Every 'Anaconda' Movie, Ranked

While not as acclaimed as other horror franchises, the Anaconda franchise has made a distinct niche for itself as being one of the defining examples of modern creature features. They play into the inherent fear that people have towards snakes as a species, supercharging the dangerous aspects of the biggest snakes on the planet and giving them the Jaws treatment, with various characters fighting for their lives against the deadly snake. Ironically, the franchise is similar to Jaws in that, for large swaths of time, the original film was the only one that people truly enjoyed compared to the myriad of inadequate sequels.

However, with the recent horror comedy reboot of the franchise with Jack Black and Paul Rudd hitting theaters this past December, there is no better time than the present to take a look back on this strange horror franchise with a wildly varied history. From low-budget direct-to-video sequels that managed to have worse animation than the original 90s B-movie to a completely forgotten about crossover and a Chinese remake, the Anaconda franchise proves to be much larger than one initially expects.

7 'Anacondas: Trail of Blood' (2009)

The second of the two main series straight to video sequel that the franchise would receive in the late 2000s, Anaconda: Trail of Blood manages to downgrade on an already lackluster previous film to create one of the most painfully boring horror movies ever released. While every other entry in the Anaconda franchise, even at its worst, maintains a steady balance between character moments and goofy giant snake horror, Trail of Blood severely disrupts this balance, with a significant portion of the film focusing on its deeply uninteresting story.

When the film finally decides to provide some giant snake action, it features some of the most laughably bad visual effects imaginable, which would have looked bad even by 1997 standards, let alone by the standards of 2009. Despite being the only film in the franchise with main characters carried over from a previous entry, the story proves to be more of a test of patience than anything else. While the Anaconda franchise is filled with below-average offerings, Trail of Blood is the only entry that proves to be so bad that it's hard to even think of redeeming qualities.

6 'Anaconda 3: Offspring' (2008)

Anaconda 3: Offspring certainly leans into its absurdist B-movie aesthetic, complete with the wild casting of David Hasselhoff and John Rhys-Davies and a wild premise of mercenaries being hired to hunt down a dangerous snake that has escaped from a top-secret laboratory. However, a ridiculous concept and aesthetic can only go so far in terms of actually making the film worthwhile, as the only real qualities that Offspring offers are those of so-bad-it's-good qualities. It has a similar level of terrible snake CGI as Trail of Blood, seeing as the two films were filmed back-to-back and feature much of the same filmmakers, yet the snake is prominently given time to lay waste to the human characters.

Offspring's story frankly feels jarring compared to the previous Anaconda films, which were more squarely centered on being wild jungle adventure horror films, while this completely removes the jungle backdrop and, at times, feels more Jurassic World than Anaconda. A genetically modified snake escaping captivity may seem rife with potential for a fun horror film, but it does next to nothing to utilize this distinctly different premise, only managing to feel like an insult to the previous theatrical iterations of the franchise. Audiences overwhelmingly hated the film, while critics didn't even bother sitting through this one.

5 'Lake Placid vs. Anaconda' (2015)

What's better than one mediocre creature feature franchise? Two distinctly different yet similar creature feature franchises doing a crossover with each other well after either of them had any semblance of relevancy, and after they devolved into a sludge of straight-to-video trash. In some ways, it certainly makes sense to combine the franchises of Lake Placid and Anaconda together, as they both had a single standout 90s film that evolved creature features, but Lake Placid vs. Anaconda is a far cry from the memorability of their original films.

As far as actually being a crossover is concerned, the film is clearly playing favorites, as while it retains several characters from the lackluster Lake Placid sequels, it doesn't utilize any characters from the Anaconda sequels, only lightly mentions their story beats. It also doesn't help that the titular battle between the Lake Placid crocodile and the Anaconda doesn't occur until an hour in, though, when it happens, it makes for all sorts of brainless dumb B-movie fun. It sort of speaks volumes to the level of quality in the Anaconda franchise that what is considered the worst film in the Lake Placid franchise is outdone by multiple worse films in the Anaconda franchise.

