''Silent Predators'' is a 1999 American

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction * ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

directed by Noel Nosseck and starring

Harry Hamlin Harry Robinson Hamlin (born October 30, 1951) is an American actor, author, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his roles as Perseus in the 1981 fantasy film '' Clash of the Titans'', a role he reprised in 2007's Santa Monica Studio video ...

and

Shannon Sturges Shannon Sturges (born January 3, 1968) is an American actress and acting coach, best known for her role as Reese Burton in The WB primetime soap opera ''Savannah''. Life and career Sturges was born in Hollywood, California, and is the daughter of ...

Plot

After a truck carrying a rare species of tropical

rattlesnake Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that form the genus, genera ''Crotalus'' and ''Sistrurus'' of the subfamily Crotalinae (the pit vipers). All rattlesnakes are vipers. Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats, hunting sm ...

crashes, the snakes escape into the wild. Twenty years later the snakes have bred with native rattlesnakes to create a highly aggressive and lethal new species that begin to slowly overrun the southern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

town of San Vicente. After the deaths of several residents of a housing development, local fire chief Vic Rondelli tries to convince the city government that the snakes are a serious threat despite opposition from Max Farrington, a land developer more interested in finishing his work than the people's safety.

Cast

as Vic Rondelli *

as Mandy Stratford *

David Spielberg David Spielberg (March 6, 1939 – June 1, 2016) was an American television and film actor. Early life Spielberg was born in Weslaco, Texas, and was a resident of Mercedes, Texas. His father was a Romanian-Jewish immigrant, and his mother was a ...

as Mayor Parker *

Patty McCormack Patricia McCormack (born Patricia Ellen Russo; August 21, 1945) is an American actress with a career in theater, films, and television. McCormack began her career as a child actress. She is perhaps best known for her performance as Rhoda Penma ...

as Vera Conrad *

Beau Billingslea John "Beau" Billingslea (born 1944) is an American actor, known as the voice of Jet Black in the critically acclaimed anime ''Cowboy Bebop'', Ogremon in ''Digimon'' and Homura and Ay, the Fourth Raikage in ''Naruto Shippuden''. In addition to v ...

as George Mitchell * Phillip Troy Linger as Dr. Matthew Watkins *

Jack Scalia Jack Scalia (born November 10, 1950) is an American actor. Scalia is perhaps best known for his frequent appearances in prime-time television series (both as a regular and as a guest-star) and television movies in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as ...

as Max Farrington *

Paul Tassone Paul Tassone (born 27 October 1969) is an Australian actor most known for his work as Nelson Curtis on '' All Saints'', an Australian hospital drama. In late 2007–2008, he played a reverend who turned out to be a violent stalker as a result o ...

as Stranded Motorist *

Dominic Purcell Dominic Haakon Myrtvedt PurcellO'Connor, B,Break Out". '' Men's Fitness''. December/January 2007 Issue; retrieved 18 December 2006. (born 17 February 1970) is an Australian actor. He is best known as Lincoln Burrows in ''Prison Break'' (2005� ...

as Truck Driver

Production

''Silent Predators'' was based on a script John Carpenter wrote in the 1970s. The movie was mostly filmed on

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California.

Reception

''Silent Predators'' received generally unfavorable reviews from critics, who criticized almost every aspect of the movie. Michael Speier of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called the film "absurdly unrealistic and dramatically inept", stating: "'Predators' is visually unspectacular, and the scare tactics are buried beneath Michael Tavera's heavy-handed score and some poorly realized jump-cut editing from Tod Feuerman".

References

External links

* * * 1999 films American natural horror films Films scored by Michael Tavera American horror television films 1990s English-language films Films directed by Noel Nosseck Films with screenplays by John Carpenter 1990s American films English-language horror films {{US-tv-horror-film-stub