The Snake Woman is an oldie but not all that goodie (but not so baddie) about a village in the English countryside in the early 1900's. The village, as you may guess, is being terrorized by a Snake Woman. And "terrorized" is maybe a bit strong - she's been at it for about 20 years, and only nabs one or two people a year. Seems like they would have done something about it by now. But you never feel too bad about it, because the villagers are mostly jerks and kind of brought it on themselves. I'll explain:
The film starts with famed herpetologist Dr. Adderson injecting his wife with snake venom. Apparently, injecting poison into the ill is Adderson's field of study - it may even work for cancer! In his wife's case, he's hoping to cure her "madness." But she is pregnant and worried about her unborn child. Well, it's not unborn for long... she goes into labor, and Adderson gets Dr. Murton (to deliver the baby) as well as midwife Aggie Harker. Sadly, Mrs. Adderson dies in childbirth, and Dr. Murton says the child is dead too - she's cold to the touch and doesn't blink. (Like a certain reptile, perhaps?) But it turns out the baby is alive! Aggie is also the village mystic (like a Christian witchdoctor if that's a thing), and tries to stab the baby with scissors (!) saying "we're all doomed!" or something along those lines. So the doctors give her the boot, and she runs to town to round up a posse. Dr. Murton wants to protect the baby (she's a scientific miracle!), and takes her away from the house so Adderson can pick her up after the posse is done. But the posse is a bunch of assholes, and isn't too keen on snakes. So they smash all of the cages and set the house on fire - killing Adderson in the process. I don't know, if you smash a bunch of snake cages, don't be surprised if people get bitten by snakes, you know? Jerks.
Flash forward twenty years. Dr. Murton is back from Africa (he was leaving that night, I guess) and is shocked to learn of Adderson's death. The dude he left the baby with that night ended up raising her - but she upped and vanished a few years back. Meanwhile, some high-ranking guy in the army is in the village and notices the locals being all riled up about the legendary Snake Woman. And sure enough, he checks the death records and there does indeed seem to be something fishy going on. He writes his buddy at Scotland Yard, and they send out a brash young investigator to see what's going on. Can he find the cause of the mysterious deaths? Or will his scientific world view make him blind to what is really going on? Tune in to find out!
The Snake Woman is a brisk little film - it's pretty short (70 minutes) and moves along quickly. I mean, the one-sentence summary would be "guy from Scotland Yard investigates Snake Woman," and said guy doesn't even show up until about 30 minutes in. So really, the meat of the story only takes about 40 minutes. John McCarthy is charismatic enough as the lead investigator, and the supporting cast is enjoyable in their little roles here and there - no one overstays their welcome. For a 70 minute film, The Snake Woman has a pretty large cast. There's enough moving parts that the film is never really boring - there just isn't anything that's really engrossing either.
Where it probably lets you down the most is in the character of the titular Snake Woman. Really, she hardly qualifies as a character - she rarely talks and doesn't really do anything, at least in woman form. Yes, she can turn into snake, but since it's a (cheap) film from 1960 they don't really ever try to show it to you. Actually, you don't see any of the attacks. Just some snake footage that may be stock - if it is, it's pretty well blended in. At the most, you may see a snake in between a fake pair of legs, and then hear a scream. I get that it's hard to have a lot of action considering when the film was made, but there is startlingly little action here.
The atmosphere in the film isn't too bad. A small isolated village is always a safe bet for a horror flick, and the countryside scenery looks nice. It's well lit and the black and white photography adds a little charm.
Ultimately, The Snake Woman is just a kind of cheesy old horror movie. But there's a definite feeling of nostalgia there too... like a comforting "ahh - things were so much simpler then." It's inoffensive enough, but not really worth seeking out.
I would not recommend this film.
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