4 'Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid' (2004)

The first sequel in the Anaconda franchise and one of the only entries to actually receive a theatrical release, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid leans more into the jungle adventure aspects of the original film, though not nearly as well as the original film. It follows a group of scientists traveling on an expedition to Borneo to seek out a rare flower known as the Blood Orchid, which manages to hold the secret to an extended lifespan. However, with many giant snakes thriving off of these flowers for generations, they have grown to be so massive that just entering the jungle is considered a death sentence.

The characters are incredibly generic, the addition of goofy immortality science as an explanation for the size of the snakes is idiotic, yet when the film is working its magic and providing giant snake tension, The Hunt for the Blood Orchid manages to surprise in a select few moments. It attempts to take the approach of Aliens, simply increasing the number of Anacondas to increase tension and fear, and while this works in fleeting moments, the characters are too uninteresting to truly capitalize on the attempted emotional crux of the film. However, considering how bad the sequels would end up getting, The Hunt for the Blood Orchid is so much more effective by comparison.

3 'Anaconda' (2024)

No, you are in fact reading that year correctly, and there wasn't a mistake made. As recently as one year before the franchise was rebooted with a horror comedy, the original Anaconda film would receive a Chinese remake. Also known as Anaconda: Cursed Jungle, this remake largely follows the plot of the original film, with some distinct differences and changes made to align with Chinese audiences as well as the modern day. However, at its core, it's still the same engaging story of a ragtag crew traveling across the jungle, being joined by a mysterious and dangerous poacher, and soon being used as bait for hunting a massive python.

While far from a masterpiece of the creature feature genre, this underrated horror remake has a fundamental understanding of what makes the genre so compelling, utilizing some great snake action and entertaining characters to make it an unexpectedly fun watch. Easily, where the film succeeds the most compared to every other entry in the series is featuring a villain that can actually rival the screen-presence and iconic nature of Jon Voight's Paul Serone. Terence Yin Chi-Wai's Jeff is similar to Serone in his role in the story, but has a much colder and more sadistic approach to his endless battle against the jungle.

2 'Anaconda' (2025)

From a pure concept standpoint, the Jack Black and Paul Rudd reboot of Anaconda is a film that simply shouldn't work. Instead of a simple retreat from the original material, the meta-reboot instead sees a group of friends who loved the original film growing up, now having a hold of the rights and traveling into the jungle to film their own Anaconda reboot. It sounds too overly complicated to really work, yet between its well-crafted meta comedy and acting as a love letter to amateur low-budget filmmaking as a whole, Anaconda (2025) succeeds with bundles of charm.

The film has a deep respect for the original film, not simply using it as a prop for its own story, but embellishing its role as the definitive wild horror B-movie of the 90s that people undeniably fell in love with. While Black and Rudd have their fair share of great comedic moments, it's the wider supporting cast, including the likes of Steve Zahn, Thandiwe Newton, and some fun cameos, that makes it such an effective comedy. Its flavor of meta comedy may not be particularly original, but there's a joy to its execution that gives it a distinct edge over every other sequel and reboot that simply tried to be the original film, but worse.

1 'Anaconda' (1997)

At the end of the day, the original 1997 Anaconda was the only option for what the best film in the Anaconda franchise is. Like the Jaws franchise that inspired it, the original blockbuster hit stands on its own and frankly never needed to be a franchise in the first place. The characters and performances are incredibly memorable, and the blending of the then-revolutionary computer effects and well-crafted practical effects is still engaging to this day. Even the film's goofier, less effective qualities only serve to add to the charm and timelessness of the film, as it simply wouldn't be the same if it were this perfectly well-crafted creature feature masterpiece.

The film wears its issues on its sleeve like a badge of honor, with each of its flaws simply adding to the memorability and rewatchability of the experience, continuing to make it a 90s horror cult classic. On some level, every other film in this franchise has understood the magic and strength of this 90s classic, with many of them failing to recreate said magical mixture of horror, character, and adventure. There's a good reason that the film continues to be considered one of the premier creature features ever released, as blockbuster horror simply wouldn't be the same without the impact and legacy of Anaconda.