At first I thought it would be a nice change-of-pace to see Laura Gemser in something other than a "Black Emanuelle" film, but "Black Cobra" is not really all THAT different from those: lots of nudity, little plot. It's actually pretty tame in terms of sex and violence; its only real claims to infamy are probably two scenes of real animal deaths (a snake being skinned alive and cooked, and a rat being crushed to death and swallowed by another snake). Speaking of snakes and rats, Laura Gemser definitely proves in this film that she's not squeamish, handling them with apparent ease! She's a bit too thin for my tastes here, but her face is magically beautiful. I always enjoy seeing Hong Kong as a film setting, but the story, what little there is, moves sluggishly and the motivation for the first murder is suspect to say the least (if it was jealousy, how could Tinti have known that the snake wouldn't kill the object of his affection instead? If it was just a joke gone wrong, then he's an idiot). Perhaps the biggest surprise in "Black Cobra" is that Jack Palance plays an (eccentric but) non-malicious character! *1/2 out of 4.
Review of Black Cobra
