Possible Clues:

• 1997 horror film with the tagline 'If you can't breathe, you can't scream'
• A prisoner inside with a South American killer
• Canada used to provide habitat for one short snake
• One you don't want to have a crush on you
• Boa constrictor
• Semiaquatic snake of the boa family
• Crushing snake
• A disadvantage going in with a cold-blooded killer
• Tropical menace
• Strangler loose in Canada? No