Nerdly » ‘Anaconda’ 4K UHD Review

25th Mar2026

‘Anaconda’ 4K UHD Review

by Matthew Turner

Stars: Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Thandiwe Newton, Steve Zahn, Daniela Melchior, Selton Mello | Written by Tom Gormican, Kevin Etten | Directed by Tom Gormican

Jack Black and Paul Rudd team up for Anaconda, a creature feature meta-comedy-slash-reboot from the team behind the similarly meta Nic Cage vehicle The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. On paper, at least, the project is extremely promising, and it’s not without its moments, but it has zero scares, and the big laughs are ultimately few and far between.

Rudd and Black play best friends Griff and Doug, whose finest moment together was making a homemade horror movie called The Squatch as kids, growing up in Buffalo. Years later, Doug is still at home, directing wedding videos for a living, while Griff is an unsuccessful actor in Hollywood, making do with single-line walk-on parts in TV shows. However, when Griff supposedly acquires the rights to remake 1997’s giant snake horror Anaconda, he persuades Doug and childhood friends Claire (Thandiwe Newton) and Kenny (Steve Zahn) to join him in the Brazilian jungle for three weeks, so they can fulfil their lifelong dream and make a proper monster movie together. They are joined by weirdo snake handler Santiago (Selton Mello) and mysterious boat captain Ana (Daniela Melchior), but things quickly go wrong when it turns out that a hungry giant snake is lurking in the Amazon.

Anaconda‘s biggest problem is that it’s all over the place, and never seems to know whether it wants to be a horror, a comedy, or something else entirely. To that end, it never fully commits to the horror element, and there are no real scares, with most of the snake-related deaths happening in the distance or in sequences that are so poorly shot and staged that you can’t even tell who the snake has in its coils anyway. On top of that, the film is hampered by the 12A rating, when it comes to snake-related mayhem and gore. It’s no good having a character explain in lurid detail about what happens during an Anaconda attack (eyes popping out, that sort of thing) if the film isn’t prepared to deliver exactly that.

The comedy element is marginally more successful. There are some decent jokes about Hollywood’s obsession with existing IP, and there’s at least one genuine laugh-out-loud set-piece involving a squealing pig and a dead squirrel that it would be churlish to spoil here. However, for every joke that lands, dozens fall flat (an extended routine about Zahn’s character being unable to urinate at a crucial moment, for example), and it’s hard to shake the overall feeling that the script could have used another pass or two.

The plot is a real mess too. There’s a half-hearted mystery subplot surrounding Melchior’s character, but it quickly transpires that it only exists to provide non-essential characters for the snake to eat before it moves onto the main cast. Similarly, a rival film production unit pops up at one point, but its potential is completely squandered, seemingly only there to set up one of the film’s most crowd-pleasing moments.

The performances are fine, but neither Black nor Rudd are on top comedic form here, and you’re constantly aware that they could both be much funnier with better material. Newton is surprisingly game, however, and Zahn is good value as the addiction-addled screw-up of the group, who claims to be “Buffalo sober – just wine, beer and some of the lighter liquors”.

This new 4K UHD release of Anaconda features a native 4K (2160p) presentation encoded using HEVC / H.265, framed in its original 2.39:1 aspect ratio, and presented with both Dolby Vision and HDR10, giving the film a strong upgrade in detail, colour range and contrast over previous home video editions. Audio is delivered as a Dolby Atmos track, providing a more immersive, dynamic mix that makes full use of modern surround setups, particularly during the film’s action and creature-attack sequences. Subtitle options include English, English SDH, French and Spanish, making the release accessible to a wide audience. The disc also includes the following extras:

Special Features:

Hiss-terical Outtakes & Bloopers
Deleted & Extended Scenes
A Ride Into Chaos with Jack & Paul
Friends in the Wild: The Cast
The Snake Charmer: Tom Gormican
Reinventing the Legend: Anaconda

In the end, Anaconda is a sweet, warm-hearted tale of male friendship, rather than being scary or funny. It’s not a total failure, as there are a good handful of decent moments, but it lacks (snake) bite and