Oliver Reed has an unexplained, telepathic link to an ancient snake God which is let loose upon a college town once it grows to monstrous proportions. Peter Fonda is the scientist searching for this beast but he just so happens to have a very handy machine gun in his possession. The movie tries to be suspenseful by including a lot of point of view shots, which was a tired, hokey cliché even back in the 1980’s. The blue-tinted, distorted fish eyed lens used for the snake’s point of view is hard to take in long doses, and unfortunately, that’s how it’s presented here.

Veteran actors Fonda and Al Waxman are obviously just there for name value and this is completely Reed’s movie to ham it up in a, sadly, real life alcohol-infused spectacle as he was increasingly known for around this time in his life.

Besides having one of the funniest one word titles that tells you absolutely nothing about what the movie is about, "Spasms" does have some spectacular special effects for the victims of the snake. These boil-infected and pus-filled nightmares are some of Special Effects Legend Dick Smith’s most disturbing work which hopefully will distract anyone from remembering about the truly atrocious snake he created here.

The title is possibly the most memorable part of this movie but, surprisingly, there are a few jumps here and there and a couple of eerie scenes.

This won’t have anyone beating down the doors of any DVD distributors anytime soon, though the film is supposed to be getting a domestic release within this year or the next. The movie poster and the in-your-face image of one of the victims on the cover of Fangoria Magazine are probably the most memorable ballyhoo images and press for this film. I hesitate to call this an undiscovered gem but you never know how something might shine until you take the time to dust it off yourself.