History Film / Anaconda

** Anacondas get huge, but they spend the majority of their time in the water, only going on land if necessary. Water provides the buoyancy to ''allow'' them to grow massive (and never to the size of the snakes in the film, but the entire point is that these are special species that ''do''. Problem is, they would die if they tried to be arboreal.)
** The opening title crawl claims that anacondas grow up to 40 feet in length. Most herpetologists consider this implausible; there are reputable claims of anacondas growing up to 26 feet long, and an anaconda skin recovered from the Brazilian jungle reportedly measured 32.8 feet, but 10-15 foot snakes are far more common. Scientists believe that claims of even larger snakes may originate from skins and other remains that were stretched or distorted when preserved.
** It is worth noting, though, that there ''have'' actually been reports and claims of giant anacondas going back to the colonial times, which is what the film is probably based on rather than real snakes. These giant anacondas are classed as [[OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious cryptids]] and are thought to either be oversized green anacondas or a new species entirely. There is at least one species of prehistoric snake which did grow that large, ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanoboa Titanoboa]]'', but it went extinct about 58 million years ago.

* DaylightHorror: In the second half of the movie, the Anaconda repeatedly attacks in broad daylight, devouring still-living people whole.

''Anaconda'' is a 1997 monster movie with an AllStarCast ranging from Creator/OwenWilson to Creator/JonVoight to Music/JenniferLopez to Music/IceCube on the hunt (in their own various ways) for the eponymous giant snake. Largely notable for Jon Voight as Paul Serone, [[LargeHam chewing up scenery]] with a far greater appetite than any serpent could muster. Creator/FrankWelker did the titular beast's vocal effects.

* UpToEleven: After having managed to kill the first one, the second anaconda they encounter (at the abondoned factory) is ''even bigger'' than the already enormous first snake.

* ''Anaconda 3: The Offspring'' (2008): In which one of the anacondas was captured and experimented on to find out its longevity. It escapes, breaks out its mate and goes on a rampage (made more deadly due to the fact that these anacondas have spear tails from the experiments... no we're not making that up) some mercenaries are sent to get it back. Notable for starring Creator/DavidHasselhoff.

* HungryJungle: In these movies, going to a rainforest can very easily result in getting devoured by anacondas. And not just the Amazon rainforest, but also [[MisplacedWildlife Borneo]].

* TheAmazon: Despite its authentic Portuguese cursing ("filho da..."), infamous for its upward waterfall — although it could be an optical illusion. However, the whole waterfall thing is a crock.

* {{Determinator}}: Paul Serone has one objective on his mind: capture an Anaconda and sell it to a rich buyer. He'\ will do anything and sacrifice anyone to achieve that goal, even after he is presumed dead.

* DueToTheDead: Subverted. Serone was a [[SinisterMinister former priest]], so he holds a eulogy for a recently deceased crew member after the Anaconda devoured him in front of everyone. However, his prayer is so half-hearted and insincere that [[{{Jerkass}} he just comes off as a prick instead]], especially since Serone is directly responsible for the guy's death and his weeping girlfriend is sitting right next to him.

* InstantDramaJustAddTracheotomy: The team leader puts on some scuba gear and gets in the water to fix the motor, but is stung by a poisonous wasp which blocks his throat. He is quickly hoisted back on board and saved by Serone, who performs an improptu tracheotomy. [[spoiler:It is later revealed that Serone staged the entire incident to manipulate the crew to follow him to the Anaconda's feeding grounds and serve as bait.]]

* JustDesserts: Paul Serone gets eaten by the same Anaconda that he was hunting for most of the movie, and to make it even more karmic this is right after a failed attempt to feed two of the heroes to the giant snake.

* BewareMyStingerTail: One of the abilities the snakes get from their genetical enhancements.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Sophia]] gets her leg broken by an anaconda who then eats her afterwards. Amanda even has a nightmare of this.

