Sssssss 1973

Dr. Carl Stoner, a herpetologist with an obsession for reptilian secrets, clandestinely peddles a mysterious creature to a carnival owner, shrouding the transaction in mystery. Later, he recruits college student David Blake as his assistant, feigning a departed colleague’s absence due to a sick relative’s needs. Unbeknownst to David and others, Stoner harbors a delusional mindset, prone to flights of fancy.

Stoner initiates David on a regimen of injections, ostensibly designed to shield him from snake bites in their lab, but with sinister undertones. As the treatment progresses, David’s skin begins to undergo an unsettling transformation, gradually shedding its human characteristics like shed snakeskin. His slumber is punctuated by eerie nightmares and his weight plummets, prompting Stoner to dismiss these side effects as venom-induced reactions.

David embarks on a romance with Kristina, Stoner’s daughter, despite her father’s vehement objections, warning her against any physical intimacy. Meanwhile, David’s appearance becomes increasingly reptilian, with skin that turns greenish and scaly. His sense of self is eroded by the injections, which Stoner justifies as necessary precautions.

A distressed David awakens to find his reflection unrecognizable, prompting a primal scream. As he stumbles through the lab, Stoner injects him once more, just as Dr. Daniels arrives, suspicions etched on his face. Stoner hastily conceals David in a corner, but David’s strength surges, allowing him to stumble to a window, revealing his grotesque visage to Daniels before Stoner knocks the doctor unconscious and feeds him to a python.

Kristina becomes unhinged when she discovers a freak show featuring a “snake-man” eerily resembling Stoner’s previous assistant. Panicked, she rushes back home, determined to save David from his escalating metamorphosis. Stoner, meanwhile, succumbs to the venom of a real king cobra from their lab, as David’s transformation nears completion.

Kristina finds her father’s lifeless body, with the actual snake coiled beside him. Her suspicions are piqued, and she hastens to the police, who arrive just in time to shoot the serpent. As they approach the lab, a mongoose assaults David’s neck, attempting to deliver a fatal blow. The officers hesitate, unsure of their target, as Kristina cries out David’s name. The movie concludes abruptly, leaving the fates of these two characters shrouded in uncertainty.