User Reviews

A carnival train lets loose a snake (or snakes) near a small Alabama town, which is just about to open a dog track as a hopeful economic booster. When people start turning up dead with strange bites, and others report seeing unusual snakes, most of the town can't put two and two together, but Dr. Maggie Sheridan (Gretchen Korbett) becomes suspicious (nothing gets by her!) that something weird is going on and wants to alert the town. She's excited enough about it that she'd also probably like to call in the National Guard, and maybe even nuke Alabama just to be safe. The Mayor, Grady Thorpe (Jack Gordon), and the dog track developer, Matt Perry (Bob Hannah), will hear nothing of it. Meanwhile, the local Priest, Tom Farrow (Fritz Weaver) comes to believe that the snakes just might be Satan, at least after the local witch looks at his coffee grounds. On the other hand, maybe it has something to do with that discussion he has with a church member about acid.

Although I can find no literature related to the film to confirm this, it's virtually impossible for me to believe that Jaws of Satan (aka King Cobra) wasn't intended as a horror/comedy. Much of the dialogue and plot is simply too ridiculous to have been taken seriously. In any event, Jaws of Satan is a delight to watch, even if it is a poor film by traditional criteria. It was enjoyable enough to earn my coveted 5 out of 10 "so bad, it's good" rating.

Within the first five minutes, director Bob Claver shows us what an amusingly confusing mess he has in store for us. Two men are on a carnival train that seems otherwise unpopulated. For some reason (either it wasn't stated very well or I was already falling asleep) one leaves to check on a crate. It moves in mysterious ways. The lock on the crate opens itself, and our carny is surprised to see a cobra appear. It bites him. Some invisible force then pushes him off the train (invisible forces are always a sign that you're in for a doozy or a film). Meanwhile, his buddy is bitten in the face by the same or another snake, or at least the snake bumps into the really dirty plexiglass they had in front of the camera, then the buddy dies on the spot. We cut to an outside shot of the train, which suddenly slows and stops. We're never shown the engineer or what happens to him, but presumably there was an engineer, something happened to him, and he stopped the train gracefully. Cue the audience jumping out of their seats.

In an interview about the film, producer Bill Wilson said that the film was inspired by a true story circa 1955 that happened near Springfield, Missouri. A carnival train derailed, loosing countless snakes in the countryside. Many people were bitten and died. The way the incident is shown in the film is an indication of the kind of budget and technical finesse we're dealing with. Since Wilson and company obviously couldn't afford to have a train derail or crash, it simply stops, gently. We've only seen one snake up to that point, but within minutes, after just one more snakebite, Dr. Sheridan is ready to hit the panic button.

Much of the film has the same non-sequitur logic and low-budget sensibility, making for some very funny scenarios. It should be clear from the title--and it's implied very early in the film--that Father Farrow ends up being right--Satan has something to do with the incidents (and there is a long, convoluted backstory about Father Farrow's family and some druids). However, the film's logic is so loose that it's never clear just how Satan is involved. Snakes that should be possessed are easily killed--often through methods such as blowing their heads off with guns. There are a number of different snakes, although not enough to ever create much suspense, and certainly not enough for the big blowout that you might expect for a finale. Is it a collective possession? We end up with a battle against one particular snake, so that doesn't seem to be the case, but then what was the deal with all of the other snakes in the film?

It's best not to worry too much about this shady storytelling, and simply chuckle at the bizarre scenarios--such as an "assassin motorcyclist" who tries to chase down the whistleblowers to rape and/or murder them, or a mad chase through a cemetery where humans cannot outrun a slowly slithering beastie, or our heroes in peril because they have chosen to simply lie down, unbound, beneath the main villain in his lair, and so on. None of it makes much sense, but most of it is funny, especially when you add the consistently ludicrous dialogue.

And yet, unbelievably, there are flashes of brilliance in the film. Cinematographer Dean Cundey finds a number of beautiful, symbolic shots. That probably had something to do with his extensive experience--prior to Jaws of Satan, Cundey had already been a cinematographer on films such as Halloween (1978), Rock 'N' Roll High School (1979) and The Fog (1980); he's understandably had a long, successful career since. Weaver is a delight as Father Farrow, being humorously irreligious as he tells off-color jokes, drinks, smokes and regularly refers to his faith as "a bunch of superstitious nonsense".

