Snakes on a Plane!

The SF Chronicle interviews EBV about the movie "Snakes on a Plane."

"It seems like they had some real cobras, too," said Owen Maercks, co-owner of Berkeley's East Bay Vivarium, the most comprehensive reptile pet store in the country.

In Saturday's Datebook review of the movie, there appears to be a photo of a harmless king snake terrorizing actor Tygh Runyan. Dude, relax. King snakes are a gentle species, not prone to bite.

The fake snakes on this plane, hopped up on the biologically false premise that pheromones inspire their fang frenzy, fly out of cubby holes, hiss like felines and snap like bullwhips as they pursue a terrified captive audience of warm-blooded prey.

Part of the movie's perverse appeal lies where the fake snakes strike: an eyeball, a poor urinating fellow's genitals and, William Tell-like, smack dab on a naked nipple. In nature, snakes strike at whatever body part is closest to them, usually hands, fingers, arms and bare feet. The greatest marksman in the snake world is the spitting cobra, which has an uncanny ability to nail its victim in the eyes.

"On a reality meter, it's a total failure," Maercks said. "But you can't judge a movie like that on a reality meter. It was fun. It's every person's worst fear of snakes to their most basic level."

...

In a delightful bit of irony, Maercks' partner at the East Bay Vivarium, John Emberton, flew to Daytona Beach, Fla., over the weekend with real-life snakes on a plane. He attended a reptile show and brought with him a variety of snakes and lizards.

Rather than stoked with a blood lust for human flesh, Emberton's docile snakes were safely packaged in Tupperware-like containers with perforated lids and placed in Styrofoam packing boxes and then into cardboard boxes marked "Live Animals."

It is actually a very good entertainment piece. You should read the whole thing. And damn that Owen is sexy. He should have been a film star.