| Black Mamba | |
| Director: | George Rowe |
| Starring: | John Ashley Marlene Clark Pilar Pilapil Eddie Garcia |
| Country: | Philippines |
| Language: | English |
Black Mamba is a 1974 horror film directed by George Rowe and starring John Ashley, Marlene Clark, Pilar Pilapil, and Eddie Garcia.[1] [2]
A doctor gets involved with a woman who practices witchcraft and can turn into a python. She intends for a young child to be her next victim. The doctor tries to stop her.[1]
The film is notorious for depicting an autopsy performed on a real human corpse. A real corpse was exhumed from one of the local prisons and used on film. "It is a wild film," said Ashley, ""very graphic, very gory."[3]
The film was originally known as Witchcraft. Ashley said it co-starred one of the top female stars in the Philippines and that he made it just before his involvement in Apocalypse Now. He says the film was financed by a Chinese man involved in the advertising business.[1]
Black Mamba was not widely screened.[4] The film was released in the Philippines but not the US. A person bought it and took it to Hong Kong to redub it but ran out of money.[3]
The film remained unreleased until after Ashley's death in 1997.[5]