Too much of everything

That was an excellent one.

It is a performances centric movie

Boring

Eccentric wealthy playboy Judas (Jack Palance in fine freaky form) lives as a near reclusive in a posh apartment in Hong Kong that's filled with all kinds of snakes that he treats like his children. Judas becomes smitten with sultry exotic dancer Eva (the ever-luscious Laura Gemser) after he sees Eva's nigh club act that involves dancing with a large snake and invites her to stay at his place. However, Judas' depraved and duplicitous brother Jules (a deliciously slimy portrayal by Gabriele Tinti) wants Eva for himself. Writer/director Joe D'Amato relates the engrossingly weird story at a steady pace, maintains a suitably seamy and off-kilter tone throughout, and, most importantly, delivers oodles of tasty undraped distaff skin and sizzling soft-core sex (Gemser as usual bares her delectably slender figure with pleasing frequency, with a massage parlor session and a shower shared with a slim blonde rating as the definite steamy highlights). Moreover, Judas' bizarre fixation on slithery reptiles gives the picture a super peculiar charm while the exotic Hong Kong locations provide an extra tangy flavor (and only D'Amato would include a scene with two hot babes happily eating freshly cooked snakes!). Better still, one guy ultimately winds up having a snake put where the sun doesn't shine and the surprise downbeat ending packs a startling grim punch. Kudos are also in order for Piero Umiliani's smooth groovy score and D'Amato's glossy cinematography. Good outré trashy fun.

Black Cobra (1976) * 1/2 (out of 4) Joe D'Amato directed film about a shy, lonely man (Jack Palance) living in Hong Kong where his only friends are his pet snakes. One night his brother takes him to a strip joint where he sees a beautiful woman (Laura Gemser) putting on a dance with a snake. He moves the woman in but soon someone starts killing off her lesbian friends. The killer doesn't know the woman is a Goddess to snakes. Like many other D'Amato/Gemser films, this one here basically leaves the plot behind in favor of the beautiful actress walking around in the nude and carrying out various lesbian scenes. Gemser is also fun to watch (when she's naked) but the story here is pretty dull and lifeless. Palance must have really been down on his luck at the time.

I should have known better. I was actually expecting this film to be a combination of mystery, drama and horror. I knew from the box cover that there would be nudity. What I didn't know was that the nudity is the main feature of the movie. The movie has several nude women and many nude scenes. That would be OK if there was at least a stronger plot and a little bit more reason for making this movie other than showing skin. I know this type of film may have it's followers but even if viewed as a skin flick, it's boring and even a bit humorous. It was made in 1976. At that time it may have been exciting but compared to milder, soft porn movies of today, this would have to be classified as very mild, to the point of being almost dull. This movie was just too long for so few meaningful scenes. I can't think of any good reason for watching this film other than to have a nostalgic look at a 70s nudie flick.

If you're like me, you grew up watching late nite softies on Cinemax every Friday nite. If this is the case, then you have definitely heard and probably seen quite a bit of the lovely Laura Gemser. After seeing "BLACK EMANUELLE" many, many moons ago, I became an instant fan and have since viewed several of her films.This particular gem qualifies as one of her lesser known films. Essentially, this is a variation on her Emanuelle role with Jack Palance and a whole lot of snakin' goin' on! Fun stuff most likely, if you are a fan of Gemser.Gemser plays an exotic dancer named Eva. Performing with snakes is her specialty. No, not those kind! Now, you're getting ahead of me!Anywayz... Gemser's real-life husband, Gabrielle Tinti, portrays Jules Carmichael. Jules is an executive of some sort, who persuades his brother Judas (Palance) to visit a nightclub with him to watch one of Eva's nightly performances.Judas loves snakes (No, not those kind!) and his apartment is filled with them. So, along with her beauty, it's natural that Judas would fall for a gal like Eva. He soon arranges to meet and introduce her to his snakey friends. Judas hires Eva to take care of his pets while he is away on business. From here on out, you know the drill... While the cat's away, the mice will play... and dance around naked with the cat's snakes.We soon learn that Eva really digs the lady-lovin' which overrides her tendencies to charm any snake other than the reptile kind. Several nude scenes later, Eva's girlfriend is killed mysteriously and Eva must find out who killed her and why. This is a common filmmaking trait known as a "mild plot motivator". I guess they need to keep things moving along but I, for one, wasn't complaining. I thought the pacing was just fine. Do what you gotta do, Eva. I'm all for it.These are all the details I gathered. Aside from Gemser and the fact that this was one of those "Palance earns a week's pay" performances, I deemed all other plot elements unnecessary and naturally focused on the good parts, of which there are plenty.You cannot go wrong with any film featuring a topless Gemser within the first five minutes, and fully nude around the eight minute mark. It's just a damn fact. Why can't more filmmakers hint on this?"BLACK COBRA" was directed by the masterful eye of Joe D'Amato (Aristide Massaccesi), who would later collaborate on several films with Gemser and eventually go on to a successful career directing real pornos with an entirely different breed of snake.Sadly, Gemser has pretty much left the filmmaking scene and her films no longer play on Cinemax. Most of them have since gone out of print on video here in the States, making them nearly impossible to find.A quick program note: This is a long, long movie! Over four hours in length! Actually, it only clocks in at around 90 minutes, but if you find yourself using the slow-motion and pause feature on your VCR as much as I did, expect to gain an additional 2 1/2 hours of screening time.In closing, I highly recommend this film. A truly uplifting experience! Teachers, show it to your classes today. They'll thank you for it! Trust me. Later kids! -NM.