Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid is a 2004 American adventurehorror film directed by Dwight Little. It is a stand-alone sequel to the film Anaconda (1997) and the second installment of the Anaconda film series. The film follows a team of researchers set for an expedition into the Southeast Asian tropical island of Borneo, to search for a sacred flower which they believe will bring humans to a longer and healthier life. They soon become stalked and hunted by the deadly giant anacondas inhabiting the island.
It was released on August 27, 2004, and the last film in the series to be released theatrically. Like its predecessor, the film received negative reviews, but was a financial success. The film was followed by a sequel, Anaconda 3: Offspring in 2008.
Plot
A team of researchers funded by New York pharmaceutical firm Wexel Hall, including Dr. Jack Byron, Gordon Mitchell, Sam Rogers, Gail Stern, Cole Burris, and Dr. Ben Douglas, leave for a jungle in Borneo to search for a flower called Perrinnia immortalis--"the Blood Orchid"—that they believe contains a fountain of youth. Jack convinces guide Captain Bill Johnson and his partner Tran Wu to take an unsafe path despite their misgivings. At one point, Gail falls into the water, loses her phone, and is attacked by a crocodile before Bill rescues her. Their boat goes over a waterfall and breaks apart. A giant anaconda emerges from the water and swallows Ben. The rest of the team reaches the shore. Bill assures them that it is the largest snake he has ever seen and that it should take weeks for it to grow hungry again. However, most of the team demands that the expedition be called off. They call for Bill's friend, John Livingston, who lives on the river, to join them, only to find Livingston attacked and his boat wrecked.
They find a small native village and a disemboweled anaconda, a pair of human legs hanging out of the snake's abdomen, and an orchid remaining. The orchids are a part of the food chain, and these snakes grow over unusually long lives. Jack realizes the orchids must be nearby, while Gail contends that the orchids may not work on humans. Jack still wants to find the flowers, but the others rebel and start building an escape raft to leave the jungle.
Gordon discovers that Jack has hidden Livingston's radio and gun. Jack fails to convince him to continue with the expedition, so he paralyzes Gordon using a previously collected spider to stop him from informing the others. Jack joins the others at the raft, but a suspicious Sam discovers Gordon and the spider bite. An anaconda swallows Gordon alive as she informs the others, who arrive as it finishes. Bill sets the building on fire but notices the snake has escaped. Jack, left alone, steals the raft.
Unable to make another raft, they hack through the jungle to beat Jack to the orchids and retrieve their raft. On the way, they fall into a cave trying to escape from an anaconda. Cole gets lost and finds human skeletons. He is found by Tran, who then gets pulled under and eaten. Bill finds Tran's lost flashlight floating in bloody water. A terrified Cole escapes from the cave, seconds ahead of the snake, which gets stuck in the hole. Sam beheads it with a machete, but another snake captures the hysterical Cole. The team finds him being constricted. Bill kills the snake with a knife, freeing Cole.
The group finds Jack and his raft. Jack shoots Bill in the arm to keep him from attacking and forces the party to accompany him to the orchids, which grow above a pit in which a ball of male anacondas are mating with the female. Sam is forced to cross the pit via a thin log to fill a backpack with orchids. As she returns, the log cracks. Jack orders her to throw him the backpack. Sam threatens to drop the flowers into the pit, but Jack threatens to shoot the others in response. The log breaks. As the others try to reach Sam, Jack reaches for the backpack. The spider he used earlier escapes from its jar and bites him. He falls into the pit and is devoured. The vine holding Sam also gives way, but she climbs out of the pit as one of the anacondas tries to get her. Gail tricks the snake into biting their fuel container. Bill shoots it, but the gun is empty. Cole shoots a flare, immolating the anaconda and exploding the container, killing the other snakes. An ensuing landslide buries the blood orchids. The survivors—Bill, Sam, Cole, and Gail—make it back to the raft and head to Kota Bharu.
Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid debuted at second place in the box office, earned $32,238,923 in the United States and the international gross of $43,829,631, bringing a worldwide total of $76,068,554.[2]
Critical reception
Rotten Tomatoes reports that the film received a 26% based on 121 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "A cheesy monster B-movie".[4]Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 40 out of 100 based on 28 reviews.[5]
Roger Ebert awarded the film two out of four stars, a rating less than that he gave the original film. Ebert, however, praised Matthew Marsden's performance as being "suitably treacherous".[6] Keith Philipps of The A.V. Club criticized the movie for its CGI snakes, while The Oregonian's Karen Karbo said it never "takes itself too seriously".[5] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.
