The Snake King's Wife
Encyclopedia
The Snake Man is a 1970 Cambodian drama
horror film
based on a Cambodian
myth about a snake goddess
, starring Khmer famous actress at era, Dy Saveth
and Chea Yuthorn who was hugely popular in Thailand after the film release. The Film directed by A Chinese Descent
director, Tea Lim Koun who he has experienced unpredented success of the film listed him today as the father of Khmer Cinema
.
The film was a enormous commercial success in Cambodia
and had been released at worldwide box offices, with also much success in neighboring Thailand, which brought back a extremely better result of grossing revenue. The film then noticed one of the biggest box-office hits in Southeast Asia
at the time, holding today as Khmer Classic films for decades.
As reported by Thailand’s Krung Thep Turakij newspaper, The Snake Man is a Khmer film awarded at the 19th Asian Movie Awards in Singapore
in 1972 where it received 6 golden awards including Best Director and Best Actress.
Nhi and her daughter are scavenging for food in their crops, when Nhi breaks her shovel-head in an attempt to dig. There is a snake in the hole that her shovel had burrowed, and this snake claims that he is the Snake King. The Snake King tells Nhi that he will help her family if he sleeps with her. So Nhi does.
Nhi has hidden the affair from her husband and her daughter. However, when Minom returns, he discovers that she is pregnant and enraged by this, he manages to discover the secret and starts a plan in order to kill the Snake King. Months later, Minom is able to chop the snake and cook the snake meat as food for Nhi after the many failed attempts. After Nhi found out about the death of the Snake King, she was murdered by her cruel husband while she was bathing. As her womb was opening, there were several little snakes being born; however,most of them were killed by Minom. Only one of the snakes was able to survive. As a child, the only lasting snake, Veasna arrived at a hermit's cottage where the hermit turned him into a human and also named him, Veasna.
Several years later, Veasna, grew up to be a handsome man and he began to fall in love with a rich man's daughter, Soriya. While they were in love, Soriya's stepmother who was jealous of their relationship planned an attempt to split them apart. She too was madly in love with Veasna. However, when Soriya's mother realizes that Veasna is a snake she meets an old witch who made a spell to transfer him back to a snake. The Villagers were so afraid that they abandoned the wedding as the rich man, Soriya's father, dropped dead immediately after his step wife ran away for her life. Despite his features, his wife still loved him, until one day, she gave birth to a female baby called Cantra. Unfortunately, she was born with tiny snakes as her hair for the old witch had put a curse on her family. When she grew up, her father, suddenly, turned to stone and her mother became a psycho after she was kidnapped and forced to eat the blood of raw meat as food. Cantra became an orphan and also became the servant for the ugly witch until one day, she found a plan to break the curse by midnight when the witch was seeking for food with only her head and intestine. Cantra went to the witch's locker room and burned everything including the witch's body. The witch arrived in time and was also burned in the fire. Finally, the curse was broken and her parents became normal human beings as Cantra's hair turned long and beautiful. The family all lived happily ever after in a big house.
, the film was then progressed in its story with the title The Snake Man Part 2 which was a co-production by Cambodia and Siamland starring Cambodian heartthrobs Chea Yuthorn (ជា យុទ្ធថន)and Dy Saveth
(ឌី សាវ៉េត), together with formerly famous Siam actress Aranya Namwong
and released at the following year of the prequel.
In 2001, The first full-length feature film to be produced in Cambodia since the Khmer Rouge era was directed by Fai Sam Ang. In fact, it was not "the first full-length feature film", if you can remember the success of the "Shadows of Darkness" by Yvon Hem (1988). The film starred 17-year-old début Cambodian actress Pich Chanbormey and Siamese actor Winai Kraibutr
. According the Similar plot,the film was said to be the remake of the 1970s film. In contrast,its different title which translated to The Snake King's Child
suggested it was a sequel. The film, then become the sequel of the 1970s film. However, In 2005, A horror Romance film called The Snake King's Grandchild
, which seem as the sequel of The Snake King's Child
, was released and was also directed by the same director, Fai Sam Ang.
