The Snake Woman (1961) on Netflix
In 1890 a Northumbrian doctor treats his wife's mind with snake venom injections. Their daughter Atheris is born, and years later a Scotland Yard detective investigates deaths by snakebite.
- Watch on NetflixThis title is not on Netflix right now. Please check back later for updates.
- Watch on Prime
- Watch on NordVPN
- Netflix2.5/5
- IMDb4.9/10772 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1890, in the Northumbrian village of Bellingham, Dr. Horace Adderson keeps his wife Martha's mental illness in check with regular injections of snake venom. Martha dies giving birth to their daughter, and the midwife Addie Harker declares the unblinking, cold-skinned baby the devil's offspring and calls for her destruction. An angry mob burns Adderson's laboratory and house, and Dr. Murton hides the infant with a local shepherd before leaving for years of research in Africa. When Murton returns, corpses have been found on the moors, all killed by king cobra venom, and the villagers speak of the Curse of the Snake Woman. Col. Clyde Wynborn alerts Scotland Yard, which sends the skeptical detective Charles Prentice, who meets a young woman named Atheris.
Cast
- John McCarthyas Charles Prentice
- Geoffrey Dentonas Col. Clyde Wynborn
- Frances Bennettas Polly, the Barmaid
- Michael Loganas Barkis
- Dorothy Frereas Martha Adderson
- Stevenson Langas Shepherd
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Snake Woman (1961)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Snake Woman was made for £17,000 and shot in just six days at Walton Studios in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England.
- Director Sidney J. Furie said the rapid production was possible because all the sets were built inside each other, peeling one off revealed the next set, "like working in television again."
- Sidney J. Furie rewrote Orville H. Hampton's purchased script to set it in England at the turn of the 20th century, to "cash in on the current fad for period pieces" then popular in Hammer Film Productions horror films.
- The BBFC records that The Snake Woman was granted an A-certificate on 3 November 1960 only after unspecified cuts, though critic John Hamilton wrote that the film had been given an X-certificate.
