Cheap Project Viper (DVD) (Jim Wynorski) Price

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Customer Reviews of Project Viper

Viper is the codename for a lifeform engineered to live on Mars. We later find out it is a living acid. It also somehow incorporates a computer chip. The Shuttle Olympus has a canister with Viper. We don't know if the Shuttle is going to Mars or merely acting as a launch platform, but whichever it is, it never happens as Viper gets loose.

Well, Viper is not alone, there is another prototype on Earth, but that one gets stolen but escapes in a small town where the original development team and special agent Mike Connors have to stop it.

Fans of creature movies will recognize a lot of footage lifted from the movie Species (car crash, shooting flares, etc) but they are used in a different way so their use is not too jarring. The effects and the creature are pretty good although while the creature has some effect on electrical systems, the characters never seem to catch on.

It was refreshing to see the Agent not trusting the scientists (he thinks it's an inside job). It was also good to see Tim Thomerson again (Trancers, Doll Man, etc.) as the local sheriff.

If you like creature films you will probably want to take a look at this one.

THE HEE HAW GANG ARRIVES!
I had to laugh every time Patrick Muldoon referred to the scientific geniuses as "The Hee Haw Gang." Muldoon stars as rogue investigator Mike Connors (a tribute to "Mannix?) who is investigating the team that designed a genetically enhanced computer program called Viper. After the Viper takes care of the men on the shuttle Olympus, all hell breaks loose. The only other prototype is stolen by a woman supplanted to take the place of one of the team members. Darn good woman, too. She manages to take out all the government agents, crash her car, and then outsmart her pursuers. What is Viper and how can it kill? That's where the film's core takes place.
I had to admit..I loved this movie. I thought the creature effects were brilliant, sort of a silly putty alien monster. It strikes quite quickly and unexpectedly; my favorite attack is with the nice neighbor and his little french poodle. It's priceless.
The cast is good, too. Theresa Russell, still looking as lovely as she did in "Insignificance" and "Black Widow" plays her scientist role with a glibness and tenacity that matches Muldoon's sarcastic, macho lawman. Tim Thomerson does well as the local sheriff; Billy Keane is effective as the Viper programmer; and the rest of the cast lends its ilk to the proceedings.
I credit the writers for coming up with such a uniquely disgusting creature.
This may not be a classic film, but in the B-movie category, it's a winner!

Not as bad as the 2 star rating would indicate
Project Viper is the code name for a terraforming agent that's accompanying the first group of humans to Mars. The basic idea is that it has been designed to excel in the Martian environment, and it's waste products will leave the planet ready for human life. There's only one problem... they never get to Mars. Before the shuttle (yes, a space shuttle was going to mars... without extra fuel tanks... without warp engines... without a lot of food...) leaves orbit the canister containing Viper opens, and the crew is killed.

No problem, it's still in space right? Well there was the second prototype in the lab of course, and it's promptly stolen by well, by some bad guys. We never really find out who they are and it doesn't matter anyway. The Department of Defense calls in Captain Mike Connors to find Viper and clean this situation up. Viper of course gets away, and of course it gets away in a small town, and Connors and crew have to chase it. That's enough plot, you get the idea.

The acting really isn't that bad with the exception of a few scenes, and the special effects were pretty good for what is essentially a made for TV movie. I really wanted to give this one 3 stars, but with the storyline holes, so-so special effects, and totally bare bones DVD I just couldn't justify it. Don't avoid it as a rental though, it is worth watching if your in the mood for a cheesy sci-fi/thriller/b-movie evening.