for several reasons: I remember the film not from theaters, but from regular network airings (it always scared the hell out of me); the director worked almost exclusively in television, both before and after making this; the film itself had that made-for-tv feel to it (just look at those opening credits); and most important, like the best tv films, it gave a splendid character actor-in this case the great Strother Martin-top billing.

Martin usually played grizzled, seedy, slightly creepy characters up to no good. And while he's playing a creepy character up to no good here, too, he's not as grizzled. He even wears a lab coat.

Dr. Carl Stoner (Martin), considered a kook by his colleagues, has spent a lifetime studying poisonous snakes. To make a little money on the side, he puts on a snake-handling show at his ranch every weekend. And unbeknownst to anyone (including his daughter, Heather Menzies), he's also conducting some outlandish experiments on human subjects.

When his assistant "disappears" one night, Stoner hires another college student to take his place (Dirk Benedict, in a very early role). Before you know it, he's having an affair with the daughter, and his skin is coming off in sheets. Meanwhile, the doctor is putting his snakes to work in fiendish ways.

As the new assistant's condition grows worse, the daughter stumbles onto something she didn't care to know about. And the doctor? Well?

Given the promise of the opening scene, the ending is less than spectacular-in fact, the low-rent closer is another element that leaves Sssssss feeling like a made-for-tv film. But I can ignore that. Strother Martin gives a low-key, controlled edge-of-madness performance throughout, and there are several scenes that remain genuinely disturbing to this day.

Universal didn't put a hell of a lot of work into the DVD. Like the other horror films they just dumped on the market, they clearly knew there was a genre audience who would buy it whatever shape it was in, so why waste the effort? The print's as grainy as any other copy I've seen, and the "let's give everything away" trailer is the only extra.