The Serpent and the Rainbow

Plot synopsis:
In 1978, a Haitian man named Christophe (Conrad Roberts) mysteriously dies in a French missionary clinic, while outside a voodoo parade marches past his window with a burning coffin. The next morning, Christophe is buried in a traditional Catholic funeral, at which his sister cries over his body and prays for his soul. Onlooking is a mysterious black man dressed in a suit who was also outside Christophe's hospital window on the night he died. As the coffin is lowered into the ground, Christophe's eyes open and tears roll down his cheeks.
Seven years later, Dennis Alan (an ethnobotanist and anthropologist from Harvard University) narrowly escapes the Amazon Jungle and returns to Boston after acquiring rare herbs and medicines from a local shaman. During his ordeal, Alan drinks a hallucinogenic potion and experiences a horrifying image of the same black man from Christophe's funeral, surrounded by corpses in a bottomless pit. Alan also sees his totem jaguar spirit which leads him out of the jungle to safety.
Back in Boston, Alan is approached by a large pharmaceutical corporation looking to investigate a drug used in the Voodoo religion of Haiti to create zombies. The company wants Alan to acquire the drug for mass production and use it as a type of "super anesthetic". The corporation provides Alan with significant funds and sends him to Haiti where the country is in the middle of a revolution. Alan's exploration in Haiti to find the drug, assisted by the doctor Marielle (Cathy Tyson), locates Christophe who is alive again after having been buried for dead seven years before. Shortly thereafter, Alan is taken into custody by the Haitian authorities, with the commander of the Tonton Macoute (Captain Dargent Peytraud (Zakes Mokae) - the same black man from both Christophe's funeral and Alan's vision in the Amazon) warning Alan to leave Haiti. Alan is at first not harmed by Peytraud, due to Alan's status as a U.S. citizen.
Alan refuses to leave, and continues to investigate. He encounters a local witch doctor, Mozart (Brent Jennings), who is reported to have knowledge of the zombie drug and the procedure necessary for its creation. Alan pays Mozart for a sample of the drug, but Mozart sells him a fake substitute of rat poison instead. After embarrassing Mozart in public, the Voodoo witch doctor agrees to show Alan exactly how to produce the zombie drug for a fee of $1000 to which Alan agrees. Before gaining this knowledge, however, Alan is arrested a second time by the Tonton Macoutes and tortured. After having his scrotum nailed into a chair, Alan is dumped on a street with the message clear that he had best leave Haiti before he is killed. Alan, however, still refuses to do so and meets with Mozart to create the zombie drug.
A few hours before picking up the final product, Alan has a terrifying dream. This was planted in his head by Peytraud, revealed to be an evil bokor who turns enemies into zombies and steals their souls. When Alan wakes up, he is lying next to Christophe's sister who has been beheaded. The Tonton Macoutes enter, take photos, and frame Alan for murder. Brought to Peytraud, Peytraud tells Alan to leave the country and never return, lest he be convicted of the framed murder, executed, and then his soul stolen by Peytraud. He puts Alan on an airplane at gunpoint, but Mozart sneaks onboard at the last minute and gives Alan the zombie drug for free. Mozart simply asks Alan to tell people about him, so that Mozart can achieve international fame. Alan agrees and returns to Boston with his mission apparently completed.
At a celebration dinner, the wife of Alan's employer is possessed by Peytraud, who warns Alan of his own imminent death. Thereafter Alan returns to Haiti, where his only ally, a houngan named Lucien Celine, is killed by Peytraud through dark magic causing a scorpion to materialize inside Celine's throat; Mozart is beheaded at the same time as a sacrifice for Peytraud's evil power. Alan is then sprayed with the zombie powder which "kills" him; afterwards, Peytraud steals Alan's body from an American medical clinic before Alan's death can be reported to the American Embassy. Peytraud takes Alan to a graveyard where, helpless in his coffin, Alan sees that Peytraud has captured Marielle and will kill her as a sacrifice to Baron Samedi. Peytraud further shows Alan the soul of Lucien Celine in a canari. Alan is then buried alive with a tarantula to "keep him company". Waking up screaming in his coffin a few hours later, Alan is rescued by Christophe who was also turned into a zombie by Peytraud many years earlier and now lives in a cemetery thinking that he is still dead.
Having escaped Peytraud's trap, Alan returns to the Tonton Macoute headquarters looking for Marielle. There, Alan and his jaguar spirit defeat Peytraud and send the evil bokor's soul to Hell. As the Haitian people celebrate the downfall of Jean-Claude Duvalier, Marielle proclaims "The nightmare is over".

