THE STORY – A team of young doctors embarks on a humanitarian mission to the Amazon rainforest, full of enthusiasm to help those in need, but each of them with their own agenda. However, not everyone reacts kindly to their arrival, and their visit awakens an ancient predator: the Boiúna. This mythical creature, which hunts both on land and in water, returns to defend its territory. In the midst of the dense jungle, a merciless struggle for survival ensues, in which the
boundaries between hunter and prey, hero and villain, become increasingly blurred.
THE CAST – Kiana Madeira, Jessica Rothe & Logan Marshall-Green
THE TEAM – Mike P. Nelson (Director) & Alan B. McElroy (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 104 Minutes
Indiana Jones knew what’s up. Snakes have always served as excellent storytelling shorthand for “danger,” whether they be literal, venom-filled obstacles or metaphorical representations of sin (thanks for that one, Eve). In movies, they’ve been found slithering in tombs, invading homes, and infamously, up in airplanes. Now, with “Beware Boiúna,” director Mike P. Nelson welcomes a cold-blooded new bombshell into the cinematic villa. Well, new for most moviegoers, at least, as the legend of the mythical giant snake is the stuff of actual Amazonian lore. Here, the ginormous reptile terrorizes a group of intruders in her domain but, as is so often the case with contemporary monster movies, she’s far from a flat-out villain. Instead, she’s merely standing her ground, insofar as a limbless beast can. And while she’s certainly a marvel of a creature, the film around her is far less compelling than it wants to be.
The film takes the “Jaws” route of hiding our slithering foe for a good deal of time – nearly the entire first hour of the less-than-two-hours-long film (besides a brief and intentionally-obscured appearance in the opening scene). Up until her grand arrival, “Beware Boiúna” focuses on the righteous labor and travails of a group of outsiders on a humanitarian mission through the Amazon. Led by Dr. Miguel (Juan Pablo Shuk), the cohort includes two Americans – Alli (modern scream queen Jessica Rothe) and Callum (Will Close) – along with Lena (Kiana Madeira), the boat’s mechanic on a secret mission of her own. On their caregiving journey, the medical professionals encounter Brennan (Logan Marshall-Green) and Shawn (Jackson Bews), a pair of brothers on a much less noble quest. After a sudden violent encounter, Alli, Lena, and Callum are forced to flee into the depths of the Amazon, and straight into the domain of Boiúna.
It’s a classic thriller setup: bad circumstances get unfathomably worse with the arrival of a completely unexpected, only-in-the-movies situation. But it takes so, so long for the film to move past the human squabbling and get to the scaly star of the show that everyone who bought a ticket wants to see. With “Jaws,” the famous absence of an actual visualized great white for most of the film works because that smartypants Spielberg guy threads the first half with tense, shark-based set pieces. That’s less the case here. “Beware Boiúna’s” coy approach may have been more effective if audiences could somehow be unaware that a giant freaking snake might interrupt the proceedings, but between the opening scene, anticipatory dialogue, and the film’s marketing, that would be impossible.
Once Boiúna arrives, the film gets unquestionably more exciting and, overall, fun, if for no other reason than it’s perversely thrilling to watch beautiful people scream in absolute terror at the sight of something so absurdly intimidating as a snake that’s roughly the length of a basketball court. And yet, one still wishes that the scares were a bit, well, scarier. The film has a surprising lack of tension throughout. The snake attacks are fast and vicious, but are often too heavily foreshadowed to make for effective jump scares. Perhaps surprisingly, Nelson avoids the dark humor that worked so well in his remake of “Silent Night, Deadly Night,” released last year. Instead, the film treats its ridiculous premise with utmost sincerity, which is both surprising and, given how well it worked in his previous film, a bit disappointing; some sardonic levity might have made it more satisfying. Unquestionably, the film’s best scene finds Lena stuck in a giant mud pit, forced to stay still and regulate her breathing while the snake slowly curls around her. The camera stays focused on Lena’s face, making the audience feel just as tense as the character. And, thankfully, this scene takes place during the daytime, a welcome break from the difficult-to-discern nighttime sequences.
Speaking of Lena, Kiana Madeira is excellent in her portrayal of the damaged young woman. She’s flinty and guarded, unafraid to say or do things that others might find off-putting. But Madeira’s movie-star presence keeps her eminently watchable and sympathetic throughout. Her co-star Jessica Rothe is no stranger to horror (most famously, she’s the central character in the “Happy Death Day” films) and here, as always, she excels at playing believably, magnetically panicked. But the true leading lady star is Boiúna herself. Upon her first appearance, it’s a bit disappointing that she’s brought to life by not-always-convincing CGI with little-to-no recognizable practical elements. But what helps sell her tangibility is the way the world moves around her, as she’s well-composited into the real-life environments of shaking trees and trembling water, and, especially, how the cast reacts to her. There’s never any doubt that these characters feel their lives are at risk, and some shocking early kills make it clear the danger is very real.
Although she’s impressive, it’s unlikely Boiúna will become the kind of iconic horror antagonist (or, here, something closer to an anti-hero) that modern horror films need to enter the cultural pantheon. “Beware Boiúna” aims to be a gritty, 70s-era thriller, but it lacks the thrilling substance to make that comparison apt. This snake lacks both charm and bite.
