Stylish but barely mediocre overall

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

What's this? A Harry H. Novak production that is rated PG? Yes Virginia, it's true. This movie is much less exploitive and explicit than other Novak productions. There's only a little blood, and the one scene of nudity comes from a brief look at a skin magazine one character is reading. While I can understand why Novak tried for something more respectable - it's often a lot easier to gather an audience for a PG movie than an R - he forgot to make the movie interesting. The main problem with the movie is that it's very boring. There's far too much chat and not enough action. And the action and horror that's in the movie comes across as quite flat. I'd never thought I'd find a Harry H. Novak movie that was boring, but that's what we have here.

When a couple of kids vacationing with their family in the desert are discovered deceased without apparent cause, an eminent herpetologist (Chew) is recruited to assist baffled police. Assigned a freelance photographer (Chauvet) to document evidence, covert enquiries lead the pair to discover that a secret military testing site might be responsible for the apparent aggressiveness of the local rattlesnake population. Sounds more exciting than it is, unfortunately.Talky, clichéd time-filler at best, with little in the way of suspense or action; "Rattlers" may not rattle any pacemakers for shock value, and at times tends to look more like a glorified reptile lecture, than a motion picture. Sam Chew is tepid as the tertiary scientist reluctantly seconded to the Mojave desert to provide authorities with a professional opinion on the cause of two suspicious deaths. Chew does a realistic job of looking totally ambivalent about his task, whether it's the dialogue or the method he employs that's driving that motivation is unclear. His offhand approach is flawless, and his male chauvinist streak is neatly contrasted by his tenacious and equally independent tent buddy (Chauvet) who adds some dimension to the acting.Little attempt is made to have the rattlesnakes realistically interact with the cast, either through props or stunts, and thus, the audience is treated to limited action, totally bereft of thrills or suspense. Even the scene in which Kaye is bathing, while a rogue rattlesnake stalks her, affects no suspense or shock value, despite the elaborate set-up and staging. But the most peculiar feature of the film, is the scene in which, amid all the simmering tension, the two leads digress to Las Vega$ for a night of fun and frivolity on the roulette tables. Like an intermission, no segway or explanation – just a random sojourn to the casino capital for a brief repose, and then it's back to the hard core snake facts and the job at hand.Earnest in its attempt, there are some dedicated performances in the supporting ranks (Gold, Jostin and a brief but 'memorable' appearance by Kaye who was once a Hollywood most-promising-newcomer in the mid sixties) but this is a snake-movie, not a political thriller, and more action was desperately needed to combat the often soporific and somnolent narrative.

What a completely ridiculous movie. Rattlers' plot is so nonsensical it's hysterical. A series of snakebite deaths has the local sheriff worried so he calls in a snake expert and male chauvinist, Dr. Tom Parkinson (Sam Chew) for assistance. The sheriff has also seemingly at random hired a photographer and women's libber named Ann Bradley (Elisabeth Chauvet) to help. It's like oil and water when these two get together. But it doesn't take an Einstein to figure out that these two will overcome their difference and hop into bed together before the end of the movie. Anyway, Tom and Ann begin searching the desert for . . . well, it's never clear what they hope to find, but boy do they ever search. On foot, in a jeep, and in a helicopter, Tom and Ann tirelessly and endlessly search the desert. The excitement was almost more than I could bear. About the only thing they find is a piece of bloody cloth that is quickly forgotten, never to be mentioned again. Oh, they also find a military storage base. Tom and Ann discover that some of the nerve gas the military buried in the desert has had a strange effect on the rattlesnakes. Of course no other animal is affected – just the snakes. In the end, the snakes are accidentally destroyed in one of the goofiest shootouts ever put on film and Tom and Ann are able to ride off into the sunset having done absolutely nothing to solve the rattlesnake problem. The end.There are quite a few unintentionally hilarious scenes and set-pieces in Rattlers. My absolute favorite moment involves two Army types patrolling the desert in the middle of the night. While tooling around in their jeep, they have a blow-out. They get out to investigate and find that a snake has bitten through their tire. Yes, that's right – a rattlesnake launched itself at a moving jeep, grabbed a tire with its fangs, and bit down hard enough puncture the tire. This has to be the single most stupid thing I've seen in a movie in a long time. Gotta love it! So please don't misinterpret my rating - Rattlers is not a good movie, but it is a funny movie. Intentional or not, I was entertained.

Killer rattlesnakes of the American Southwest gather up in large numbers and start unprovoked attacks on people, and it's up to a male expert on reptiles and a female photographer to find out why and stop them. "Rattlers" has a thin, one-note script that can barely sustain even the 79 minutes of its running time, and the snake-attack scenes aren't anything to write home about either, though at least the snakes are real which is instantly preferable to the obvious CGI we would probably get in a similar film today. The print I saw was in pretty poor shape, and made a constant crackling sound, as if someone was burning it up; the movie is not offensively bad (apart maybe from the scene near the end where the two heroes are enjoying a carefree romance in Vegas without having done anything to stop the snakes first!), but it is so unremarkable that if someone DID burn the master print up few people would probably notice. On a side note, the female lead is absolutely gorgeous. I was somewhat surprised to find out that she never made another film. (**)