I'd certainly recommend Jaws of Death, but only for fans of low-budget cheese and unintentional humor, despite its few intentional highlights. It's obvious that the producers were trying to cash in on a combo of two popular 1970s genres--religious (and especially possession) horror and nature run amok films. Obviously, there are many better examples of each genre to watch from the era, but none may be quite as funny as Jaws of Satan.

A king cobra being transported by train to a carnival supposedly becomes the resting place for Satan himself. And in this form, Satan has the ability to command other slithering reptiles to do his bidding. This company of snakes arrives in a small town to disrupt the lives of the locals, among them irreverent priest Father Tom Farrow (Fritz Weaver, "Creepshow"), dedicated doctor Maggie Sheridan (Gretchen Corbett, "Let's Scare Jessica to Death", 'The Rockford Files'), and herpetologist Paul Hendricks (Jon Korkes, "Syngenor").

"Jaws of Satan" certainly wears its influences right on its sleeve, including the naming of the Hendricks character. It plays like a cross between "Jaws" and "The Exorcist", except without the level of craftsmanship in those two classics. It's directed in very workmanlike fashion by TV veteran Bob Claver, in what appears to be his only feature film. The shocks aren't anything special, nor are the suspense scenes, but at least the animal action is well executed. If this low budget production at least *looks* very good, that's due to the contributions of the great cinematographer Dean Cundey and camera operator Raymond Stella, two guys who did some of their best work for the director John Carpenter. The music score by Roger Kellaway ("Evilspeak", "Silent Scream") is quite good, and the movie does have an atmospheric opening. The similarity to "Jaws" itself is quite obvious in the way that the mayor (Jack Gordon) and businessman Matt Perry (Bob Hannah) don't want public fears about snakes to interfere with the operation of their brand spanking new dog racing track.

Some of the supporting cast is rather nondescript, but things are held together by a highly engaging Weaver. Diana Douglas, whose son Joel was the production manager, co-stars as the doom sayer Evelyn Downs. A very young Christina Applegate makes her film debut here, playing the daughter of her real-life mom Nancy Priddy's character.

This viewer found "Jaws of Satan" agreeable enough. It's not a great movie, or even a good one, really, but it's passable schlock for lovers of Animal Attack cinema.

Five out of 10.

JAWS OF SATAN begins on a train carrying dogs for the new dog track, and one snake. What sort of snake? Why, a cobra. What kind of cobra? A devil cobra! We know this because of its powers. Powers, I say! Powers that kill! Kill! Killll! By the time it gets off the train, it's all alone.

Enter Father Tom Farrow (Fritz Weaver). At a party, a psychic named Evelyn Downs (Diana Douglas) is busy "picking up vibes", and knows a lot about Father Farrow's family history. His lineage has made him a prime target for Satan! This means he's doomed!

DOOOMED!!

Enter Dr. Maggie Sheridan (Gretchen Corbett), who's investigating the killer-devil-snake deaths. Of course, there's political tension, due to the opening of the pivotal dog track, so no one wants the bad publicity associated with killer-devil-snake deaths! Dr. Sheridan calls in an expert. More k-d-s deaths occur, causing mayhem.

Indeed, the Evil One has come to town by train, and taken the form of a cobra, in order to kill people. He's also recruiting other snakes to do his bidding. Just like in the bible! Even Dr. Sheridan is attacked, and wails like a banshee-on-fire, causing romance to bloom between her and the snake expert.

The absurdity increases exponentially, as Farrow discovers the terrible truth of his family tree. He must now face off against The Serpent, or the dog track is finished!

Watching adults pretending to take all of this seriously is a joy to behold! Norman Lloyd nearly steals the show, during his heart attack scene! Luckily, he's already at the cemetery! This all leads up to the slithery, slippery, snake-den showdown, complete with organ accompaniment.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS: Snakes are eeevil tools of Satan, and must be destroyed!

