Python (film)

Infobox Film
name = Python


caption = Python DVD cover
director = Richard Clabaugh
producer = Jeffery Beach
Ken Olandt
Phillip J. Roth
James Hollensteiner
Thomas J. Niedermeyer Jr.
Richard Smith
writer = Phillip J. Roth
Chris Neal
Garrison Hershberger
Paul Bogh
starring = Frayne Rosanoff
Robert Englund
Casper Van Dien
William Zabka
Dana Barron
Wil Wheaton
Sean Whalen
Jenny McCarthy
Gary Grubbs
music = Daniel J. Nielsen
cinematography = Patrick Rousseau
editing = Christian McIntire
distributor = 20th Century Fox
released = January 16, 2000
runtime = 99 min.
country = United States
language = English
followed_by = Python II (2002)
Boa vs. Python (2004)
amg_id = 1:225879
imdb_id = 0209264 "Python" (2000) is a made-for-TV horror movie directed by Richard Clabaugh. The film features several cult favorite actors, including William Zabka of "The Karate Kid" fame, Wil Wheaton, Casper Van Dien, Jenny McCarthy, Keith Coogan, Robert Englund (best known for his role as Freddy Krueger in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series of films), and Sean Whalen.

The film concerns a genetically engineered snake that pursues and eats people. It includes the classic Final Girl scenario evident in films like "Friday the 13th". It was filmed in Los Angeles, California and Malibu, California.

"Python" was followed by two sequels: "Python II" (2002) and "Boa vs. Python" (2004), both also made-for-TV films.

Plot

The crew of a plane flying at night gets nervous when the mysterious cargo it is carrying starts making noises and shifting. When one of the crew opens the crate to take a look, the pilot starts hearing screams from the back. Something then attacks him and causes the plan to crash near a little town called Ruby. The cargo survives the crash and begins snacking on the Ruby citizens, starting with a lesbian couple camping in the woods that night.

While out at a local swimming hole the next day, John Cooper (Rosanoff), his girlfriend Kristen (Barron), his best friend Tommy (Wheaton), and Tommy's girlfriend Theresa (Mornell), find a pet python belonging to one of the dead girls, Lisa. Deputy Greg appears right after they find the snake mentioning that Lisa is missing and takes the snake. Lisa's body is found at the same time, appearing to be eaten by acids. Greg suspects John since he works at a plating plant that contains big vats of acid, and he was one of the many men who'd "known" the girl. It doesn't hurt that Greg (Zabka), is also Kristen's ex-fiancée who left him as soon as her first love came back to town.

Meanwhile, scientist Dr. Anton Rudolph (Englund) is chatting with NSA Special Agent Parker (Van Dien) to explain that the cargo is a "very big snake." Not just any snake, this is a genetically engineered snake bio-engineered in Southeast Asia made by blending several species of snakes. In the words of Dr. Rudolph, it is "a perfect killing machine, a 129 foot all terrain vehicle capable of speeds exceeding fifty miles an hour, with skin that can deflect an anti-tank round, enhanced night vision, and voracious appetite for human flesh." The NSA team begins planning a massive assault against the snake as quickly as possible in the hopes of keeping it quiet before it starts eating people.

While they are having this conversation, the snake enjoys another snack of a real estate agent and beheads his potential client. It leaves behind the client, along with the body of the other lesbian, Roberta Keeler. John comes in as the snake leaves, furthering suspicion against him, despite his having no blood on him. The Sheriff shuts down his brother's plant, furthering the tensions between them. As John is leaving the plant, he runs into Greg's car and his bike gets wrecked. They end up in a fist fight, mostly over Kristen, in the middle of a street and through a playground which ends in a tie and their broken friendship seemingly mended. When the body of the real estate agent is found in the woods with the same acid treatment, the Sheriff orders John arrested. Kristin unloads on Greg when they come to arrest John, before finally letting Greg get in a word to say that he doesn't think John did it and will prove it.

The NSA team and Dr. Rudolph arrive and feed the Sheriff a story about a rogue, psychotic escaped operative that was imprisoned in a military psychiatric unit who escaped and is committing the murders. He doesn't believe them and lets them know it, but leaves them to do their thing. He goes back to the office and frees John, who heads off to be with his girlfriend at her house. The two, along with Tommy and Theresa, plan to go on a trip the next morning.

The NSA make their plans while using a water treatment center as their headquarters. They use radar to find where the snake is likely to be, then go on the attack. They have the local cops set up a perimeter to keep people out of the zone. They find the snake on the radar, and ignoring an apparent second location as radar echo, they close in on the snake. Believing the snake is sleeping after its several local meals, the team ends up wasting most of its ammo on the snake's recently shed skin. The rest of the team from the water treatment center joins the others just as Agent Parker realizes the snake set them up using the skin as a decoy. Right on cue, it arrives to kill the entire team. Only Dr. Rudolph survives and escapes. The deputies and sheriff sleep in their cars waiting for word from the team.

