Basilisk: The Serpent King
Basilisk: The Serpent King
NR | 25 November 2006 (USA)
Basilisk: The Serpent King Trailers

Two millennia ago, a Lybian king has a basilisk (snake-shaped dragon), which petrifies people, subjected to the same fate with a golden scepter during a solar eclipse. Both these and several victims are dug up by modern archaeologist Harrison 'Harry' McColl's expedition. Despite a cryptic warning from tribal locals, everything goes to his Colorado university's museum. It's all exhibited during another eclipse, which leads to the monster reviving. Harry and some of his friends must try to petrify the monster again.

Reviews
ClassyWas Excellent, smart action film.
Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
wes-connors A long time ago in 112 A.D. Cyrenaica, during an eclipse, a giant snake-like creature wakes up and attacks a group of men. This is "Basilisk: The Serpent King" and he is angry. Basilisk spits out a long stream of white stuff, which turns people into stone. Two thousand years later, in present day Libya, a team of archaeologists led by steadfast Jeremy London (as Harrison "Harry" McColl) dig around in the same area. Watch out! They discover some artifacts which will lead to the return of Basilisk, but not quite yet...Two months later, in Pueblo Springs, Colorado, Mr. London meets attractive blonde archaeologist Wendy Carter (as Rachel Donegal). He really digs her, even with sexy Yancy Butler (as Hannah) hanging out. They are at an archaeological event during an eclipse when, like the first one, Basilisk wakes up. This time, he seems even angrier. And, with good reason. According to geeky scientist Griff Furst (as Rudy), "Basilisk: The Serpent King" is pregnant. If the snake king isn't destroyed, there will be 18-20 more...Yikes! *** Basilisk: The Serpent King (11/25/06) Stephen Furst ~ Jeremy London, Wendy Carter, Griff Furst, Yancy Butler
abominablebro This movie is very entertaining and should be added to every collection of excellent B-movies. This movie was intentionally made to be humorous as well as gruesome. Wonderful and hilarious dialogue and lovable characters are only a couple of qualities that make this movie so good. This film also includes some graphic and gory death scenes which every horror needs. The acting was perfectly fitting for any comedy-horror and every character was unique in their own way. The 'Geek Scene' remains one of my favorite scenes of all time and deserves to be famous. All in all, very well played and hit spot-on. CGI is only okay, but hey, it is a comedy-horror after all. A great flick that should leave a good impression in the movie world.
bobthemongoose This is the latest monster movie tromp from the Sci-fi channel. While many other sci-fi channel movies like "Kraken" were absolutely terrible, this movie is pretty good. But if compared to "Aliens" or "King Kong", this movie would be considered terrible. The plot centers on a basilisk running loose around a city and scientists trying to stop it. Also two bad guys steal a staff that has the power to kill the basilisk but at the same time find a great treasure. Of course the bad guys want the treasure. But with the basilisk following the bad guys, things get complicated. While the characters are like card-board cut-outs and the special effects not so special, this movie exceeds in is a story that moves along fast enough to keep people entertained and excited. This movie is fairly enjoyable and only moderately disappointing. If sci-fi keeps making movies of this caliber, than i will tune in on Saturdays much more often.
slayrrr666 "Basilisk: The Serpent King" is an incredibly enjoyable Sci-Fi Channel original creature feature.**SPOILERS**On a dig in Persia, Professor Harry McCall, (Jeremy London) and his team Rudy Skeeters, (Griff Furst) and Sierra, (Sarah Skeeters) find a series of ancient statues depicting soldiers and a large unknown creature. Meeting up with fellow scientist Rachel Donegan, (Wendy Carter) they attend a party honoring the discovery, and during an eclipse, the creature statue comes to life as a Basilisk and goes on a rampage. While trying to escape, they find Col. Douglas, (Cleavant Derricks) and his National Guard unit fighting the creature. When they realize that the only way to fight the creature is a scepter held by thieves Hannah, (Yancy Butler) and Brock, (Doug Dearth) they race to get it back before it continues it's rampage.The Good News: This one really surprised me by how good it was. A giant snake loose in a major city is one of the few ideas left in this series, and here it works magically. Rather than just having out in the middle of nowhere with very few targets, the snake is loose inside an urban center, which holds the possibility for tons of damage and tons of fun, which this has plenty of. The snake itself goes on a major rampage, biting off limbs, decapitating a couple, having objects crushed when they collide with them, and even the requisite number of people turned to statues. Those are handled very well, not really looking very CGI at all and looking quite natural. The various action scenes are all nicely paced and quite exciting, keeping it moving forward and always on the move. There's very little down-time between pretty much anything, as the pace moves along very rapidly from once scene to another. The snake itself is out and about very rapidly as well, coming out very early and staying that way for most of the most of the movie. The reawakening is a great action set-piece, with tons of bodies flying everywhere and a general mass panic. The mall sequence features some great action parts as well, making it a real highlight. The fact that the mystical creature gets explained in here with some factual evidence gives this one some more weight to it that most don't really have in the science background, and really sounds quite credible. Though it does look quite fake, the snake does have a rather creepy look to it in certain scenes, with a snake-like body mixed with a crocodilian jaw and a set on horns along the side of the body. Far better film than it should've been.The Bad News: It's getting very tiresome to call these films on the very badly-done CGI, and this one is no exception. Here, the same applies. Very rarely does the CGI used to make the creature look anything close to being believable. The CGI is apparent on the creature whenever it moves for a period of time, but when it doesn't really move is when there's a believable appearance, but it's still pretty easy to tell it's not a real creation. This is a common problem, and one that really doesn't show a lot of signs towards ending, and must really be endured more so than most other films. However, this is the one main problem with this. It's really not all that bad.The Final Verdict: Far better Sci-Fi Channel original than it had every right to be, this falls into the upper echelon of their pantheon of films and features a lot to like about it. Sure, there's the fact that it doesn't look real at all, but that is becoming par for the course with these films and is now a given. Fans of the past films should see this one immediately.Rated R: Graphic Violence and some Language