Mars or bust
VIPER is a man made organism that is part human organic material and part computer chip. The creator of VIPER is Dr. Nancy Burnham (Theresa Russell). It was engineered to turn Mars into an Earth-like planet. In a way terraforming. VIPER is basically a genetically created human/robot mixture that is designed to live on Mars. There are two copies of this material made. One is sent on the space shuttle to Mars and the other is housed in a “secure” facility called NovaGen.
The organism on its way to Mars escapes and kills the astronauts. The Secretary of Defense orders that the remaining copy of the VIPER organism be destroyed. Mike Connors (Patrick Muldoon) is assigned the task of ensuring that VIPER is destroyed.
The VIPER organism in the “secure” facility gets stolen. The thieves break into NovaGen and shoot their way out. A husband and wife team are responsible for the theft. They make their getaway, however, the husband ends up shot in the ensuing chase. The wife manages, along with another accomplice to escape with the container housing the organism. They steal a cargo plane and head for their base.
The plane with the canister develops engine trouble and crashes near the small town of Lago Nogales. The organism escapes. It grows. It likes to eat people. It starts to invade the small town. Dr. Burnham and Mike Connors are tasked with locating and neutralizing it.
"VIPER" was released in 2002 and was directed by Jim Wynorski. It is a SYFY channel film. The VIPER creature looks kinda like a cross between a grey octopus and the blob that have been put through an extruder. But in a good way. The monster itself was actually pretty good. Actually it was the best part of the movie. The twist at the very end was also a plus.
Other than that I wasn’t impressed. The acting was so-so and the characters were rather bland. I also wasn’t crazy about the script. There was some action and mayhem and explosions but not enough to kick it up that extra notch it needed. Like I said, other than the monster it was OK.