After spending the night at Theresa's house, Tommy and Theresa wake up early the next morning to pick up the others at 6 am. Theresa's shower is interrupted by the snake, which can't manage to get into the bathroom completely to eat her so she manages to get past it and out of the bathroom. Tommy gets eaten when she runs past and ignores her warnings. She manages to get to Tommy's truck, wearing only a bath towel, and drive away but the snake follows. It gets in front of her and rips the rear axle off, disabling the truck. She gets away again and hides in a crevice in some nearby rocks with another opening too small for the snake to get in.

When Tommy & Theresa don't show, John and Kristen go looking for them and spot the wrecked truck. The snake, and Theresa, hears them calling and blowing the horn. Theresa tries to warn them as the snake comes to attack, but they can't hear her. Both eventually escape on Tommy & Theresa's bikes from the truck with the snake appearing to follow them (it seems to give up the pursuit, though, as it is not show again). They make it to the water treatment center where the NSA team was headquartered. They find Dr. Rudolph, in shock and muttering incoherently about the Python project. Eventually they get him to his senses to find out what was going on. Theresa, having followed her friends, arrives.

Deputy Greg discovers that Deputy Lewis has become another of the snake's victims. John's group realize that they must do something about the snake or it will get to the town, and decide to make a plan. They also manage to find Theresa some clothes. They call Greg on the radio and fill him in on the plan they come up with, while it appears that the Sheriff has also been eaten (as he is not answering his radio).

They lure the snake into the water treatment plant by having it chase John down through a shaft while they set a bomb near the entrance. Kristin bikes off to drop a line down another shaft for John to use to get out. The other two escape through the regular door where Greg is waiting to drive them around to the other shaft. They pull John out and Python is unable to climb up the long shaft. Trapped in the tunnel, Python goes back to the doorway entrance. The group goes back to the entrance and Theresa is given the honors of pushing the trigger on the bomb, but it doesn't go off. Dr. Rudolph says the snake must have torn out the antenna when it crashed into the bunker, so he leaves his pet snake with Kristin and runs in to reset it. Python eats him as soon as he gets it done. The charges go off and the other four are celebrating their success when the Python emerges unscathed.

They flee in Greg's police car, and come up with a new plan: get the snake in the acid bath at John and his brother's plating plant. The snake is in close pursuit and follows them to the plant. Once there, John again acts as the bait to get the snake to chase him through the plant while Kristen uses the winch controls to push part of the snakes body into one of the vats. The acid works and Python dies screeching.

Cut to six months later. Greg just got accepted into Quantico to be an FBI agent, the plant has been reopened as a bar/bike shop where the snake thing is used as a sales tool, and John finds out that he and Kristin are soon to be parents.

Cast

Frayne Rosanoff as John Cooper

Robert Englund as Dr. Anton Rudolph

Casper Van Dien as Bart Parker

William Zabka as Deputy Greg Larson

Dana Barron as Kristin

Sara Mornell as Theresa

Wil Wheaton as Tommy

Jenny McCarthy as Francesca Garibaldi

Chris Owens as Brian Cooper

Sean Whalen as Deputy Lewis Ross

Gary Grubbs as Sheriff Griffin Wade

Theo Pagones as Dootsen

Scott Williamson as Kenny "The Closer" Summers

David Bowe as Boone

Keith Coogan as Lenny

John Franklin as Floyd Fuller

Notes and Trivia

*The movie poster and movie covers use the tag line of "60 feet of pure terror" but the movie gives the snake's length as 129 feet. This is because the movie was changed after the promotional materials were made, and the company never reprinted the materials. A similar issue resulted in the movie summary claiming Dr Rudolph made the snake but the movie dialog saying it was made in Southeast Asia and acquired.
*"Python" does not refer to the snake's species but to its name. Python acts and looks more like a variety of viper than constrictor.
*Greg's acceptance into Quantico in this movie ties into his appearance in Python II, reprising his role by now known as Special Agent Larsen rather than Deputy.
*Despite being a made-for-TV film, which usually get bare-bones DVD releases if any, Python's DVD release has a decent set of features, which include: a selection of outtakes, the full and 10-second trailers, main cast & director bios (though it is noticeably missing a bio for the relatively unknown Frayne Rosanoff), a still gallery from the movie with information bites on real pythons, Spanish & French language tracks, an English close-caption/subtitle track, a Spanish subtitle track, and a commentary track with the director, visual effects director, and visual effects artist.

External links

*imdb title|id=0209264|title=Python
* [http://www.rclabaugh.com/python.html Director Richard Clabaugh's talks about Python]