Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: BEWARE BOIUNA [Fantastic Fest - Austin, Texas]

The killer snake approach was done more mainstream by "Anaconda". But the basis here is wrapped more in the lore. Constantin Films usually keeps their films close to the ground in this way while giving a nice horror bent. As a creature feature, "Beward Boiuna" feels more lived in than most. A medical ship is going down the Amazon trying to care for the villagers on its banks. However the miners also have their way. It is the push and pull of that life. Jessica Rothe, also seen in "River" and "Pathetic Fallacy" at this year's Fantastic Fest picks something else interesting but she seems alright playing a lead adjoining character. The movie interestingly lulls the viewer following Rothe’s Ali where you can see her rage growing at a collective of entitled capitalism poachers...but everything is not as its seems. Director Dan J. Nelson does structurally does something cool in that it doesn’t dive into the creature until halfway through the film. This couldn’t be done with a studio movie but it works better since you know it is coming. But the set up with all the characters and why they do what they do makes it more earned and gives the film balanced stakes. It is still a giant snake movie but like the "Monarch" series they are animals that sense things. They don’t act in logic or emotion but reaction to environment.

Kiana Madeira plays the true lead and is the one you see in the pit in the trailer. Her approach is smart but feral which works with this. Her character escaped from the jungle when she was younger but got pulled back in looking for her brother. She obviously has odes to Ana in "Predator" as well. The movie was shot on location near Leticia in Columbia so it also has that authenticity. What is neat in the set up is that is shows there are other predators around. The jungle is a dangerous place but that seems more defined in the beginning especially with one caiman attack which is meant to show the randomness of the violence. Beyond that, a destroyed camp in the dead of night looks like it was really shot out in the muck. That really gives it an intensity. Logan Marshall Green gives the film his Sawyer best with Brennan as Josh Holloway is a little old for the role. The film also doesn’t take any prisoners and isn’t afraid of what it needs to do to the characters no matter where their place is in the story. But the plot also shows that certain sacrifices are remembered. "Beware Boiuna" is still a big snake movie but it offers a little more. The hidden elements through the forest and the water hide the snake pretty well because full mag shots are not as impressive. That said, certain sequences like flipping a big boat and crushing an excavator really give a sense of the snake's power. "Boiuna" is part of a tradition but is still its own piece and entertaining still with a sense of purpose and stakes without too big of an overarching message. 86%/B

By Tim Wassberg