THE IMPORTANT QUESTION REMAINS: "Why doesn't Satan like dog racing?".

My friends, much mirthful fun is contained herein...

Aside from being Christina Applegate's debut, there is really nothing notable about this failed attempt at combining religious hokum with animal life on the attack. Fritz Weaver guts it out and turns in a decent performance as a small town priest whose ancestors are responsible for a curse being brought upon his parish. It seems that hundreds of years prior, his ancestor stamped out a druid cult and now their spirit is reborn in the form of a king cobra! And this king cobra happens to have jumped off a circus train after killing the crew just as it passes through this small Alabama town!!! YES You heard that right!! Now, the cobra casts its spell on other snakes in the area and causes them to randomly attack anyone they encounter! All this while a new dog racing track is about to open. And the mayor and the guy building it of course won't let anything delay the grand opening! No matter how many people get bitten! It's up to the priest to re-discover his faith and drive out the evil snakes!!! As you can tell from the above paragraph, this film is laughable. At least Snakes On a Plane apparently knew not to take itself seriously. (I've never seen that one, but that's what I understand) But Jaws of Satan plays it straight and only generates unintentional laughs! So many goofs! Plexiglass between the snakes and cast members is clearly visible in some scenes. In one scene, the sheriff is called to stalk a dangerous snake in a hardware store. The snake is clearly just a harmless gopher snake, but they try to make it seem like its attacking him!! We hear a gunshot, even when he clearly did not fire the pistol. Then, the snake just kind of slumps onto the floor... clearly not dead or harmed! The music is absolutely wretched, the film is filled with padding like people driving or taxiing down a runway in a little plane. Thought I was watching R.O.T.O.R. for a moment with all that padding! Lots of ancient clichés abound. We get a morgue attendant who leaves food lying around dead bodies and acts casual while eating next to corpses. Seen that one in so many others.... We see an expert brought in from out of town, but he doesn't amount to anything. Just serves as a love interest for a female town doctor. I don't know where to stop with my criticism, so I'll just do it here. Awful film! 2 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

This flick here still unavailable on DVD as I am writing this was made in the heydays of horror. But what this film does is showing us how not to make a horror.

It's hard to believe with a cast like this that this is really a turkey. A snake is supposed to be Satan and terrorises a town. Looks promising but it's so low on everything and really has cheesy effects that I would classify it under a big failure. Bob Claver, the director in fact never made another movie, he was more into series. But the direction I could dig but the storyline and effects were laughable.

In the beginning when the snake attacks on a train you could easily spot the glass partition between the snake and the victim, and it gets funnier when you see the snake hitting the glass. Further on you only see the bitemarks of the snake on swollen faces.

The acting was okay, face it, big names from the genre were in it, Fritz Weaver and Gretchen Corbett of many famous horror flicks. But why most people are hunting the US VHS down is for the performance of the 10 year old Christina Applegate, here in her first role ever. And you will recognize her immediately due her eyes.

Jaws Of Satan is only worth watching for Christina fans or for the lovers of bad horror flicks. maybe some will want to see Gretchen walking around in her nudies but it's clean edited with nothing to see. It doesn't deliver scariness or blood, it's a lot of blah blah and you really must see the cheesy ending.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 1/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

This movie is never really sure if it wants to be one of those, "Nature is going to totally kill you" movies or a "Satan is behind everything" movie. So it tries to be both and we aren't really sure who our protagonist is, the drunken Priest or the Dashing Herpatologist.

So there's a town where an evil demonic snake takes control of all the other snakes and start randomly biting people. But the Snake is really Satan, trying to get the last of the priests from the line that drove him out of Ireland. Or something. If you were confused, so were the directors and writers.

The Jaws element is that they are keen to open a dog racing track even though people in the town are being randomly bitten by snakes.

The movie is kind of a meandering mess, ending in a cave where the drunken priest confronts Satan-snake... and frankly, it's kind of a letdown. I take back what I've said about all the over the top CGI sequences in movies, at least they have something going on.

