Cobra Woman

A melodramatic adventure film featuring iconic turns by Maria Montez and Sabu, Siodmak’s delirious South Seas tale was, among other things, Kenneth Anger’s favorite film. Tollea (Montez) is kidnapped and taken to Cobra Island, where the natives tend to sacrifice visitors to their vengeful volcano god. But as it turns out, Tollea has a much closer connection to this strange, dangerous place than it initially seemed…. A camp masterwork, Cobra Woman is notable for its curiously profound influence on American avant-garde film and theater, inspiring the likes of Anger, Jack Smith, and Charles Ludlam, to name a few.