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
based on a Cambodian
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
myth about a snake goddess
Snake Goddess
Snake Goddess, indicates figurines of a woman holding a snake in each hand found during excavation of Minoan archaeological sites in Crete dating from approximately 1600 BCE.It seems that the two elegant idols found in Knossos represented goddesses and by implication, the term 'snake goddess'...
, starring Khmer famous actress at era, Dy Saveth
Dy Saveth
Dy Saveth is a renowned Cambodian actress and first Miss Cambodia . She featured several films throughout the 1960s until the communist takeover in 1975, and later from 1993 to present. She married Huoy Keng, an actor, producer and film director, during the 1970s. Just as Van Vanak ran his own...
and Chea Yuthorn who was hugely popular in Thailand after the film release. The Film directed by A Chinese Descent
Chinese Cambodian
Chinese Cambodians are Cambodian citizens of Chinese descent. "Khmer-Chen", is used for peoples of either mixed Cambodian & Chinese descent or people of whom are Cambodian born citizens with Chinese ancestry;...
director, Tea Lim Koun who he has experienced unpredented success of the film listed him today as the father of Khmer Cinema
Cinema of Cambodia
Cinema in Cambodia began in the 1950s, and many films were being screened in theaters throughout the country by the 1960s, which are regarded as the "golden age"...
.
The film was a enormous commercial success in Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and had been released at worldwide box offices, with also much success in neighboring Thailand, which brought back a extremely better result of grossing revenue. The film then noticed one of the biggest box-office hits in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
at the time, holding today as Khmer Classic films for decades.
As reported by Thailand’s Krung Thep Turakij newspaper, The Snake Man is a Khmer film awarded at the 19th Asian Movie Awards in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
in 1972 where it received 6 golden awards including Best Director and Best Actress.
Plot
The film begins following the life of Neang Nhi, a Cambodian woman. Nhi is married to her husband Minom. Nhi and Minom have a young daughter. One day, Minom leaves town for work, leaving his daughter and wife at home. He tells their daughter that he will return home soon.Nhi and her daughter are scavenging for food in their crops, when Nhi breaks her shovel-head in an attempt to dig. There is a snake in the hole that her shovel had burrowed, and this snake claims that he is the Snake King. The Snake King tells Nhi that he will help her family if he sleeps with her. So Nhi does.
Nhi has hidden the affair from her husband and her daughter. However, when Minom returns, he discovers that she is pregnant and enraged by this, he manages to discover the secret and starts a plan in order to kill the Snake King. Months later, Minom is able to chop the snake and cook the snake meat as food for Nhi after the many failed attempts. After Nhi found out about the death of the Snake King, she was murdered by her cruel husband while she was bathing. As her womb was opening, there were several little snakes being born; however,most of them were killed by Minom. Only one of the snakes was able to survive. As a child, the only lasting snake, Veasna arrived at a hermit's cottage where the hermit turned him into a human and also named him, Veasna.
Several years later, Veasna, grew up to be a handsome man and he began to fall in love with a rich man's daughter, Soriya. While they were in love, Soriya's stepmother who was jealous of their relationship planned an attempt to split them apart. She too was madly in love with Veasna. However, when Soriya's mother realizes that Veasna is a snake she meets an old witch who made a spell to transfer him back to a snake. The Villagers were so afraid that they abandoned the wedding as the rich man, Soriya's father, dropped dead immediately after his step wife ran away for her life. Despite his features, his wife still loved him, until one day, she gave birth to a female baby called Cantra. Unfortunately, she was born with tiny snakes as her hair for the old witch had put a curse on her family. When she grew up, her father, suddenly, turned to stone and her mother became a psycho after she was kidnapped and forced to eat the blood of raw meat as food. Cantra became an orphan and also became the servant for the ugly witch until one day, she found a plan to break the curse by midnight when the witch was seeking for food with only her head and intestine. Cantra went to the witch's locker room and burned everything including the witch's body. The witch arrived in time and was also burned in the fire. Finally, the curse was broken and her parents became normal human beings as Cantra's hair turned long and beautiful. The family all lived happily ever after in a big house.