* EveryCarIsAPinto: After [[spoiler:Dragosh]] is beheaded, he starts wildly firing his machinegun and hits a car, causing it to explode.

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Humorously subverted by one of the characters. The giant snake is bearing down on him and bullets won't stop it, so be pulls the pins out of two grenades and screams, expecting the snake to swallow him and explode...but it just slithers away instead, leaving him to explode by himself.

* TheWorfEffect: The Anaconda is established to be a dangerous predator when it it make short work of a black panther.

->''People go up river, big snake is very hungry. Guess what happens.''
-->--The '''NZ Listener's''' twelve-word review of '''''Anaconda'''''

* MurderousThighs: Serone provides one of the rare male examples of this trope, showing that he and the anaconda are NotSoDifferent.

* NotSoDifferent: Serone gives [[spoiler:Denise]] some friendly advice on murder. Then he promptly breaks her neck. His [[MurderousThighs method of execution]] parallels the ''other'' villain of the film, the anaconda. They are both vicious, relentless predators who seem [[SuperPersistentPredator willing to pursue their prey to the ends of the Earth]].

''Anaconda'' is a 1997 monster movie with an AllStarCast ranging from Creator/OwenWilson to Creator/JonVoight to Music/JenniferLopez to Music/IceCube on the hunt (in their own various ways) for the eponymous giant snake. Largely notable for Jon Voight as Paul Sarone, [[LargeHam chewing up scenery]] with a far greater appetite than any serpent could muster. Creator/FrankWelker did the titular beast's vocal effects.

* AffablyEvil: Zig-zagged all the way to Hell and back. While Sarone is ObviouslyEvil, the movie plays with the question of whether he is this or FauxAffablyEvil. [[spoiler: His GracefulLoser wink near the end doesn't clear matters, either.]]

* BigBadEnsemble: The Anaconda would be the most logical choice as the main villain and kills the most people, but Sarone manipulated everyone to capture the snake and murdered a fair number of people for profit himself. Also, the snake is just an animal acting according to its nature (or at least nature as it exists in the film), and is not truly evil.
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:The team leader is knocked unconscious by a poisonous wasp near the beginning of the film and remains in bed for much of the remainder. He eventually reappears to fight off Paul Sarone, who was about to kill the others for costing him the Anaconda's prize by killing it.]]

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Sarone set up one of his partners to die (as seen in the prologue, but we don't learn this til later), then cheerfully betrays his other original partner. The people on the boat? Them, too.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: The Anaconda's killing method is downright horrific and Sarone's BreakingSpeech hurts matters; SnakesAreEvil is certainly at play here. Dying at its hands according to one expert involves being constricted by the snake's coils so hard that eventually your bones break and your veins burst. That is if you are lucky like Westridge. If not, You will be slowly and painfully EatenAlive afterwards, to be slowly digested or spit out again.

* DeadStarWalking: An odd variation. Despite Eric Stoltz getting fourth billing and (at least at the time of release) being the movie's best-known actor after Jon Voight, Steven gets taken out of action fairly early on, and while he ''technically'' survives until the end, he has so little impact on the rest of the plot that he might as well have been killed. Unless you count the aforementioned BigDamnHeroes moment. Sarone would have killed the last two surviving members of the film crew otherwise.
* {{Determinator}}: Paul Sarone has one objective on his mind: capture an Anaconda and sell it to a rich buyer. He'\ will do anything and sacrifice anyone to achieve that goal, even after he is presumed dead.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Even if Sarone had caught the snake, there was no way he could have kept it alive and transported it.
* DueToTheDead: Subverted. Sarone was a [[SinisterMinister former priest]], so he holds a eulogy for a recently deceased crew member after the Anaconda devoured him in front of everyone. However, his prayer is so half-hearted and insincere that [[{{Jerkass}} he just comes off as a prick instead]], especially since Sarone is directly responsible for the guy's death and his weeping girlfriend is sitting right next to him.
* DwindlingParty: The cast gets picked off by the Anaconda one by one. It turns out [[spoiler:that Sarone had set this up from the start; the crew were his bait for the snake all along.]]
* EatenAlive: Rather contrary to how real Anacondas behave, the one in this film seems to eat its prey still living after constricting them for a short while. Sarone even gets spit out and has just enough energy left to wink at the heroine.
* EqualOpportunityEvil: Sarone has no issues killing women.
* EvilPoacher: Paul Sarone is a Paraguayan former priest who decided to become a snake poacher in the Amazon instead, capturing them for rich clients. [[spoiler:It is revealed that he has been manipulating the whole crew from the beginning. He was using them to capture the Anaconda.]]
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Subverted. The tied-up Sarone is about to be murdered by a vengeful Denise because he let the Anaconda eat her boyfriend, and he seems willing to accept his impending death. He gives her some advice on never looking your victim in the eye. [[spoiler:He is just using it to catch her off-guard and [[MurderousThighs strangle her with his thighs]].]]

