‘Beware Boiúna’ Review: Great Creature Feature, Almost | Fantastic Fest 2026
Beware Boiúna might be a creature feature, but it is very much a slasher film. Like films such as Friday the 13th or goofy slashers like some of the Nightmare on Elm Street sequels, we know right away who will live or die the minute they start speaking. The difference is the person holding the knife is a snake, and her Crystal Lake is the jungle.
The film, which owes much of its spirit to Anaconda (1997), has a significant bite in its final two acts. However, unlike the absurdity of 1997’s snake picture, you can’t help but feel something is missing in this monstrous attempt.
What is Beware Boiúna about?
The film centers on a group of doctors doing humanitarian work in the Colombian rainforest. At the center is Alli (Jessica Rothe), accompanied by Lena (Kiana Madeira) and a lead doctor named Miguel (Juan Pablo Shuk).
Beware Boiúna also features a red-shirt persona named Callum (Will Close) who feels creatively designed to become snake food. The team encounters a secondary outfit run by Brennan (Logan Marshall-Green), a man with questionable intentions in the area.
The tension is so thick that Alli confronts him for not belonging there. Brennan responds, no one belongs to the jungle. This simple thematic setup foreshadows that Boiúna rules the territory. Subsequently, an unfortunate set of circumstances puts Alli and her team in vicious conflict with Brennan and his men, and a chase ensues into the heart of the jungle.
As they approach a village to gather supplies, they notice it’s eerily quiet. The first victim they find has a weird mucus-like substance on their body. Barely alive, the victim musters the energy to say one word: Boiúna. After a long setup, the snake finally enters the film, and almost no one is safe from the monster, including important characters.
Director Mike P. Nelson aims for Jaws more than Anaconda
Once the snake begins rampaging our main characters, it becomes evident Nelson is shooting for a Jaws-like experience. The snake mostly stays in the shadows at first, or beneath the water, creating dread for the audience waiting for something to pop out.
The film also uses shallow depth of field to build tension, as we see blurred, over-the-shoulder views of the snake lurking behind someone before it strikes a victim. For a CGI-heavy monster, the creature’s size feels impressive on screen. For most filmmakers, conveying weight visually is difficult, but Nelson pulls it off.
More than creature horror, the movie also invokes location horror. It is the element of fear that everything around you poses a danger—different kinds of bugs, jungle creatures, strange plants, or trees with unusual thorns—anything that is abnormal in your typical safe environment.
Characters run through the jungle, fall, and have foreign objects stick in them. Bugs do bizarre things under their skin. All these details make not only the snake feel dangerous, but everything feels dangerous. If the snake doesn’t make you flinch, a person using tweezers to remove critters from the skin might do the trick.
Beware Boiúna has thrills but might be overly serious
The film’s biggest issue stems from a misunderstanding of what made movies like Anaconda work. The monster mayhem is handled well, but the tone is too serious for its own good. Here, Nelson uses the snake in a Jason Voorhees-sort-of way. The animal is sadistic, violent, and even has a moment involving a final girl, the way typical slashers do.
The thing about Anaconda is that the film embraced its ridiculous premise in the best way. The movie was constantly winking at the camera. Even the bad guy in the movie, played by John Voight, winked at the camera after being regurgitated by a snake on screen.
Overall, Beware Boiúna is better than it should be, but it still falls short of being great. I think people who have seen the advertisement will get mostly what they are expecting. However, for myself, I wish the film had a little more fun with its premise than it initially does.
It’s got a great monster, but for this concept, there is a reason it worked better in 1997. That being said, it is undeniable that Nelson’s monster snake looks absolutely fantastic and better than the horrible visual effects from the Anaconda film of the 90s.
Beware Boiúna releases in U.S. theaters on October 2, 2026.
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