The Snake Woman Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

The Snake Woman Blu-ray Movie Review

"It is evil. It has the eyes. It is the devil's offspring!"

Reviewed by Justin Dekker May 15, 2026

Directed by Sidney J. Furie ('The Entity'), the 1961 horror film makes its Blu-ray debut courtesy of Hammer Films. The film features Arnold Marlé ('The Man Who Could Cheat Death'), John McCarthy ('Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'), and Susan Travers ('The Abominable Dr. Phibes'). Given a new restoration from the original 35mm camera negative presented with a restored 2.0 original Mono track, 'The Snake Woman' is briskly paced and is ripe for rediscovery. On disc supplemental features are light and are highlighted by a commentary track from Heidi Honeycutt and Sarah Morgan. A slipcover is also included. Region B locked.

Dr. Adderson (John Cazabon) loves his pregnant wife dearly, using snake venom to experimentally treat her mental condition. Dying as a result of giving birth, Adderson and attending physician Dr. Murton (Arnold Marlé) marvel at the newborn who is surprisingly alive, while the witch-like midwife Aggie Harker (Elsie Wagstaff) sees nothing but the spawn of evil. Just prior to the Adderson home and laboratory being destroyed by angry villagers, with the good doctor being killed in the process, the child grows to maturity over the following 20 years. When a string of deaths as a result of poisonous reptiles in the sleepy rural English village of Bellingham sparks the interest of a man from Scotland Yard, Detective John McCarthy (Charles Prentice) is tasked with getting to the bottom of things before he too falls victim to The Snake Woman.

Released in the US as part of a double bill with Doctor Blood's Coffin, The Snake Woman is a briskly-paced and atmospheric picture that blends a variety of elements to create its particular brand of magic. Covering its bases, there are elements of science run amok, witchcraft, and voodoo, all being run to ground by some good, old-fashioned detective work. Based on the era in which the film is set, the science is questionable at best. Despite trying to appear grounded in cold, hard facts, the film quickly posits that medical treatments based on snake venom could result in altering the unborn fetus into a human-snake hybrid, and does so with dialogue that is deadly serious. Also, surprisingly, is the inclusion of the Colonel Wynborn (Geoffrey Denton) character that can unerringly identify which specific snake bit a person based solely on a quick, cursory peek at a bite wound. Both are ultimately forgivable as the former is required to craft a possible "scientific" explanation, and the latter merely speeds the film so that it need not waste time it doesn't have gathering information to arrive at that data point.

While hinted at in the first few minutes of the film with Aggie Harkness' observations at the child's birth when she intones, "It is evil. It has the eyes. It is the devil's offspring!", and several instances of her perceived clairvoyance, many of the potential witchcraft elements remain unexamined. Though her cozy cottage sports a human skull as its table's centerpiece, we unfortunately never observe much that speaks to her supernatural or spellcasting abilities. The same is true for the voodoo element, which begins and ends with an unusual voodoo doll. So while science provides a possible but outlandish answer for the Snake Woman's creation, and Harkness' witchcraft/voodoo provides a means for its destruction, the film's brief runtime prevents a more satisfying exploration or demonstration of any of these elements.

The same holds true for the Snake Woman, or Atheris (Susan Travers) as she is more appropriately called. To the betterment of the character, Travers' icy performance lends Atheris an otherworldly quality. As such, we recognize her instantly as "foreign", as "other". Regardless of her actual origin, she does not match the demeanor of those in the village or the kindly man who raised her. In all instances, her mannerisms are alien, her reactions detached, and her movements surprisingly stiff. To the character and the film's detriment, however, we never have the opportunity to observe her in anything that resembles the real world. Instead; she is found exclusively in the natural world and in the burned out ruins of her ancestral home which nature is slowly reclaiming. Atheris is never allowed to have a "normal" interaction with her adoptive father or others in the village. Even a simple scene with Atheris conversing with others in the local pub would have had significant impact on the ability to cast doubt on whether or not she was to blame for the deaths that drew the detective to the village. But the film's brisk runtime is a cruel master here as well, and the film's efficient design deprives the film of any ability to cast legitimate doubt as to her dark identity.

