..that is really mainly a girls school drama. There's only really the last 5 minutes that are really anything out of the ordinary. Clearly budget was a factor but unlike most low budget nonsenses that I watch, this one was actually quite well acted. You'll want to know about the plot won't you? Well I'm going to tell you regardless so if you're not interested, why not go watch the news or something? Or look out of the window. Whatever takes your fancy. I'm not stopping you.

Anyway. Yes. Jennifer is a hillbilly scholarship student at a school for rich girls. It's a top notch school of course but most of the girls there aren't there on merit. It is an extremely elitist place and Jennifer's only been allowed in because of a new initiative by certain board members who like the idea of helping the underprivileged. The old school mistress isn't interested though, she's just interested in the money she gets from the extremely wealthy. Horrible wizened old crone that woman. Her greed'll get her nowhere! Mark my words! Certain students really don't like Jennifer much. One in particular is the most popular girl in school and undoubtedly one of the richest. After getting caught cheating in a test she blames it on Jennifer stealing the test and giving answers to her. Jennifer points out to the teacher that this girl has the test in her bag. After her rich senator father reluctantly agrees to visit the school and pay off the headmistress to avoid expulsion of his daughter (to a sum of $10,000) the girl embarks on a course of action to annihilate Jennifer in whatever way she can. All this time her religious zealot father is urging her to get back in touch with the power of snakes she displayed as a small girl in a hillbilly church ritual, through which she caused the death of a young boy. He feels it's god's power and his will for her to be this way. Tortured by the death of the boy, she wants nothing to do with it. But she's pushed too far and gets back in touch with the power to get her revenge..

And that's where the film goes a little bit silly. While it is only around 5 to 10 minutes at the end, the poor (and sometimes rather bizarre) special effects detract somewhat from the menace that should be there. Lisa Pelikan who plays Jennifer does a pretty good job and can do a very good 'nice' creepy. She appears pleasant on the face of it but there's a strange unearthly feeling lurking behind. The rest of the cast all play their roles effectively, from uninterested parent (possibly hinting at the reason for evil girl to be the way she is) to the sympathetic male teacher. And it somehow makes what should be a low budget shambles quite engaging.

Perhaps if they had used some other gimmick than the whole snakes thing they could have made the ending more satisfying and sinister. Obviously a higher budget as well would have helped matters in that area. Even so, I still think they did a fine job as it is.

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