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(#1) It Is An Obvious 'Jurassic Park' Knockoff
What if Jurassic Park was about a single, gigantic snake that went around the jungle eating people? You’d have Anaconda , baby. The score; the crew of plucky, beautiful people wearing khakis; and even the moral, that "man is the real monster," is ripped straight from Jurassic Park - albeit focused through the lens of a B-movie about a big ol’ snake.
After Jurassic Park devoured the box office in the early 1990s, everyone tried to make their own creature feature about an animal that shouldn’t exist. Carnosaur , Mosquito , and Godzilla (1998) all make a play for the throne, but it’s Anaconda that really leans into the Jurassic aesthetic. The movie even has an English blowhard, and though he’s no David Attenborough, he still gets the job done.
When it comes down to the actual anaconda, its onslaughts are similar to the raptors, but with much less subtlety.
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(#8) A Regurgitated Jon Voight Uses His Last Moment To Wink At J. Lo
From the moment Jon Voight steps on screen, soaked in rain water and a thin layer of oil, you know there’s something up with him. Aside from leading J. Lo’s crew into certain doom, he creeps out both of the women on the ship. He constantly refers to the production manager as “little bird,” which is gross, and he’s just straight-up slimy to J. Lo.
The finale of the film sees Voight swallowed whole by the anaconda and then regurgitated, probably because creeps taste so gross. After his half-digested body falls to the floor, he uses his final moments to wink at her. It's genuinely the scariest thing in the whole movie.
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(#4) The Anaconda Frequently Screams Even Though In Real Life It Absolutely Cannot
With the notable exception of the bull snake, serpents lack vocal cords. They don’t roar and they definitely don’t screech. A snake can hiss - and some rattle - but they never scream at people when they strike. That is to say, if a snake actually tried to eat a human (instead of actively avoiding them in real life), it certainly wouldn't scream when it did it.
But the titular anaconda isn’t like other girls. It can roar like a ferocious beast (or maybe a Tyrannosaurus rex) when it’s chasing down unlucky documentarians.
Maybe the makers of Anaconda thought it would be scarier to have the snake scream as it went after its targets, or maybe they just had Frank Welker (the prolific voice actor who voices the snake) on the payroll and needed to use him. In hindsight, it's this kind of ridiculous thinking that elevates Anaconda from being a normal bad movie to a camp masterpiece of ‘90s cinema.
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(#11) We Get A Snake Esophagus POV Cam As The Anaconda Eats Jon Voight
There’s a moment in Anaconda that's worth the admission price alone: the esophagus POV. Throughout the film, the audience frequently gets snake POV, but that’s old hat. It’s a classic slasher trope, one viewers of Halloween or Friday the 13th will be overly familiar with. The climax of Anaconda, however, kicks things up a notch when Jon Voight finally meets his maker. You actually get to see him being swallowed from inside the snake.
The snake coils around Voight, squeezing his head tight while J. Lo and Ice Cube watch. As the snake moves down to swallow Voight up, the POV changes to inside the snake’s throat. It appears to be a practical effect that's built around the camera, and it should make an appearance in every Hollywood monster movie.
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(#10) The Characters Often Explain Exactly What Is Happening On Screen, In Case The Audience Isn't Paying Attention
Anaconda is the perfect movie to watch with a group of friends. There’s not much plot, it moves along effortlessly, and it’s full of ridiculous dialogue (e.g., “I can’t wait to get back to LA, traffic jams, and cellular phones.”). If your friends like to talk, it might be difficult to follow the thread of an average film, but with Anaconda, it's not a problem. No matter what scene you’re watching, the characters will explain exactly what’s happening.
Not sure what happened to Eric Stoltz? John Voight will remind you that he swallowed a poisonous wasp. Hazy on why J. Lo’s in the South American jungle? Ice Cube will explain they’re supposed to be making a documentary about the Shirishama tribe, not fighting a giant snake.
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(#2) Ice Cube Actually Says 'Today’s A Good Day'
Anaconda was Ice Cube’s eighth movie, but the producers treat him like no one’s ever heard of him. Throughout the film, his character (cinematographer Danny Rich) listens to Ice Cube - that is, himself - on his boombox, and even quotes his own lyrics.
When the audience is first introduced to Ice Cube’s character, Jennifer Lopez says something to the effect of, “I can’t believe you’re up so early,” to which he answers, “Well, today’s a good day.” The line is a clear reference to the rapper's single, "It Was a Good Day," released just four years before the film premiered.
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Anaconda is one of the most famous action movies in the 90s, and the first was released in 1997. The film mainly tells the story of a film crew caught in a trap in the Amazon rainforest, they are forced to fight with giant pythons and try their best to escape. It has convincing visual effects, and the realistic effects of giant pythons make the viewers creepy. The soundtrack of the film also allows the audience to be on the scene, matching the plot appropriately.
No movie is easy to produce, and no one is perfect. Some people found more details about the Anaconda that prove the movie is still a delightfully dumb cinematic experience 20 years later. You could find 12 entries with the random too, there are more details.
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