Post by slayrrr666 on Nov 11, 2005 16:24:16 GMT -5
“The Serpent and the Rainbow” is one of the most underrated films of all time.
**SPOILERS**
In late 70s Haiti, a personal revolution sweeps the island. The voodoo priests on the island assume control and begin to practice their dangerous spells on the population. Dennis Alan, (Bill Pullman) a botanist working in the Amazon basin, is exploring the uses of a psychotic drug used there and has to crawl his way through the jungle to get back home. Once there, he is sent to investigate the discovery of a zombie in Haiti. Skeptical at first, David goes with the best of intentions to now how to reanimate the dead. When he arrives at the hospital that houses the rumored zombie, he is introduced to a powerful voodoo priest’s ceremony. There he meets Lucien Celine, (Paul Winfield) a personal friend of Marielle Duchamp, (Cathy Tyson) one of the nurses. As he continues his relentless pursuit of the zombie drug, Dennis is immersed into the world of voodoo and ancient spells that goes way over his head. Tortured by what he knows and what he feels is going to happen to Marielle, David has to fight for his very soul amidst the powerful voodoo priests.
The Good News: This is one of the very few horror films ever made that treats it’s subject matter as accurately as possible. It’s true that all the depiction’s and discussions about voodoo and its power are real. Those are real practitioners of voodoo performing on film, and how it happens in the film are real representations of how voodoo works. That adds to the realism to the film, because real-life horror is far scarier than anything else a human mind can come up with. To me, the world of voodoo is something that is beyond merely tampering with, and this film is a wonderful guiding principal for those who might be interested in it. Whatever the people in the film are doing to the regular characters to turn them into zombies are very powerful people, and the spells and potions used to control and create them are just as powerful. This gets so much better when he has been overwhelmed with the voodoo world, and everything comes crashing down on his world. The practice of making a zombie is fully explored, and the process is an incredibly creepy one. We get to know it in intricate detail, and the realness of it makes it that much more compelling. Once he knows the process of creating the drug, the movie kicks into hyper-drive as he is just relentlessly tortured by what he knows, and that it happens in a quick manner of time is staggering. What really gets to you is the dream sequences he keeps having. My favorite is the first one, early on in the film. He dreams he’s inside this candlelit room and witnesses a wedding being performed. The bride wanders over to him with the veil down, and as she gets close to him, he lifts the veil to reveal the bride is a charred corpse. She pulls her mouth down, and out shoots it’s tongue and latches onto his chin. One of my favorite scenes in the film, and one of the biggest scares in a movie as well. Another big one is the part where he’s dissolved into a wall of blood, that was a creepy scene. It was also nice since the torture inflicted on him was more mental than physical. And what needs to be said for the heart-stopping climax? It is justifiably famous, and it is a true twist ending that hardly anyone will be able to spot coming, yet is completely in tone with the rest of the movie. It really is one of the best endings to a film ever.
The Bad News: Because of the supernatural and religious themes portrayed in the film are very accurate, it may upset the very religious persons out there. This is something that some may be put off against because it may clash with their faith.
The Final Verdict: I don’t know why this one isn’t more well known among horror fans, but this is one of Craven‘s best friends. It’s very accurate about its subject matter, and that is so rare in today’s movies. See this one at once, all Craven fans, supernatural and horror fans, but the overtly religious should exercise caution.
Rated R: Intricate details and discussions about occult themes, Violence, some Language, Nudity and a mild sex scene
