The Monday Movie Review: Anacondas The Hunt For The Blood Orchid Starring Johnny Messner

I went and did it like I promised, after watching Swamp Shark the lure of a made for TV movie was just to much to handle and I flicked over to the SyFy channel and ended up watching this little gem where the CGI was probably beefed up to the max.


Starring: Johnny Messner, KaDee Strickland, Matthew Marsden and Nicholas Gonzalez

The Plot

It's really pretty simple, Dr Jack Byron (Matthew Marsden) works for a pharmaceutical company who believe they have found a flower which can grant you a longer life.  The Blood Orchid, as it's named grows in the Amazon rain forest problem is they only bloom for a couple of months every year and unbeknown to the crew they are surrounded by Anacondas with an appetite for blood.

The Verdict

Anaconda - Ice Cube - Jennifer Lopez = This movie.  Don't let that put you off though I thought this movie was great, not the best admittedly but I enjoyed it all the same.  Made for TV of course but it's not often these days that you see an actor in a movie where they have genuinely worked hard and stuck at the task at hand to get where they are.  I am of course talking about Johnny Messner who plays Bill Johnson in the movie he has worked for years as a jobbing actor whilst holding down a job in a bar, he hasn't worked in the bar for while now though and has even appeared in movies with stars like Bruce Willis

Rotten Tomatoes rate this as a cheesy monster B-Movie, it is I suppose but like I said above you are going to enjoy it.  The story is very predictable as you would expect, some guys and cute women get stuck on a boat, one of the guys turns a bit psycho a couple of them get eaten and Johnny Messner ultimately saves the day.  I mean what more do you want?

Considering the movie was probably made on less of a budget than it's prequel the snake or snakes looked no faker in this movie than they do in the original and this movie is a million times better than the third Anaconda movie which stars the Hoff.

This movie is what it is and you will either like it or you won't, I'm starting to think movies like this and Swamp Shark are sort of a guilty pleasure.  It's one for those nights I can't be bothered to reach for the DVD player as they require no brain power and only the effort of moving my finger to change the TV station.

Would I watch it again?

You kidding me!  Of course I would.

Rating: MM