Venom is an American/British horror film of the predatory animals sub-genre. It was based on a novel by Alan Scholefield and directed by Piers Haggard. Produced by the Morison Film Group, it was released theatrically in the UK on January 19th, 1982 and in the United States on January 29th. The film stars Klaus Kinski, who plays an industrial terrorist named Jacques Müller. Müller and his thugs attempt to kidnap the young son of a wealthy London couple, but soon discover that a deadly black mamba is on the loose and looking for prey.
Originally, Texas Chain Saw Massacre director Tobe Hooper was tapped to direct the film. Hooper left the project early in production citing creating differences with the production staff. At a party at Elaine's Restaurant in Manhattan celebrating the film's release, Klaus Kinski boasted how he and other members of the cast and crew had ganged up on Tobe Hooper a couple of weeks into the shoot to get him replaced. He was replaced by Piers Haggard. [1]
Pat Gorman and Eric Kent are uncredited in this film.
The black mamba used in this film was from the London Zoo. It's trainer was David Ball, the London Zoo's overseer of reptiles.
Klaus Kinski was offered a role in Steven Spielberg's epic adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark, but elected to work on Venom instead because the salary was higher. In his autobiography, Kinski Uncut, he also stated that the script for the Spielberg movie was "moronically shitty". Ironically, snakes play a major part in a key sequence in Raiders of the Lost Ark as well. [2]