Release
Pous Keng Kang (which translates to 'The Giant Snake' in Cambodian/Khmer) was an almost immeasurable success in Cambodia, therefore resulting in its release to foreign non-affiliated countries including many Asian countries and several parts of Europe. In Thailand, the film reached double the amount of hits that of the Cambodia Box office. This was in due part to the Civil war that the kingdom of Cambodia was enduring.Remakes and sequel
After the highly success of the film in CambodiaCinema of Cambodia
Cinema in Cambodia began in the 1950s, and many films were being screened in theaters throughout the country by the 1960s, which are regarded as the "golden age"...
, the film was then progressed in its story with the title The Snake Man Part 2 which was a co-production by Cambodia and Siamland starring Cambodian heartthrobs Chea Yuthorn (ជា យុទ្ធថន)and Dy Saveth
Dy Saveth
Dy Saveth is a renowned Cambodian actress and first Miss Cambodia . She featured several films throughout the 1960s until the communist takeover in 1975, and later from 1993 to present. She married Huoy Keng, an actor, producer and film director, during the 1970s. Just as Van Vanak ran his own...
(ឌី សាវ៉េត), together with formerly famous Siam actress Aranya Namwong
Aranya Namwong
Anchali Sirachaya , née Anchali Choppradit , stage-named Aranya Namwong is a Thai actress. She was the runner-up of 1964 Miss Thailand . She was the lead actress in many Thai films in the 1970s, often co-starring with Sombat Metanee...
and released at the following year of the prequel.
In 2001, The first full-length feature film to be produced in Cambodia since the Khmer Rouge era was directed by Fai Sam Ang. In fact, it was not "the first full-length feature film", if you can remember the success of the "Shadows of Darkness" by Yvon Hem (1988). The film starred 17-year-old début Cambodian actress Pich Chanbormey and Siamese actor Winai Kraibutr
Winai Kraibutr
Winai Kraibutr is a Thai actor. He has appeared in a number of films that have achieved significant success at the Thai box office. He is considered a bankable star in Thailand and has achieved minor international exposure through the international release of Bang Rajan...
. According the Similar plot,the film was said to be the remake of the 1970s film. In contrast,its different title which translated to The Snake King's Child
The Snake King's Child
The Snake King's Child is a 2001 Cambodian-Thai horror film, based on a Cambodian myth about the half-human daughter of a snake god. It is the first full-length feature film to be produced in Cambodia since before the Khmer Rouge era...
suggested it was a sequel. The film, then become the sequel of the 1970s film. However, In 2005, A horror Romance film called The Snake King's Grandchild
The Snake King's Grandchild
The Snake King's Grandchild is a 2006 Cambodian Romance horror film, a sequel to a 2001 film, The Snake King's Child. It is a successful and award-winning in the khmer national film festivalwhere it received 4 awards including best actress.-Plot:...
, which seem as the sequel of The Snake King's Child
The Snake King's Child
The Snake King's Child is a 2001 Cambodian-Thai horror film, based on a Cambodian myth about the half-human daughter of a snake god. It is the first full-length feature film to be produced in Cambodia since before the Khmer Rouge era...
, was released and was also directed by the same director, Fai Sam Ang.
Soundtrack
| Song | Singer(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Soriya Psong Snae | Sinn Sisamouth Sinn Sisamouth Sinn Sisamouth was a famous and highly prolific Cambodian singer-songwriter in the 1950s to the 1970s.Widely considered the "King of Khmer music", Sisamouth, along with Ros Sereysothea, Pan Ron, and other artists, was part of a thriving pop music scene in Phnom Penh that blended elements of Khmer... |
|
| Soriya Psong Snae | Ros Serey Sothear |