This isn't to say, though, that the film isn't effective or entertaining. It most certainly is. While the film is rich with possibilities that it hasn't the time to properly explore, it's the cast's performances that drive most of it's value. Chief among them are the efforts of two of the oldest members of the ensemble, Elsie Wagstaff who portrays the midwife/witch Aggie Harkness and Arnold Marlé as the concerned and big-hearted Dr. Murton. Wagstaff, who genre fans will likely recognize from Hammer's 1974 feature Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell and one of my favorites, 1963's Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow which starred Patrick McGoohan, easily has the most compelling and memorable screen presence here. Her Aggie is a bit of an enigma, straddling both the worlds of Western medicine/science, and the supernatural. Though she hasn't been provided with much a backstory or meaningful character development, it somehow that simply adds to her mystery. Marlé, for his part, reprises his performance as Dr. Weiss from 1959's The Man Who Could Cheat Death to great effect. There, as here, he's the one responsible for initially saving the films' antagonists, he eventually becomes concerned about the deadly choices that the films antagonists are making, and he tragically dies at their hands despite his best intentions. In both films, his performances originate in an earnestness that credibly allows us to understand the personal agony that drives his actions.

The Snake Woman Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Per the enclosed notes, the 35mm original camera negative was retrieved from the Pro-Tek Vault in Burbank, scanned at 4K and restored at 2K, with the largest obstacle to overcome being some pugnacious flickering caused by density fluctuations. The work done by the Silver Salt team is once again impressive, and the film's new and established fans are presented with a very stable, clean and filmic transfer to enjoy. For this release both the original UK aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and a US appropriate 1.85:1 viewing option are available. The image on display regardless of aspect ratio, though, is impressive. The first thing that's immediately noticeable is a very high level of fine detail. The texture of the framing of the snake's cage that we see as the film opens is subtle but plainly visible. The snake's scales are crisply defined as is the interior of the snake's mouth as deft hands milk the venom. Charred wood framing from the burned-out Adderson home site displays realistic charring and blistering, almost looking like a snake's scales. Fitting. Costuming reveals textural accuracy with Martha's lace trim on her sleep shirt displaying the required level of delicacy, and Polly's shirt reading as shiny and silky. There is likewise a variety of textures and details to observe in the character of Aggie Harker (Elsie Wagstaff) in the second half of the film, where her wrinkled visage, wild mane of hair, and rumpled eclectic attire provide viewers with much to explore and appreciate. Blacks are deep and inky, and the image displays pleasing depth and dimensionality. The image is clean and the transfer should please everyone who gives the disc a spin.

Screenshots #1 - 10 are sourced from the 1.66:1 UK version.

Screenshots #11 - 19 are sourced from the 1.85:1 US version.

The Snake Woman Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The restored LPCM 2.0 original Mono track is a solid companion for the film. Dialogue is consistently clean and free from defect. Properly prioritized, it sits neatly on top of the score and sound effects in the film's more tense and dramatic moments. Hushed moments fare just as well, with no lines being lost. Sound effects are of the mundane variety, with the odd dart hitting a dartboard, thunder, and a gunshot or two being the most complex elements the track needs to reproduce. In all instances, the results are convincing and era appropriate, with the fire that destroys Adderson's home and laboratory being the most impressive of the lot. Music is handled well, with wind instruments, often mimicking the tones of snake charmer being a recurring element to the score, though brass is accurate as well. It's a great track.

The Snake Woman Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Hammer's release of The Snake Woman is appointed with a reasonable selection of on-disc extras.

• 1.66:1 UK Version with 2026 Commentary Featuring Heidi Honeycutt and Sarah Morgan - After recently pairing for commentary track on Hammer's release of Spaceways: Collector's Edition 4K

, the duo returns to discuss The Snake Woman. The writers and critics begin by discussing the film's original title before quickly talking about the careers of the cast at a high level. The bulk of their comments are in response to the action on the screen, though they do occasionally depart from the film to follow thoughts that come to mind. The snakes receive a good deal of their attention in the early goings, before going on to cover similarities they see between this film and a few from Hammer which would follow in a few years. Some time is also given to a discussion of Director Sidney Furie's career, key titles, and those with whom he worked. It's a casual, conversational commentary that is as informative as it is informal.

• Theatrical Trailer (2.06) -

• Textless Theatrical Trailer (2.06) -

• Image Gallery (2.31) - A series of color and black and white posters, lobby cards, and stills auto-advance in silence.

The Snake Woman Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Scotland Yard's Detective John McCarthy may have been sent to the rural village of Bellingham to solve a mystery, but, based on the film's direct structure viewers are never at a loss for what's happening and who's responsible. Perhaps if the film had been afforded as much as twenty more minutes Furie may have been able to better explore the film's hastily referenced scientific, witchcraft, and voodoo related themes and ideas to craft more of a mystery and generate reasonable doubt about who (or what) may be to blame for the deaths plaguing the village. But with it's 68- minute runtime, Furie is obliged to simply work quickly to establish the threat, bring McCarthy to the village, and put paid to the easily identifiable culprit. The film does an excellent job of crafting a creepy atmosphere, and Susan Travers' frosty performance as Atheris casts the character in a delightful otherworldly light. For fans of vintage horror, The Snake Woman comes recommended.