Imitating the success of a certain horror classic is quite easy. Everybody did it back in the early 80's. All you had to do was steal the basic concept of a great film and/or box office hit, add more nastiness and preferably some sleazy sequences as well, and you had yourself an insignificant but enjoyable horror movie. Ain't nothing to it. One thing that does require a lot of courage (and tasteless insanity, for that matter), however, is to simultaneously rip off TWO legendary horror classics even though their plots have absolutely nothing in common! The title of this shameless piece of 80's cheese reveals it all: we are dealing here with a cash-in of both "Jaws" AND "The Exorcist". How can you possibly blend the concept of animals on the rampage with satanic possession, I hear you ask? Well, you can't… Surely the first draft of the screenplay made this clear as well, but they went along and made the movie anyways. In a godforsaken rural town in Alabama, Satan suddenly and for no apparent reasons possesses a rattlesnake. Or maybe He simply just appears in the form of a virulent snake? Actually, that would explain why it suddenly turns into a King Cobra. I don't know, either that part of the script didn't get explained properly or I wasn't paying enough close attention. Numerous dead bodies, mutilated with giant gaping holes in their faces, have to pop before the local priest decides to come into action. He's a direct descendant of a family of Druids, so if anyone can exorcise this slithery venomous demons, it's him. In good old Jaws tradition the town's prominent council members also refuse to admit there's a problem, since they just opened a fancy dog-racing track and hope to lure many tourists with this attraction. "Jaws of Satan" is a delightfully inept and imbecilic low-budget horror flick, typical for the early 80's, with clumsy effects and laughable "stunts". This is the type of movie that wants us to believe one of the characters comes into face to face contact with a deadly snake, even though you can clearly spot the dirty Plexiglas that separates them. Another character, the female lead heroine, spends an incredibly long time on the bed with a snake whilst nothing happens. She calls her boyfriend for help, and even though he's in his motel room a couple of streets away and still needs to get dressed first, the snake patiently awaits his arrival before launching attack. There are a bunch of underdeveloped sub plots that lead nowhere, like a rapist biker chasing the heroine or a spiritual medium lady that can't even predict her own death. On a slightly more positive note, the snake-bitten faces of the victims are quite cool (although it's the exact same make-up repeated 6 times) and the rural Alabama filming locations are very enchanting. And yes, that cherubic little blond girl is indeed the future Kelly Bundy in her very first appearance.

(There are Spoilers) Almost dropping dead from fright Evelyn Downs, Diana Douglas, the president of the Green County Historical Society and part time Witch saw something in Father Tom Farrow's, Fritz Weaver, coffee cup that left her stunned and unconscious.

Later the confused and befuddled Father Farrow is told by the Monsignore, Norman Llyod,of his church the horrible secret of Farrow's lineage. Father Tom's Great-great-great-great-great Granddaddy back during the middle-ages in jolly old England did a number on the local Druids who were in league with the Devil. For that his's family was cursed since then by the "Evil One" with death and destruction. Now it's his, Father Tom's, turn to pay for what his long ago ancestor in England did.

The brood of snakes, Cobras and Rattle Snakes led by Satan himself, in disguise as a giant King Cobra attack, move with lighting speed and kill about a dozen residents of Green County. But when it came to kill their intended target, Father Tom, as well as the two co-stars in the movie Green County's hospital director Dr. Maggie Sheridan & Herpetologist Dr. Paul Hendricks, Gretchen Corbett & Jon Korkes,the snakes just laid down and seem to play dead.

There was an incredible scene in the movie when Maggie is at home and takes a shower and then drys and puts on her nightgown and goes to bed. All this with a deadly Rattle Snake slithering around in her bathroom shower and bedroom within inches of her! Then for some unexplained reason the snake doesn't bother striking it's poisonous fangs into Maggie's body? It gets even more ridicules when Maggie finally, after what seems like a half hour, sees the snake and then calls her boyfriend Dr. Hendricks for help. Dr. Hendricks gets out of bed gets dressed runs to her house, which is about a mile away, and then after pinning the snakes head to the wall blows it's brains out! What was the snake waiting for all this time? For Hendricks to come to Maggie's rescue and kill it?

