Snakes on a Plane 4K (2006)

 

A glorious example of the type of film Roger Corman used to make and that the Italians used to rip off with equal gusto, Arrow Films are releasing David R Ellis' SNAKES ON A PLANE on 4K in both UHD and Blu-ray editions. 

FBI agent Neville Flynn (Samuel L Jackson) has to protect key witness Sean Jones (Nathan Phillips) in a federal prosecution case against crime boss Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson). Unfortunately Eddie loads the plane carrying Sean and Sam from Hawaii (it should have been the Philippines to add to the Corman vibe) back to LA with more kinds of venomous snake than could feasibly be smuggled onto an ocean liner let alone a Jumbo Jet. Cunningly disguised in  cardboard boxes and caused to run riot by the massive doses of mad snakey pheromones that the passengers’ flowery Lei neckwear has been doused in, it’s not long before a couple are having sex in the biggest aeroplane toilet ever become the first victims in what becomes utter chaos on board. 

Samuel gets mad and has to defend a cast including Julianna Margulies as the stewardess-who’s-going-to-law-school, Rachel Blanchard who was Robert Webb’s American girlfriend in Peepshow, and co-pilot David Koechner who dies horribly in this and went on to die horribly in FINAL DESTINATION 5 and PIRANHA 3DD. There’s lots of knockabout snakey fun, including a guest appearance from a massive anaconda that will have you marvelling at the crime syndicate’s smuggling skills before Troy (Kenan Thompson) has to land the plane with his PlayStation skills. 

SNAKES ON A PLANE does its job of being a feelgood ridiculous when-animals-attack exploitation picture extremely well. The fact that director David Ellis got the all clear to make a more ‘adult-oriented’ picture and took his film back to the cutting room to add a lot more gore and nudity should hopefully endear you further to the whole cobbled together cheesy grindhouse feel. It's ludicrous, over the top, nonsensical, and laugh out loud and as a consequence is one of the better films of its type.

Arrow have given SNAKES ON A PLANE a new 4K restoration, New extras include a commentary track from Max Evry and Bryan Reesman and a good 17 minute piece on both the tie-in novelisation for the film and tie-ins in general. Archival extras include a cast and crew commentary track (including Jackson and Ellis), making of (18 minutes), featurettes on the snake wrangling 13 minutes), the VFX (5 minutes) and the online publicity the film got before its release (10 minutes), plus 12 minutes of deleted and extended scenes. There's also a music video plus making of, five minutes of gag reel and the usual trailers, TV spots and image galleries. The limited edition also comes with a South Pacific Airlines safety instruction card and a collectors booklet with new writing on the film.

David R Ellis' SNAKES ON A PLANE is out from Arrow in 4K in both UHD and Blu-ray editions on Monday 19th January 2026