* FauxAffablyEvil: Sarone can be very personable when it suits his purpose.
* ForTheEvulz: The opening scroll implies that ''[[SnakesAreEvil the Anaconda itself]]'' is sadistic, as it regurgitates its prey just for the pleasure of hunting and killing something again. It actually does this in the climax with the other villain Paul Sarone, and he is still alive after having been devoured.
* GracefulLoser: Oddly, [[spoiler: Sarone ''after'' he has been eaten. He engages in some friendly GallowsHumor when the anaconda regurgitates him for a moment, winking at the protagonists.]]
* {{Greed}}: Sarone wants to take the Anaconda alive so he can sell it. He doesn't care how many people have to die for him to capture it.
* GunsDoNotWorkThatWay: Jennifer Lopez is seen firing a bolt-action rifle in semiautomatic fashion. In reality, that kind of rifle requires you to manually eject each round, after each trigger pull. Sarone is seeing actually doing this, with the same gun, moments later.

'''Sarone:''' I know.\\

'''Sarone:''' [[SincerityMode I really mean it too.]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:After Sarone tries to feed a bunch of people to the biggest Anaconda to capture it, the Anaconda escapes from its restraints and pursues him instead, eating him whole.]]
* HoneyTrap: Terri tries one of these on the manipulative Sarone, who by then has pretty much taken over the whole expedition. DoubleSubverted, as it is so obvious (she has shown nothing but contempt for him up to that point) that Sarone knows immediately that they are trying to distract him to [[TapOnTheHead knock him out]]. He catches them and kisses her anyway, but gets knocked out by a second guy, whose involvement he didn't foresee.

* InstantDramaJustAddTracheotomy: The team leader puts on some scuba gear and gets in the water to fix the motor, but is stung by a poisonous wasp which blocks his throat. He is quickly hoisted back on board and saved by Sarone, who performs an improptu tracheotomy. [[spoiler:It is later revealed that Sarone staged the entire incident to manipulate the crew to follow him to the Anaconda's feeding grounds and serve as bait.]]

* JustDesserts: Paul Sarone gets eaten by the same Anaconda that he was hunting for most of the movie, and to make it even more karmic this is right after a failed attempt to feed two of the heroes to the giant snake.

* MaleGaze: Sarone's, er, lustful?, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAy7tHVOKng glances at Terri]] will freeze your blood. He is ''that creepy''.
* MouthCam: [[spoiler:Sarone]] eventually meets his end to one of these, as the Anaconda eats him alive.
* MurderousThighs: Sarone provides one of the rare male examples of this trope, showing that he and the anaconda are NotSoDifferent.
* TheMutiny: The crew eventually figures out what Sarone is up to. He quickly nips this in the bud by presenting a gun and later bitchslapping Westridge around when he shows even a hint of insubordination. He is successfully overthrown in a later attempt.

