It is a good thing that it did. The bikini babes, and nude blonde in the shower give this one some merit. Peter Fonda, Oliver Reed, and the grouchy leading lady certainly do not. The monster snake? When the f/x people mail in their effort...sad. Today we have what appears to be a made-for-TV movie, but isn't. A high death count and some thrown in scenes of nudity and various babe sin peril highlight 1983's "Spasms," directed by William Fruet.
In a remote island in Micronesia, billionaire Jason (Reed) is almost killed and left paralyzed in a hunting expedition for a god snake. His brother is killed, and now his ravishing niece, Suzanne (Kerrie Keane) lives with him at his mansion. Another expedition captures the snake and sends it to the US, as contracted by Jason. Uh oh...Jason has a telepathic relationship with the big serpent, and hires Thomas (Peter Fonda), an ESP researcher, to study it and figure out why Jason can see what the snake sees when the snake kills. Of note, a snake cult also seeks this snake. Sadly the cult is mostly a red herring and of only significance when it botches a theft and setting the snake is loose in southern California. I know, we are cheering for the snake. Jason makes no progress but the two babes in his lab will eventually be murdered by the thing.
Allison (Laurie J. Brown), a lab tech in Thomas' lab, is followed home by the snake and grabbed by the snake, and thrown into the shower with the naked babe Sharon (Sandra Awalt). The scene is priceless. The snake also converges on a bikini babe (Moira Shone), but allows her to live. Suzanne yells at people and we do hope she gets it. Thomas romances Suzanne, but for the life of us, we don't know why...maybe he likes to get yelled at. The snake cult does nothing of any significance, and Jason goes into trances and watches nude or scantily clad babes as the snake nears them. The cops yell at Jason and ask him to tell them where the snake is. Suzanne yells some more, and Thomas keeps trying to get in her pants. Maybe he surmises that all Suzanne needs is a good...recreational outlet.
Will there be a showdown between Jason and the snake? Will Suzanne be clobbered in a catfight by the surviving babe in the white bikini (see above pic)? Does Oliver Reed have a Freudian hang-up about big snakes, as he would also star in "Venom" with Susan George, who plays a kinky French maid? Sadly, "Spasms" works on a MST3K level, but for some good cheese, a grouchy leading lady, and wooden performances by Fonda and Reed, see this film.


