Fritz Weaver looked like he would rather do something else then be in the movie. Weaver walks around during the entire film in a daze trying to figure how he ever ended up in "Jaws of Satan" in the first place. Maggie being a whistle-blower and trying to warn the public about the danger of the attacking snakes is almost kidnapped raped and murder by this psycho biker, Mike Smith the 34th. Smith the 34th was hired to stop her from letting the truth out by Green Country big business man Matt Perry, Bob Hanna. Perry has a lot to lose by the public being in fear and not venturing out with his dog track about to open with nobody showing up for the Grand Opening. This jerk was so determined to open the dog track that even after his 10 year-old daughter Kim, Christina Applegate, was bitten by a rattler at the track he still didn't want to have it closed down!

Maggie is saved from the crazed biker by non-other then Satan himself wearing a King Cobra outfit. The movie "Jaws of Satan" comes to it's inevitable and non-surprising conclusion with Father Tom running to the rescue of both Maggie and Dr. Hendrick,who ended up trapped in the snake cave. Father Tom then does an Exorcism in both English and Latin causing the nest of vipers to catch fire and go back to where they came from.

What makes the movie "Jaws of Satan" worth watching is to see the actors in it play their parts completely straight. Not realizing just how absurd the movie was until they actually saw it and by then it was too late for them to quit.

This film has some very good aspects to it:

1: A simple, yet well-done story that is interesting and a good script. (I loved the beginning of the films' excerpt from the bible)

2: Great filming locations (Alabama)

3: A vet. actor! (Fritz Weaver)

When I first saw this film, I was a little confused since I only saw the ending. I eventually found it on DVD and watched the whole thing through. I thought it was great and I added Fritz Weaver to my list of my fav actors. I then found out that A lot of people hated it. What the heck is up with that? Oh well. Anyway, I love this film and I wish the producers would make a sequel. My rating: 4/4 stars

A giant king cobra escapes from a freight train, to stage a biblical war against a town priest (Weaver) whose faith is waning. Numerous deaths occur leading Father Farrow to the conclusion that it is Satan himself, incarnate as the biblical serpent of evil, sent from hell to bring about damnation to human kind. Or, as herpetologist Jon Korkes prefers, "it's just a big snake". Contaminating the plot, is a much anticipated opening of a local dog track that a local businessman – supported by the morally corrupt mayor of course – is determined to see through at any cost. End result, while the punters might have missed an opportunity to flush their hard earned, they are, on the other hand, spared a holy war of biblical proportions thanks to the renewed faith Weaver finds, just in time to save his soul.

Technically well constructed, with performances of conviction, and generally well paced, there's nothing ostensibly wrong with this mild shocker – even the make-up effects are generally better than most films of the snake ilk. The church organ inspired score can be irritating at times, and some of the supporting cast rank amateurs, but generally speaking, it's not unlikeable for the first 85 minutes.

Disappointingly however, the film peters to the climax and instead of some "Exorcist" or "Omen" style epic fire and brimstone, we're treated to an alter ritual in the catacombs, where "Satan" has abducted the good Dr. Sheridan (Gretchen Corbett) and is holding her captive in wait for the man of the cloth. Add in a couple of conversions to the deal, and what we've got here, is surely a miracle.

That's Christina Applegate as the token child victim, while veteran actor/producer Norman Lloyd looks as confused as the audience, trying to explain how Fr Farrow's bloodline is the cause of Satan's return, every three generations (or something like that). So, while not without some justifiable criticisms, this isn't that bad and certainly not the stinker that kept it in the tin for three years, before it was finally released in 1982. If the distributors were hoping for maturity in that time, alas, it didn't quite happen, but still worth a look.