* NeverBringAKnifeToAGunfight: At one point, Ice Cube hilariously brandishes a pocketknife, as if he is going to use it against the gun-wielding Sarone. He clumsily loses the knife anyway, a few seconds later.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler: When the crew successfully knocks out Sarone, they suggest throwing him in the river and leaving him to die. Terri, however, suggests that they should just tie him up. Leading up to Denise who, when about to execute a tied up Sarone, supplies him with the knife to escape when he gets the drop on her and kills her.]]

* NothingIsScarier: In the opening, the Anaconda attacks a nameless poacher who was piloting a boat full of captured animals before [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled he kills himself]]. When the expedition later runs into his boat, it is completely empty, with not a sign of life. They investigate, only for nothing to happen until a guy who got lost is picked off without anyone but Sarone noticing.
* NotSoDifferent: Sarone gives [[spoiler:Denise]] some friendly advice on murder. Then he promptly breaks her neck. His [[MurderousThighs method of execution]] parallels the ''other'' villain of the film, the anaconda. They are both vicious, relentless predators who seem [[SuperPersistentPredator willing to pursue their prey to the ends of the Earth]].
* ObviouslyEvil: Paul Sarone is a creepy, suspicious guy from the start and awfully handy with killing things, but no one suspects him of any ulterior motives until he has already put himself in charge. Jon Voight does everything but cackle with an EvilLaugh or twirl a mustache.

* SinisterMinister: Sarone mentions that he was a priest before he decided to become an EvilPoacher. He claims he wasn't even bad at his job, he just wanted to "explore the world"... which apparently involves catching giant, man-eating snakes and feeding people to them.
* SmugSnake: Paul Sarone. In addition to being a ManipulativeBastard, you could probably count the times that smug smile leaves his face on one hand. If you were missing a thumb.

* SuperPersistentPredator: The Anaconda seems to find man the tastiest meal, with its feeding grounds even scattered with the dusty remains of human bone. [[spoiler:Sarone proves himself to be just as determined to catch the Anaconda, using anyone he can as bait.]]

* WeCanRuleTogether: Sarone suggest to Gary Dixon that they should become partners so he can help him catch the Anaconda. Gary looks forward to getting rich off it and filming the whole thing. [[spoiler:He gets bitten for his troubles, with Sarone sacrificing him without a second care.]]
* WithMyHandsTied: The crew ties Sarone's hands behind his back, but they didn't count on his MurderousThighs.
* WouldHitAGirl: Sarone kills a woman with his MurderousThighs.

* EatenAlive: Rather contrary to how real Anacondas behave, the one in this film seems to eat its prey still living after constricting them for a short while. One of the victims even gets spit out and has just enough energy left to wink at the heroine.

* AssholeVictum: Even though Paul Serone's death is painful, he absolutely deserved every last second of it for being a massive prick to everyone around him.

* ForTheEvulz: The opening scroll implies that ''[[SnakesAreEvil the Anaconda itself]]'' is sadistic, as it regurgitates its prey just for the pleasure of hunting and killing something again. It actually does this in the climax with one unlucky guy, and the victim is still alive after having been devoured.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: The Anaconda's killing method is downright horrific and Sarone's BreakingSpeech hurts matters; SnakesAreEvil is certainly at play here. Dying at its hands according to one expert involves being constricted by the snake's coils so hard that eventually your bones break and your veins burst. That is if you are lucky. You might also survive, only to be EatenAlive afterwards, to be slowly digested or spit out again.

* NothingIsScarier: In the opening, the Anaconda attacks a nameless poacher who was piloting a boat full of captured animals before [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled he kills himself]]. When the expedition later runs into his boat, it's completely empty with not a sign of life. They investigate, only for nothing to happen until a guy who got lost is picked off without anyone but Sarone noticing.
* NotSoDifferent: Sarone gives [[spoiler:Denise]] some friendly advice on murder. Then he promptly breaks her neck. His [[MurderousThighs method of execution]] parallels the ''other'' villain of the film. They're both vicious, relentless predators who seem [[SuperPersistentPredator willing to pursue their prey to the ends of the Earth]].
* ObviouslyEvil: Paul Sarone is a creepy, suspicious guy from the start and awfully handy with killing things, but no one suspects him of any ulterior motives until he's already put himself in charge. Jon Voight does everything but cackle with an EvilLaugh or twirl a mustache.

