Random Details about 'Anaconda' that Is Still A Delightfully Dumb Cinematic Experienc (12 items)

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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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  (#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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  (#3) Eric Stoltz Bows Out Of The Movie By Swallowing A Wasp

  At no point does it feel like Eric Stoltz wants to be in Anaconda. Not even when he’s making out with J. Lo. 

  The veteran character actor from films like Pulp Fiction and Mask feels out of place co-starring next to Ice Cube and J. Lo, so it’s not surprising he gets out of the movie as quickly as possible. Rather than get chomped up by a giant river anaconda, Stoltz swallows a venomous wasp while diving underwater. His character's reaction to the wasp serves as the catalyst for the documentary crew turning around and heading towards the anaconda’s lair.

  After he goes down, Stoltz is never heard from until the end of the movie, when he wakes up to save the day. Not a bad way to spend a 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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  (#5) Jon Voight Can End People With Both Hands Tied Behind His Back

  Jon Voight rubs people the wrong way from the moment he appears on screen. He’s clearly not a good guy, but the one thing that no one expects is that he has the ability to slay with his legs.

  After Voight gets most of the crew eaten by a giant snake, J. Lo and Ice Cube decide to tie him up to stop him from causing further mischief. Their plan almost works, but their production manager wants to get revenge on Voight for offing her boyfriend.

  When she sneaks up on Voight with a knife, he squeezes the life out of her - much like the snakes he loves so much - using just his legs.
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  (#6) The Anaconda Doesn't Look Good, But That's Okay

  The weirdest thing about the snake is the way it changes from being a practical puppet to a CGI model and then into an animatronic head in the finale. The jumps between the different mediums is always jarring.

  This isn’t a dig against the filmmakers, because they do the best they can with the budget they have. Jurassic Park may have pulled off these kinds of changes, but the budget for that film was astronomical; they could afford to seamlessly blend the mediums. 

  The snake's puppets, animatronics, and CG not only look fake but also poorly blended together. Frankly, it only adds to the inherent watchability of Anaconda. There’s never a moment in this movie where you’re disappointed that the snake looks unrealistic. In fact, the more unrealistic the snake looks, the better the movie gets. 
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  (#7) You Kinda Root For The Snake As It Eats Everybody Up

  After watching Anaconda way too many times, it becomes clear the filmmakers want the audience to root for the snake. The only two characters you don’t want to see gobbled up - J. Lo and Ice Cube - are the only members of the crew who survive (aside from the comatose Eric Stoltz). Everyone else is just snake food.

  As the film progresses, the anaconda’s scenes get more and more ridiculous: it chokes out Owen Wilson, whose face is later seen protruding from the snake's belly; it eats the already slain production manager; it then ups its game by swallowing Jon Voight whole. If ever the world needed a snake-based drinking game, this is it.
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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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  (#9) It's Surprisingly Diverse For A Big Budget '90s Hollywood Creature Feature

  Most big budget Hollywood films from the ‘90s are packed with white people. In some cases, you get a white guy with a tan or someone with an English accent, but for the most part, the heroes are just flavors of vanilla. On the other hand, Anaconda has two people of color as its protagonists, and they manage to survive the entire film. This is an unfortunate rarity in films from the ‘90s, where people of color are either absent or out by the end of the first reel. 

  The film is almost the inverse of a standard horror film of the time. The blonde hottie, played by Owen Wilson, is snatched out of the film faster than you can say, “Wow!” while J. Lo and Ice Cube not only save the day but outsmart a group of poachers and finish their documentary along the way. 
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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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  (#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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  (#12) What Is Up With Jon Voight's Accent?

  Jon Voight is the son of a professional golfer from Yonkers, New York, and in his real life, he speaks with the flat affect of someone who eliminated their accent to make it in the movie business. He doesn’t sound remotely like someone from South America, and especially not a former priest from Paraguay who’s also an expert fisherman with a snake obsession. 

  Throughout the film, Voight speaks with a thick accent that sounds like a mix of French patois and someone doing an impression of Cheech Marin. This Academy Award-winning actor chews every scene he's in and sneers his way through such lines as, “Presume? How you like I presume to throw you in the river? You like that presume? Huh?” It would be offensive if it weren’t so bonkers.

  Where did this accent come from? Did he hear a guy talk like this once and think, “That’s my character?” Or was this something he crafted during pre-production? 

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