In this legendary trashy flick called "Jaws of Satan" the priest played by Fritz Weaver battles Satan in a form of a giant cobra snake.I must say that "Jaws of Satan" has to be one of the most idiotic horror films of 80's.It mixes the theme from "The Exorcist" with the-nature-run-amok plot in the vein of "Jaws" or "Grizzly".All the death scenes in "Jaws of Satan" look exactly the same.Poor victim gets bitten by a reptile,screams and falls down.On a train.In the forest.The acting is passable and the photography by Dean Cundey is professional."Jaws of Satan" marks the big-screen debut of Christina Applegate.5 out of 10.For 80's horror completists only.

The beauty of "Jaws of Satan" is that the Farmer's son was my 9th grade drama teacher and this was Christina Appelgate's first movie, so I can really show off when playing the six degrees game. Why anyone who does not meet these rather unique audience criteria would endure this abysmal piece of claptrap is beyond me. The plot highlights include an ancient Druid curse somehow connected to rural Georgia and tons of scenes of actors being menaced by stock footage of a cobra. "Jaws of Satan" is about as suspenseful as finding a rubber snake in a big bin of rubber snakes marked with a sign reading in huge, red letters - "Sale! Rubber Snakes"

Actually they laid an egg and out hatched this kooky movie. Look, it's a B movie worthy of Svenghoulie so if that's your thing it's fun. Otherwise look elsewhere for quality horror. You won't find it here.

At first I thought that this would be a really bad movie. I tend to ignore what other people have to say. After this one I'll be more careful on how I choose to spend my time. I hope that this review will spare others from this movie.

It's just not bad, it is REALLY bad. After the buildup in the first scene, who had all good ingredients to be something good it derailed totally.

I lost interest when they used the disgustingly old cliché that coroners is eating their lunch over dead bodies in the morgue. Not that I find it disgusting to eat in the presence of dead bodies. I just find the cliché itself, old, tired and boring.

Coroners have access to proper canteens. I have visited a real morgue in my line of work. I never saw as much as a piece of fruit in the autopsy room.

Back to this catastrophe of a movie. Somehow Satan have spawned into our world as a snake. The snake keeps biting, as snakes tend to do, its way to some random small town in, yes once again, America, where a priest who's ancestors was cursed by druids battles the snake.

One could possible find some symbolic values but this movie should be forgotten and I hope I can spare you from wasting your time on this.

The only thing worth mentioning is a young Christina Applegates appearance.

Jaws of Satan (AKA King Cobra) is notable for being the acting debut of Married With Children sexpot Christina Applegate, but there's nothing to see in that respect-- she's like ten or something here. Applegate aside, the film features decent cinematography from Halloween DOP Dean Cundey, a fun performance from Fritz Weaver (Creepshow), and lots of slithering snakes, but suffers from seriously sloppy storytelling.

Released the same year as Oliver Reed killer snake movie Venom (and two years before Oliver Reed killer snake movie Spasms), Jaws of Satan mixes two popular genres -- the killer animal movie (popularised by Jaws) and the Satanic horror film (popularised by The Omen and The Exorcist) -- to tell a muddled tale of a town terrorised by snakes, the critters controlled by a massive King Cobra that could well be the embodiment of pure evil, Satan himself. The devil has apparently taken on the form of a serpent in order to claim the life of a priest whose ancestors were cursed by druids. Investigating the spate of snake attacks in the town are hot doctor Maggie Sheridan (Gretchen Corbett) and herpetologist Paul Hendricks (Jon Korkes); meanwhile, mayor Matt Perry (Bob Hannah) tries to downplay the problem and cover up the deaths for fear that they will affect the success of the new dog track, the grand opening of which is imminent.

From the opening snake attack on board a locomotive, where the cobra is clearly separated from its victim by a plexiglass screen (which the snake audibly bumps into), to the finale in which Satan in reptile form is defeated by the holy cross, Jaws of Satan is a complete mess, not just in terms of story, but in the direction, the acting and the editing. Not one person involved seems to acknowledge the sheer stupidity of the plot, the cast performing with an absolute seriousness that renders many a supposedly tense scene laughable. If only the film had been played with tongue firmly in cheek, it could have been a blast; instead, we get a movie that earnestly sets out to terrify, but which generates more groans than screams (unless you have a morbid fear of snakes, I suppose).