* MaleGaze: Sarone's, er, lustful?, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAy7tHVOKng glances at Terri]] will freeze your blood. He's ''that creepy''.
* MouthCam: [[spoiler:Sarone]] eventually meets his end to one of these as the Anaconda eats him alive.

* TheMutiny: The crew eventually figures out what Sarone's up to. He quickly nips this in the bud by presenting a gun and later bitchslapping Westridge around when he shows even a hint of insubordination, but he is successfully overthrown in a later attempt.

* NeverBringAKnifeToAGunfight: At one point, Ice Cube hilariously brandishes a pocketknife, as if he's going to use it against the gun-wielding Sarone. He clumsily loses the knife anyway, a few seconds later.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler: When the crew successfully knocks out Sarone, they suggest throwing him in the river and leaving him to die. Terri, however, suggests they just tie him up. Leading up to Denise who, when about to execute a tied up Sarone, supplies him with the knife to escape when he gets the drop on her and kills her.]]

* KillItWithFire: In the climax, they try to kill the largest Anaconda by setting it on fire after it's trapped in a factory chimney. This ends in a bit of InfernalRetaliation as it still goes after them ''[[IncendiaryExponent while it's on fire]]'' before it slinks away in the water. Even that doesn't kill it, and it takes a pick-axe to the skull for the Anaconda to ultimately die.

* MacGuffin: The objective of the expedition is to film a documentary about a native tribe. [[spoiler:They're not seen until the very end]], and are about as interchangeable as a pot of gold.

* HoneyTrap: Terri tries one of these on the manipulative Sarone, who by then has pretty much taken over the whole expedition. DoubleSubverted, as it's so obvious (she has shown nothing but contempt for him up to that point) that Sarone knows immediately that they're trying to distract him to [[TapOnTheHead knock him out]]. He catches them and kisses her anyway, but gets knocked out by a second guy he didn't foresee.

** Played straight in the opening, with the Anaconda pursuing Danny Trejo's nameless character around his boat shown from its own POV.
** Played with in a later scene, as the looming creature coming after Gary Dixon and Denise Kalberg [[spoiler:turns out to be a wild boar, not the snake. She'd turn up later.]]
* InstantDramaJustAddTracheotomy: The team leader puts on some scuba gear and gets in the water to fix the motor, but is stung by a poisonous wasp which blocks his throat. He's quickly hoisted back on board and saved by Sarone, who performs an improptu tracheotomy. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that he staged the entire incident to manipulate the crew to follow him to the Anaconda's feeding grounds and serve as bait.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Westridge. He may be an ass when it comes to shooting a documentary, he's also very protective of the crew.

* GracefulLoser: Oddly, [[spoiler: Sarone ''after'' he's been eaten. He engages in some friendly GallowsHumor when the anaconda regurgitates him for a moment, winking at the protagonists.]]
* {{Greed}}: Sarone wants to take the Anaconda alive so he can sell it and he doesn't care how many people have to die for him to capture it.

* HazardousWater: The Amazon water is downright lethal; besides a giant man-eating reptile making it hazardous to even move in, the characters also mention various other nasties that could attack a swimmer like parasitic fish and poisonous wasps.

* EvilPoacher: Paul Sarone is a Paraguayan former priest who decided to become a snake poacher in the Amazon instead, capturing them for rich clients. [[spoiler:It's revealed that he's been manipulating the whole crew from the beginning and was using them to capture the Anaconda.]]
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Subverted. The tied-up Sarone is about to be murdered by a vengeful Denise because he let the Anaconda eat her boyfriend, and he seems willing to accept his impending death and gives her some advice on never looking your victim in the eye. [[spoiler:He's just using it to catch her off-guard and [[MurderousThighs strangle her with his thighs]].]]

