It was supposed to be a harmless nostalgia trip: a few old friends, a rainforest adventure, and a low-budget remake of the movie that shaped their youth. But somewhere between the mid-life pep talks, forgotten gear, and questionable survival instincts, the jungle offered them something very different: a predator older, meaner, and far less amused by their reunion.
Anaconda (2025) slithers back onto the big screen with a wicked comedy-horror edge - part creature feature, part chaos, and all adrenaline. One minute you’re laughing at grown adults arguing about who should’ve packed the first-aid kit; the next, you’re watching them sprint through the underbrush as something massive coils beneath the surface of the river.
This is the most fun you'll have being terrified all year.
Here’s the trailer:
Forget the polished survival experts of classic jungle thrillers - this time, the heroes are a group of friends whose best years might be behind them, but whose delusional confidence says otherwise.
Their plan is simple: fly to the rainforest, remake their favourite childhood film, and prove they’ve still “got it.”
Reality has other plans, starting with earthquakes, criminals, and the kind of snake that rewrites your understanding of “top of the food chain.”
The beauty of Anaconda lies in the balance: razor-sharp humour, escalating danger, and a creature that’s as terrifying as it is spectacular. The jungle becomes a character of its own: alive, unpredictable, and brutally unforgiving.
And when the anaconda strikes, the comedy doesn’t vanish, it bends, snaps, and rattles right alongside the terror.
The film’s spoiler-free setup is simple: a fun trip spirals into madness when the group accidentally attracts the attention of a legendary anaconda, a creature so huge it feels like the jungle has grown a pulse.
From there, the movie becomes a rolling storm of “you’ve got to be kidding me” moments:
· A chase scene where the group argues mid-sprint about who caused this mess.
· A boat escape that becomes a disaster before it even leaves the bank.
· A close encounter so tense you could hear a mosquito sweat.
And woven between the laughs and lung-crushing tension is something real: the fear, the panic, the regret, the sudden clarity of what actually matters when nature stops playing nice.
It’s a cat-and-mouse game, if the cat were forty feet long and the mouse kept tripping over its own mid-life crisis.
Comedy-horror lives or dies on chemistry - and this cast delivers:
· Paul Rudd as Ronald “Griff” Griffen Jr.
· Jack Black as Doug McCallister
· Steve Zahn as Kenny Trent
· Thandiwe Newton as Claire Simons
· Daniela Melchior as Ana Almeida
· Selton Mello as Santiago Braga
· Ione Skye as Malie McCallister
· Ben Lawson (role to be revealed)
They’re messy, chaotic, hilarious, and completely believable as people who would accidentally film their own destruction. Their timing makes the comedy sharper; their sincerity makes the danger sting.
Some films simply demand a cinema. Anaconda is one of them. The scale, the sound, the creeping sense that something colossal is sliding just out of sight… this is tension that only a darkened theatre can deliver.
On the big screen, the jungle feels thicker, the shadows deeper, and every snap of a branch echoes with possibility. The anaconda’s presence looms larger than life, its movements slithering through the soundscape in ways you can feel as much as hear. It’s the kind of movie where the silence is just as nerve-racking as the chaos.
And when the action erupts - when characters sprint through the undergrowth or plunge into river rapids - you’re right there with them, pulse racing, eyes locked on every twist and close call.
Ready to step into the danger zone? Find your closest Ster-Kinekor cinema using the Find a Cinema tool, and keep an eye on the Coming Soon page for updates and bookings.
Anaconda slithers into South African cinemas on 26 December 2025, ready to shake up the holiday season with danger, mayhem, laughter, and a creature that steals every scene.
Book your tickets now and brace yourself for a wild, hilarious, heart-thumping ride through the rainforest, where survival isn’t guaranteed, and laughing through the frights is half the fun.
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