3.5/10, rounded up to 4 for IMDb.

You can't possibly tell me that this was intended as a serious horror movie. If it was, that simply does not bode well. Then again, it's not specifically funny, either. What happened?

The very premise offers firm foundation for some genre fun, but nearly from the very start some inclusions nearly inspire laughter ("nearly" being the key word). The first major scene to truly lay the groundwork for the plot sounds like the set-up for a joke ("A sorceress, a priest, and a politician attend a dinner party..."); most scenes of snakes in action are notably inauthentic, including heavy thuds from the resident Foley artist; the big To-Do in the town is, of all things, a track for racing dogs (welp, this hasn't aged well in at least one regard); and so on. All these bits and many, many more are so pointedly overt that it increasingly becomes hard to take 'Jaws of Satan' seriously. I'm not sure if credited screenwriter Gerry Holland was purposefully trying to derail this horror flick, if they had some unspoken beef with James Callaway who had originally written the story, or if they were just incompetent - but one way or another, director Bob Claver apparently went along with it all. The dialogue, scene writing, and characterizations all feed into this notion, in some cases the acting and direction, and still other aspects including parts of Roger Kellaway's score.

Yet I really don't think this was intended to be a horror-comedy. Even if we say that dollops of levity were deliberately added in as with most any such pictures, the incidences here are far too gawky, and not applied evenly - let alone the most eyebrow-raising instances. The feature stands at a very odd crossroads of (a) seemingly trying to play the scenario straight, including tried and true themes of corrupt and myopic politicians, and clerics who are uncertain in their faith, and (b) possibly infusing fractions of lighter moments along the way, but (c) being so astoundingly heavy-handed in most capacities that what we can assume to be the intended value all but entirely evaporates in the process. And there is, actually, earnest value here. The root story holds definite promise, and there are some great ideas. From a standpoint of the technical craft and the fundamental work, the cast generally do a swell job, the direction is capable, and stunts, effects, and special makeup look terrific. The filming locations are excellent. But even the basic premise is treated poorly as the priest and a certain central figure - you know, Satan, who is in the very title - is strongly deemphasized until the very end, and 'Jaws of Satan' mostly comes across as another "nature run amok" flick, and particularly a slithery reptilian predecessor to Frank Marshall's 'Arachnophobia.'

I don't think it's outright bad. I do think it's direly scattered, and either no one knew what they wanted it to be in the first place, or Holland, Callaway, and/or Claver were having a long run of incredibly off days in their writing and direction. Either way, the result is the same: unless you're a diehard fan of someone involved, there's no real reason to check this out. I won't say to avoid it, and there are much worse things one could watch; I don't regret watching, as far as that goes. But there's just not enough value here to make it worth anyone's time, not least in light of the countless other movies one could be watching instead. Mark 'Jaws of Satan' as a curiosity, and let's leave it at that.

Right of the bat I'd like to AGAIN question IMDb's rating for this film! They list it as "R." Based on what? No sex violence or profanity! Also my VHS copy clearly states "PG."

As far as B movies go the production quality isn't that bad.

This is one of those films with a decent set up and NO PAY OFF!

I've seen several killer snake movies that turn out that way like Oliver Reed's 'Venom.' The creepy set up consists of a priest (Fritz Weaver of 'Scanners') being told by a fortune teller that his ancestors in England persecuted the pagan Druids whom put a curse on his family.

Wait! I just checked his flexography and remember he wasn't in 'Scanners!' So what else do we know Fritz Weaver from? A few episodes of 'L&O.'

Fortunately the priest knows exactly how to deal with fortune tellers. "A man or a woman who acts as a medium or fortune-teller shall be put to death by stoning; they have no one but themselves to blame for their death." Leviticus 20:27

But no, Father Weaver doesn't kill her a few minutes later, she's killed by the curse.

Anyway snakes on a train kill the conductor and the train car comes into town. Pretty soon there are dozens of fatal snake bites.

Just like every killer animalxploitation film the smart lady reporter wants to call in the feds for help, but greedy businessmen want to stop her as a public scare could hurt the business at the town's center of commerce, a dog racing track. Yup that's the key plot point of this movie a dog racing track.

