i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

CULT OF THE COBRA is pretty much a remake of CAT PEOPLE without the Guiding Light of a Val Lewton. It's not a BAD movie, per se, nor is it an Outstanding one. Faith Domergue is at her loveliest here and the Sanke, when used, is handled well, but the movie takes its time shifting into gear (we know damned well where everything is leading; why waste Time- and considerable Footage- getting there?). The inclusion of so MANY characters is detrimental to the overall film: too often, the movie seems to lack any true FOCUS ("crowd scenes," in which a large number of players are squeezed into too small a space, are common throughout).

Francis D. Lyon directed this horror tale that begins after WWII ends, where six American G.I.s,(among them Richard Long, Marshall Thompson, and David Janssen) stationed in Asia sneak into the secret ceremonies of a cult of snake worshipers, where they see a snake turn into a woman(or so it seems) they are discovered but escape, though the cult leader curses them with their avenging snake goddess. When one of them dies shortly later from a snake bite, they dismiss it as coincidence, but when they return home, and more start dying, it's obvious that something followed them home. Could it be attractive newcomer Lisa(played by Faith Domergue)? Interesting premise mishandled in failed thriller. No attempt is made to recreate a post-war feel, and even worse, Faith Domergue is far too human to be believed as anything else, though the acting is otherwise fine.

Six army buddies decide to do some sight-seeing among a cult of shape-shifters when they should have stayed in the bar and had a few more beers.The movie's not as bad as the title suggests, thanks mainly to enthusiastic performances from Thompson, Kelly, and Long. You might expect them to walk through their parts in a low budgeter like this, but they don't. Instead they inject needed vitality into the far-fetched premise. Now, if Domergue could just suggest some menace in an otherwise deadpan performance as the snake lady, we might get a hint of a coming shape-shift. No wonder director Lyon has to use a pin light on her expressionless face to indicate she's no lady after all.The bowling alley sequence is the movie's only scary part. Too bad Lyon doesn't play up the suspense in the other stalking sequences. Instead, we go from snake shadow to dead body, leaving out the scary part. Then too, I wish they had more than one staircase street set. If I catch this flick again, I'll try counting the times they use and re-use it. In my book, the movie isn't bad enough to make it as camp. Instead, it's a not-very-good horror flick, mainly because of Domergue. But at least the guys went on to starring success with TV.

GIs in 1945 Asia are introduced to the actual ceremony of a "female human cobra"(essentially a woman in costume who is slithery like a snake)by a native snake charmer who warns them to keep quiet inside their hooded robes, but Nick of the group stupidly attempts to take a snapshot resulting in the American soldiers being cursed. This curse entails that all the GIs will be hunted down one at a time by the cobra woman, to be victims of her poisonous bite. Returning home absent Nick(who is "reinfected" when a snake enters his room in a hospital, the bite killing him)to New York, the GIs, now civilians, aren't out of harm's way. Tom(Marshall Thompson; IT! TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE/ FIEND WITHOUT A FACE)and Paul(Richard Long; THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL/THE TWILIGHT ZONE) are both in love with a girl(Paul is chosen over Tom, though)which doesn't end their friendship(the guys are roommates). A new tenant moves in across from Tom and Paul, an exotic foreigner named Lisa(Faith Domergue). Tom develops feelings for her right away, but Lisa immediately gives him the cold shoulder any time he attempts to snatch a kiss. There's a reason why Lisa wants to distance herself from Tom romantically, but soon her feelings for him become too difficult to ignore. Something will, however, drive a wedge between their blossoming love affair and that is what Lisa is plagued with.While this is a Universal Studios picture, to me it favored something more like a Columbia Pictures product. The filmmakers decide to avoid showing an actual human cobra, opting instead to show Faith Domergue's silhouette on the wall metamorphose into a cobra(there's an ending where we see the actual cobra turn back into a human through dissolve which is flawed because it's highly doubtful that a naked snake would transform into a woman with all of her jewelry and wardrobe on). Most of the attacks on the GIs are shot from point-of-view through the eye vision of the cobra as the victims respond with fright at what is coming towards them. This movie does resemble CAT PEOPLE in that Tom falls in love with a beautiful woman he can not attain due to her terrible predicament. The filmmakers establish Lisa's situation in subtle ways like how animals react towards her, such as Tom's dog or a horse on the street. When stage actress Julia(the lovely Kathleen Hughes)begins reading on snake cults and customary practices, like in CAT PEOPLE when Simone Simon's Irena becomes a deadly threat to her husband's best friend(and future lover), Alice(Jane Randolph), Domergue's Lisa follows a similar mold, taking cobra form at the end, awaiting her in the dressing room. Domergue is a striking beauty, dressed to the nines in sophisticated wardrobe. For some reason, CULT OF THE COBRA never quite takes off but it might appeal to fans of Val Lewton and the "less is more" approach, focused more on the soap opera dramatics of Tom and Lisa's relationship and what they are up against..I imagine that had it been made 10 years previous, CULT OF THE COBRA might've been more of a creature feature with Domergue an actual cobra woman.