The Serpent and the Rainbow

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The Serpent and the Rainbow

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The Serpent and the Rainbow

Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson, Paul Winfield, Zakes Mokae

An anthropologist goes to Haiti after hearing rumors about a drug used by black magic practitioners to turn people in zombies.

Id: 10902292

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The Serpent and the Rainbow Recent Reviews

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The Serpent and the Rainbow Recent Reviews
  • MidnightMadwoman
    January 12, 2009
    MidnightMadwoman
    The reason I watched this originally is because I wanted to see the film that inspired one of my favorite songs: Voodoo by Godsmack. I found it a little disappointing, to tell you the truth. I was expecting a little more brooding darkness and horror, but this movie reminded me a ...( read more)little bit of Altered States in its pacing and themes. If I had made a movie about voodoo, it would look much different than this.
  • 366weirdmovies
    December 24, 2008
    366weirdmovies
    An anthropologist travels to Haiti in search of the legendary "zombie drug" and gets mixed up in voodoo and third world politics. Sadly, horror movie cliches eventually overtake the unique premise and vivid nightmare sequences. Zakes Mokae's black voodoo priest steals the show.
  • Stinger839
    December 5, 2008
    Stinger839
    See this if you want a Voodoo horror drama about an American who goes to Haiti in search of uncovering the truth and feasibility of zombification.

    This film has an interesting, and in horror, not always effective, structure where the first two thirds are spent on genuine plot an...( read more)d character development, with only hints at the lurking malice to come in all its gory. Craven pulls off this tough format with utter grace and natural pacing. The horror stuff kicks in at an hour into this 90 minute feature, and it's a regular Craven wallop of effective and inventive horrific distortions of reality. So it's a divided film (but the parts compliment and tie together). The first segment is legitimate drama and if done through to feature length by a non-horror director, would be praised as such. That's what makes the horror part work - that Craven's whole film balances and feels real in its plot and characters. So much horror films cannot achieve this.

    Bill Pullman does a really stellar job as the scientific Westerner scouting for the next pharmaceutical breakthrough in a dangerous politically upset poorer nation. His character falls into the Haitian world so well, that the second half, wherein Voodoo takes center stage, the magical and spiritual elements his character once doubted now seem wholly real, and for him, beyond lethally dangerous. We can believe that souls are really at stake; this is what any good drama with Voudon or or Christianity or paganism or any faith-based practices aims toward.

    The production design is stellar. The Voudon temple setup reminds me of old Hammer Voodoo films.

    Reflecting on many of the earlier non-supernatural action sequences in the movie, I really like Craven's action style in the 80s, and think he doesn't always get acknowledged for his extreme flair for orchestrating action because his primary peer their is John Carpenter. (They are each complete masters of the action horror, but Carpenter is utterly and incomparably genius with his action directing, and Craven is utterly and incomparably genius in his talent for horror.)

    The three primary zombie (or zombified) examples here are just plain great. The makeup is subtle and the sell is in the acting and scene framing and lighting. The harsher and gorier bits (which are non-zombie but still atypical and advanced in concept) are very 80s; they're NOT BAD but they have that distinctly 80s makeup aesthetic going on and the big tell is in a poorly done decapitated head.

    Like how the finale reconnects the spiritual and physical worlds - while a small group combats for their souls, a nation-forming revolution ensues in the streets above.
  • djdemersseman
    October 21, 2008
    djdemersseman
    It gets 3 stars almost, if not entirely, based off its premise. There are a few cool scenes though. But Bill Pullman? Really?
  • stopitgoaway
    October 14, 2008
    stopitgoaway
    In this intense thriller inspired by a non-fiction book by Wade Davis, Bill Pullman plays Dr. Dennis Alan, who travels to Haiti in search of a mysterious white powder that is supposed to have powers of resurrection. While there, he hooks up with attractive local doctor Marielle D...( read more)uchamp (Cathy Tyson) and locks horns with nasty, psychotic villain Dargent Peytraud (Zakes Mokae).

    For me, "The Serpent and the Rainbow" is one of those rare scary movies that thoroughly engrossed me. It's a heart-pounding, solidly acted (particularly by Mokae), elaborate movie with lots of local flavour since the film-makers had the good sense to film it on location in Haiti. The atmosphere is so heavy that it's palpable. I would consider it to be one of the better Wes Craven pictures which I have seen. It's probably not one of his better known films - I think that most of them get kind of over-shadowed by the original "Nightmare on Elm Street" and the "Scream" trilogy. But I would suggest that interested viewers seek it out. It takes Dr. Alan and the viewer on an interesting if morbid journey.
  • Lemure
    November 27, 2009
    Lemure
    Here Wes Craven does zombies, but as it's set in Haiti there's no shuffling or brain-munching and it's all very serious, and that's the problem: in adapting a book Craven is merely following orders and any shocks or gore feel forced - though the possessed chair is cool. At the en...( read more)d you're left with a story that combines voodoo with a political uprising, and Fiedel recycles his score from Terminator, badly.
  • uberbeard
    October 30, 2009
    uberbeard
    Haha, not Wes Craven's best, but funny. Bill Pullman gets his dick nailed, and that's always worth watching!
  • rositaedmee
    September 30, 2009
    rositaedmee
    Zombies... not my thing
  • brightand
    September 19, 2009
    brightand
    The first time I watched this, I found it kind of slow and boring, but I decided to give it another watch because I really like Wes Craven. I was extremely satisfied by what I saw. Probably one of the scariest classic movies I have ever seen. The atmosphere and setting are amazin...( read more)g.

    The plot follows Dennis Alan, an anthropologist in Haiti searching for a powder that has the effect of zombification. Along the way he meets Dr. Duchamp and soon begins a relationship with her. He meets a voodoo master with political connections who want to get rid of him as well. The film builds up to one of the best lines in horror cinema: 'Don't let them bury me, I'm not dead.'

    The acting is top notch, Bill Pullman and Cathy Tyson both do amazing jobs in the two lead roles. While Paul Wynfield and Zakes Mokea do great as the shady minor characters. Overall, everyone in the movie does an exceptional job and makes this one of Craven's best movies. Craven does a great job using effective camera angles and entoxicating set design. The setting really adds to how chilling the movie is
  • jezzstjezz
    September 3, 2009
    jezzstjezz
    Technically an ok movie, but for some reason I didn't like. I was somehow tedious. It didn't catch me at all. Maybe it wasn't scary enough or the plot wasn't interesting enough. Maybe it's both, or maybe it's just me.
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