Here the businessmen are so evil they even hire someone to kill the reporter. WTF? Isn't this going a little too far.

The head businessman's daughter really stands out as being cuter than Shirley Temple. When predictably she too is bitten I realized whom she was, Christina Applegate! Yup, and the businessman's wife is Christina's real life mother Nancy Priddy.

Unlike most killer animal movies there are no epic scenes of swarms of animals. Even 'Dogs' had that. Almost all the snake attack scenes simply consist of an actor screaming in pain and then collapsing to the ground.

There are a few boring scenes of snakes cornering people. Now I'm no zoologist but all the snakes appear to be cobras (probably only one cobra was actually used for filming). Since cobras aren't American I kept waiting for the reporter and the scientist to uncover some kind of dark secret that a cobra from Asia was on the train and began breeding with local snakes thus creating a heard of killer snakes? No, this is never explained.

The climax is also a major let down. The reporter and scientist track the snakes' headquarters to a cave. So can't they just seal off the cave? How are these snakes traveling tens of miles all over town to bite people?

Father Weaver accepts his fate and has a final confrontation with a cobra leading it into a fire. But what about the hundreds of other snakes all over town? Even presuming this cobra is their leader, killing it isn't going to simply make all the other snakes go away.

The movie's good for a few laughs or if you want to see Christina Applegate's debut, and isn't horrible. It just suffers from the most back movie problem, boredom!

The question still remains, was this part of a bigger conspiracy? Just an excuse to beat up the Irish?

Earlier there was "Ssssss!", where a man is transformed into a snake by a sinister scientist. In "Jaws of Satan" it's a priest battling the Devil in a form of a serpent. It all start where two men were trying to run a dog race track in a Southern town when the box contained a snake breaks loose and killed the two men on the train. I know one got out of the train when the snake struck. But how did the engineer get killed by the snake? Well when the snake gets loose, and other snake strikes gets the townsfolk into a frenzy of terror. The town's priest who was living in such denial in his life needed to build up his faith after hearing a lie about his descendant's cause of death. It took 3 people: the medical examiner, a Herpentologist,and the priest to stop the Evil snake and save the town from certain doom. The young Christina Applegate made her debut years before she played Kelly Bundy on "Married...With Children". Precocious liked Kelly, only more innocent than ditzy. This movie is a gem. Should be called a CULT classic. It was fine all the way. 3 out of 5 stars

True, if you expect great effects and magnificent acting you should keep searching. If you are looking for some nice entertainment, this is definitely worth watching. I think the voting is quite to low considering that other movies worse than this one got away way better. I would recommend to watch it and decide on your own. Enjoy.

Ophidiophobia is the extreme fear of snakes...and someone with this affliction would likely freak out at seeing these reptiles. So it's really important that you do NOT watch it if you have this fear, as the film is chock full of the beasties!!

While the film sure sounds like one of the typical Devil worshiping films of the 70s (and there were a lot), it's more a film about snakes...snakes being controlled by a Cobra-like Devil snake! Yes, you heard it...a Devil snake! This nasty makes other snakes into super-aggressive jerks intent on killing folks. What follows is a whole lotta pseudo-religious nonsense about these snakes all coming because the Devil has it out for a rather dim priest (Fritz Weaver)...and has for many generations.

So is it any good? Well, it's not quite as mind-blowingly bad like a few of the Devil movies of the era...in fact, there really isn't a lot that's devilish about most of the film...it's mostly just snakes popping out and folks reacting in terror. Some of this is a bit dumb--such as the sheriff going into a business with a snake that is loose and he's only armed with a .38 (you gotta be one incredible shot to do this...as well as being quite stupid) as well as the hero magically knowing his lady friend is being attacked by a snake and arriving with a snake stick...but HOW did he know this was happening???!!! Did he have ESP?! And where did that rapist come from and what did he have to do with ANYTHING?! In fact, a lot of the film doesn't make any sense now that I think about it....and my score of 3 might just be a bit charitable!