1 out of 5

Director: Jennifer Lynch

The story for Hisss seemed like an odd match when compared to Lynch’s other films, and the critical response was overwhelmingly negative, but… Let’s just watch it. Lynch’s style is, actually, evident through Hisss – the bright colors, the somewhat cheesy but moodily effective editing tricks she might’ve picked up from daddy – but there was perhaps a desire to blend some of the sexual weirdness from the director’s other films with elements from the Nagin-themed films from Indian culture. As my casual wiki browsing shows, these films tended to be considered horror, so thereby we have an insane crash of an American weirdo indie filmmaker’s take on Indian horror. Why this came about is probably of interest, and perhaps the documentary “Despite the Gods,” which covers Lynch’s attempts to get the film out there, can shed some light on that. Regardless, we’re watching the results, which… aren’t very good. Nagin is the snake goddess. Her “essence” grants immortality, which causes wacky American-with-brain-cancer Jeff Doucette to kidnap Nagin’s lover (y’know, a snake), to lure the lil’ godly lady his way. Nagin turns into a naked woman to track down Jeff, and kills a whole bunch of horny/abusive men along the way. I do not watch Bollywood films, and I’m not familiar with Indian culture. It’s very possible this film slots right in with the other Nagin films, with its overacting and poor effects (which are too bad, because there are moments of very cool practical effects that are ruined with some CGI or lazy props), which, again according to wiki, are also generally considered bad and just cult favorites. I don’t know. As presented to an American, there are hardly any characters we get to know, hardly any elements of the plot that actually have direction, and hardly any moments that feel developed beyond capturing a chase sequence or snake attack. It’s really just completely unclear what Lynch was aiming for – tribute, camp, something in between? Oh well.