* {{Determinator}}: Paul Sarone has one objective on his mind: capture an Anaconda and sell it to a rich buyer. He'll do anything and sacrifice anyone to achieve that goal, even after he's presumed dead.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Even if Sarone had caught the snake there was no way he could have kept it alive and transported it.

* CelebrityParadox: An Ice Cube song is heard on the radio.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: The Anaconda's killing method is downright horrific and Sarone's BreakingSpeech hurts matters; SnakesAreEvil is certainly at play here. Dying at its hands according to one expert involves being constricted by the snake's coils so hard that eventually your bones break and your veins burst. That's if you're lucky. You might also survive, only to be EatenAlive afterwards, to be slowly digested or spit out again.

* AffablyEvil: Zig-zagged all the way to Hell and back. While Sarone is ObviouslyEvil, the movie plays with the question of whether he's this or FauxAffablyEvil. [[spoiler: His GracefulLoser wink near the end doesn't clear matters, either.]]

** Anacondas get huge, but they spend the majority of their time in the water, only going on land if necessary. Water provides the buoyancy to ''allow'' them to grow massive (and never to the size of the snakes in the film, but the entire point is that these are special species that ''do''. Problem is, they'd die if they tried to be arboreal.)

** It's worth noting, though, that there ''have'' actually been reports and claims of giant anacondas going back to the colonial times, which is what the film is probably based on rather than real snakes. These giant anacondas are classed as [[OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious cryptids]] and are thought to either be oversized green anacondas or a new species entirely. There is at least one species of prehistoric snake which did grow that large, ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanoboa Titanoboa]]'', but it went extinct about 58 million years ago.
** They don't move at the speed of a cheetah in chase. They can ''strike'' that fast, but not chase things that fast, even in water.
** Folklore and anecdotes aside, there are no ''verified'' cases of anacondas consuming humans, although a snake 30-40 feet in length would certainly be capable of doing so.[[note]]The only snake confirmed to actually ''eat'' humans is the reticulated python, and most python victims are careless pet owners rather than victims of wild snakes.[[/note]] It's highly unlikely that they would actively stalk humans, though, especially after [[SuperPersistentPredator encountering life-threatening resistance each time]].
** They don't eat multiple preys the size of a human being one after the other. After consuming a meal like that (which can take hours), the snake will find a secure location where it will remain immobile for months to digest its food. (Though the film may be playing that straight since there's more than one anaconda.)
** [[NoisyNature They hiss, but they don't squeal/roar.]]
** They certainly don't regurgitate their prey just so they can hunt again [[ForTheEvulz out of sheer sadism]]. They sometimes do this for safety purposes, such as when they're threatened by a predator and they can't afford to be lethargic by having such a big meal in their stomach, or if they find their meal is too big to eat.

** They certainly don't regurgitate their prey just so they can hunt again [[ForTheEvulz out of sheer sadism]]. They sometimes do this for safety purposes, such as when they're threatened by a predator and they can't afford to be lethargic by having such a big meal in their stomach, or if they find their meal is too big to eat. .

** It's worth noting, though, that there have actually been reports and claims of giant anacondas going back to the colonial times, which is what the film is probably based on rather than real snakes. These giant anacondas are classed as [[OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious cryptids]] and are thought to either be oversized green anacondas or a new species entirely. There is at least one species of prehistoric snake which did grow that large, ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanoboa Titanoboa]]'', but it went extinct about 58 million years ago.

** Folklore and anecdotes aside, there are no ''verified'' cases of anacondas consuming humans, although a snake 30-40 feet in length would certainly be capable of doing so.[[note]]The only snake confirmed to actually ''eat'' humans is the reticulated python, and most python victims are careless pet owners rather than victims of wild snakes.[[/note]] It's highly unlike that they would actively stalk humans, especially after [[SuperPersistentPredator encountering life-threatening resistance each time]].