Deadly Blessing (1981)

20% of critics liked it
(5 reviews)
35% of users liked it
(513 ratings)

Deadly Blessing, a disappointing effort from famed horror-film director Wes Craven, tells the story of a woman's fight against a religious cult which will not stop at murder. Martha (Maren Jensen) lives alone near a conservative, repressive religious cult led by Isaiah (Ernest Borgnine). Martha's… More Deadly Blessing, a disappointing effort from famed horror-film director Wes Craven, tells the story of a woman's fight against a religious cult which will not stop at murder. Martha (Maren Jensen) lives alone near a conservative, repressive religious cult led by Isaiah (Ernest Borgnine). Martha's husband was murdered under mysterious circumstances after he left the cult. Martha and her two visiting friends Vicky (Susan Buckner) and Lana (Sharon Stone) find themselves being pressured to live in the area and they begin having nightmares and accidents. Soon more murders begin, and the woman fear for their lives. Craven gets good performances from his cast and bases his plot on the interesting premise of persecution and retribution, but the unsatisfying and implausible ending ruins what suspense he has built. While on the whole, the film is a failure, it has outstanding cinematography by Robert Jessup and a beautiful score composed by James Horner. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 42 min.
Directed By: Wes Craven
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure, Horror, Mystery & Suspense, Cult Movies

In Theaters: Aug 14, 1981 Wide

Critic Reviews

Andreas Samuelson, Slasherpool
One of Wes Craven's best films, an oddball but often scary thriller mixing elements from religious, slasher, snake, spider and monster flicks
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Craven misses the mark with this one.

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Featured Audience Ratings

Lee ?

A tame but fairly decent effort from Wes Craven. The film doesn't provide much of a body count or gory detail for splatter fans, but it does well building suspense and moments of creepiness and sets up a very good finale with an unexpected turn in the plot. It's not the most… More
A tame but fairly decent effort from Wes Craven. The film doesn't provide much of a body count or gory detail for splatter fans, but it does well building suspense and moments of creepiness and sets up a very good finale with an unexpected turn in the plot. It's not the most talked about Craven film but it's definitely worth a watch.
Wahida K

Not bad, it was entertaining I must say.
Marcus W

The whole film is a whodunnit: are the Amish evil or misunderstood? Has the farmers wife gone mad? Then Sharon Stone turns up and keeps dreaming of spiders, and it's pathetically obvious who the killer is. The best thing to do is read the DVD cover, skip to the bathtub bit, and… More
The whole film is a whodunnit: are the Amish evil or misunderstood? Has the farmers wife gone mad? Then Sharon Stone turns up and keeps dreaming of spiders, and it's pathetically obvious who the killer is. The best thing to do is read the DVD cover, skip to the bathtub bit, and then watch the last ten minutes.
Christopher B

Deadly boring. At least Berryman was in it.