Martin plays a self-righteous scientist who has made a serum, derived from the venom of a cobra, that can turn a man into a snake. His first victim, Craig, didn't quite make it to being a snake and wound up on display in a freak show. Benedict plays the lab assistant who is coaxed along
to further Martin's experiments. His first taste of the mind-expanding serum leaves him wanting more, and Martin is able to transform him completely. However, the cobra he becomes is no match for the mongoose which gets loose in his cage. Martin does a creditable job in the first film in which he
plays the lead: he doesn't act as the insane scientist, but as someone too involved in his research to make moral decisions. A lightness is maintained throughout, which leads one to believe the makers were not too concerned about taking their material seriously. The result is an unpretentious,
sometimes funny, but not quite scary effort.
