If a screenwriter for either Netflix or Blumhouse has not jumped on this topic yet, well, here you go. Snake Island is a real place, and it is the thing of nightmares. It is exactly what it sounds like—an island with snakes everywhere. To make a stat out of how many snakes slither across the island, there are believed to be anywhere between 2,000 and 4,000 of the most venomous snakes currently living there.
The island, which also goes by the name Illha da Queimada Grande, sits off the coast of Brazil, almost 93 miles from downtown São Paulo. Due to the number of snakes that govern the island, it is believed that you could encounter anywhere between one and five snakes within every square meter. For obvious reasons, no humans inhabit Snake Island, although scientists are known to visit for biological studies.
The most standout breed of snake that calls the island home is the golden lancehead snake. This highly venomous viper is the one to watch out for, as it’s always hunting prey and in attack mode. If bit by this specific breed, you have one hour until the bite turns fatal. That would need to be a fast boat ride back to land and then to the hospital to survive it. Even worse, if attacked by a golden lancehead, its bite can melt skin due to the amount of venom produced
Knowledgeable people of Snake Island recount two deaths that were associated with wandering onto the 106-acre plot of land in the Atlantic Ocean. One story is of a fisherman who found himself there out of curiosity. He was bitten and staggered back to his boat, only to be found dead within close proximity to it. The second account is of a man and his family who were working on the now-deserted lighthouse. Just as they were ready to leave, the family was attacked by snakes and all of them were bitten to death.
Creepy, crawly films of slithering creatures have been done before, both on the straight-to-video market and even in a big-budget theatrical release as well. Think of movies like Anaconda, Snakes on a Plane, Arachnophobia, and whatever the SyFy channel had on that week for an absurd creature feature. There’s a ton of plot here to set up a ninety-minute horror film.
Either way, how has this idea remained untouched? There are plenty of killer snake movies, for better or for worse, that fans seem to laugh at or get a panic attack from. A movie about Snake Island has the potential to root itself in the unsettling setting and the whispers of a brutal death that can happen to anyone if they step foot on there.
