Beware Boiúna Director Discusses Character-Driven, Snake Horror Film

Posted in: Exclusive, Horror, Interview, Lionsgate, Movies | Tagged: Beware Boiúna

Beware Boiúna Director Discusses Character-Driven, Snake Horror Film

Director Mike P. Nelson (Silent Night, Deadly Night) spoke to us about his latest snake survival horror film in Lionsgate's Beware Boiúna.

Published Sun, 27 Sep 2026 14:46:10 -0500
by Tom Chang
|
Comments

Article Summary

• Beware Boiúna director Mike P. Nelson reveals why this Amazon snake horror film won him over with character first.
• Nelson cites Jaws, Alien, Tremors, and Jurassic Park as key influences on Beware Boiúna’s survival horror tone.
• Beware Boiúna stars Kiana Madeira, Jessica Rothe, and Logan Marshall-Green, chosen for depth and sharp instincts.
• Filmed entirely on location in Colombia, Beware Boiúna pushed cast and crew through floods, jungle chaos, and stunts.

Mike P. Nelson is certainly no stranger to horror, given his prolific work in some of the biggest franchises, including the 2021 Wrong Turn reboot, V/H/S/85 (2023), and, most recently, the Silent Night, Deadly Night (2026) remake. His latest Lionsgate snake horror film, Beware Boiúna, certainly ups the ante beyond just a man vs. nature story. The film goes deep in the Amazon, where a medical mission spirals into a fight for survival when Boiúna, a colossal ancient predator, awakens to reclaim her domain. In the jungle where nature holds absolute power, she decides who lives and who dies. The director of the announced latest Saw film spoke to Bleeding Cool about his initial reluctance to take the project until he saw Tony Giglio and Alan McElroy's story, casting horror veterans Kiana Madeira (Fear Street franchise), Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day franchise), and Logan Marshall-Green (The Invitation) as his leads, and navigating through the Colombian jungles to film.

Beware Boiúna Director Mike P. Nelson on Crafting Survival Snake Horror Journey

Bleeding Cool: What was the inspiration behind 'Beware Boiúna?"

Nelson: Honestly, I was approached by Robert Kulzer and Jeremy Bolt, two producers, and they wanted to do a giant snake movie. At the time, I did not really want to, but I wanted to do a creature feature, and so they were like, "Okay." They had an idea, a script, and a story. They said, "What if we did something more like this?" I pitched them some ideas, and I wanted to do something that was a little grittier, a little harsher, and they were all for it, so we dove in. I sat down, started writing with Alan McElroy, and what you see on the screen is what we came up with. I think for me it was that I was inspired by films like 'Sorcerer' (1977), 'Jaws' (1975), 'Alien' (1979), 'Tremors' (1990), and 'Jurassic Park' (1993). I mean, the way that those films are carried by the characters and in the heart, and they have so much heart in their story. That had to be front and foremost, and then we introduce a giant snake.

How did casting come about in making Kiana, Jessica, and Logan the centerpiece of the film?

I got on calls with them. You always start through a casting process, and you're always thinking about, "Who could play this? And "Who could play that?" You talk to some people, you throw out ideas, and when I got on a call with them, it was quite clear that they understood the assignment. They got what we were trying to do here. The fact that I was pushing to shoot in the actual Amazon as well didn't hurt the table a little bit or turn the tables a little. They understood, and they brought what I wanted to bring, so much more nuance to the characters that were on the page. Some of their ideas were so great, I was like, "Let's go! Let's try to find…let's dig deeper," and we did. Even then, when we were there on the day in the jungle, or on the Amazon River on this boat. There were so many great conversations that we had to have to bring these characters to life. So, I'm extremely blessed that we were able to bring the team together for sure.

How much of it was filmed on location and how much was from the soundstage?

None of it was filmed in a soundstage. It was all filmed on location in Colombia, both in Leticia on the Amazon River and in the surrounding jungles, and then in Girardot, Colombia, near Girardot in the surrounding jungles as well.

What was the most difficult part about filming there in terms of the environment?

Yeah, there were definitely some challenges that we had to deal with. Look, I would go back and shoot again in a heartbeat. It was an amazing experience. When you're shooting in the jungle, it doesn't care that you're there. It'll rain whenever it wants to. It will decide to completely wash away the sets that you built. At one point, we shot one night on a dock that we'd built at this reserve; the next morning we go back to location, and the dock had been taken away by the river. The river had risen overnight. It rained, and that's what we had to deal with. What I feel very fortunate, though, is that the jungle was very kind to us over the course of this shoot, and we were able to get everything that we needed, and we all had an amazing experience doing it.

What was the most difficult sequence to shoot, and was there any mulling over about whether to make the snake practical or CG?

Gosh, I mean, let's see the hardest thing to shoot…so when we built part of a boat and had to dig a giant trench. We were able to get access to this gentleman's land. He had this huge plot of land, this big field where we were to dig a hole almost 20 feet deep in the ground, almost making, like, our own tank in a way, but still outside in nature. We built this giant boat; we had to tip it with a crane, and actually have it go underneath the water, and then be able to reset it. Not only that, we had to then get the crew to go onto that little piece of that boat and shoot on that with actors doing stunts. Oh, my god! I remember walking away from that being like, "I'm so glad we're done with this part" [laughs]. It was very challenging, obviously very hot, and everybody was wet.

Beware Boiúna comes to theaters on October 2nd.

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!