Tags: good versus evil, cult, psychedelic

Review:
The film is set in Haiti during the last days of the dictatorship of "Baby Doc" Duvalier.Based - very loosely one surmises - on a true story, the plot follows Dr. Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman) as he investigates a powder that is said to turn people into zombies.
The best thing about "The Serpent and the Rainbow" is probably the topic it covers: Not known to the general public (including me, until I watched the film and researched the subject a little more afterwards), the so-called zombies, which legend has it that they are people who were condemned by sorcerers to become living deads, are in fact nothing more than the victims of a special powder thrown to them, whose active ingredient is a substance which is now well-known by scientists worldwide.
When the effect of this substance starts to diminish after 12-24 hours, the sorcerer is usually there to undig the completely shocked and shattered person, convincing him that he is now his zombie-slave.The movie is based on a true story by a scientist (Pullman) who went to Haiti, a country were such practices were rife, in order to get his hands on this substance and provide it to his employer, a pharmaceutical company, in order to analyze it and use it as an anaesthetic.
However, he soon realized that things were much more complicated than that, as the police chief (Mokae), who used this zombie-trick as one of his suppression tools, was quite unhappy with this intrusion.Although based on a very interesting story, the movie goes a bit far and becomes a typical horror film, full of black magic, terrifying visions, etc.
I still see it as an adventure film with horror elements, but this time I found it full of style -a touch of documentary approach, clever use of colorful locations, good handling of massive scenes with many unprofessional extras, attractive ethnic art direction, a bit of grand guignol in some performances (mainly Zakes Mokae), humor and a sensitive and sympathetic approach to a different culture.
Upon returning to America he is asked by a drug company to return to Haiti and investigate the process of "Zombification" as proof of a man being brought back from the dead has been discovered and the Americans of course would love to know how it is done.In Haiti Dr Allen meets a beautiful female psychiatrist and together they become embroiled in a world of good vs evil voodoo style in search of this miracle which is in the form of a powder.However, their is evil at work in the form of a very nasty voodoo witchdoctor, who unfortunately also happens to be Chief of Police in the very much oppressed Haiti.This was a great film.
"The Sepernt and the Rainbow" is a lot like the movies "I Walked with a Zombie" and "Premature Burial" in that it's more realistic in it's subject matter and tries to keep the supernatural angle in check and not let it overwhelm it's story.
Even though there are a number of gruesome scenes in the movie like decapitation's and immolation's as well as cannibalism nothing can compare, or condition you, to the horror of being unknowingly buried alive and not being able to scream in order to prevent that terrifying act from happening and In the film "The Serpent and the Rainbow" it happens twice not once.
With all the mind-blowing special effects in "The Serpent and the Rainbow" The most eye-popping scene in the movie has to do with modern day Voodoo Priest Lucien Celine, Paul Winfield, going bananas and literally screwing his head off.
It's based on the non-fiction book by Wade Davis, and tells the story of anthropologist Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman) who travels to Haiti for the purpose of investigating what could be causing supposedly dead people to still be alive.
The man's filmography is a mixed bag, and this film; The Serpent and the Rainbow, despite having an awesome title and good subject material (zombies, voodoo, being buried alive), still ranks as a disappointment.
The jungle setting is nice, and makes for a nice change as there aren't too many horror films set there; and the film also impresses in the special effects side, as although the movie doesn't go over the top with great effects, the ones it does have are put to good use and it helps to create and intriguing and foreboding atmosphere.
As Alan is on the island, he falls for a female doctor ( Cathy Tyson) who's father is a voodoo priest and "Hougan" ( Paul Winfield) as he finds out what could the secret of re-animating the dead back to life could be but with some deadly results coming to Alan.Loosely based on a true story and on a book by Wade Davis, this is a strange effort from master horror maker Wes Craven on doing something different then the usual slasher flick but kind of a non-traditional zombie movie in the E.C. Comics tradition.
The movie explores the secrets of voodoo and the myth behind bringing the dead back to life with elements of the classic zombie flicks like "White Zombie" to it, Pullman does great acting in this movie before he was the president in "Independence Day" and during the time he was Lonestarr in "Spaceballs".The movie has some intense memorable moments like the cringe worthy "I wanna make you scream" sequence guaranteed to make a man flinch, OK make-up effects and there's also a good storyline to the movie.
While Romero's "Dead" Trilogy is certainly the most chilling and the most captivating, other films in the genre have been very good competitors, such as "Return of the Living Dead," "Zombie," and "Night of the Creeps." While "The Serpent and the Rainbow" seems promising enough to be among such entries in the genre, it fails due to reasons that could have easily been avoided.After setting up the scenes for a great start, it sinks into a series of pointless--and predictable-- scenes.
As a result, "Serpent" is almost a miss, and it is worth watching only to see Bill Pullman's excellent performance and the few gripping scenes featuring the bizzare zombiefication rituals.However, this film has one more redeeming quality: as I have said, I haven't seen a zombie film that hasn't made me cringe, no matter how stupid I thought it was.
Wes Craven's cult classic horror zombie film The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) is one of his best films in my opinion!
Based on the true life experiences of Wade Davis and filmed on location in Haiti, it's a frightening excursion into black magic and the supernatural.The movie has a great creepy score from Brad Fiedel, it has a wonderful performance by Bill Pullman, he really showed that he can do a dramatic role.
- Wes Craven (1939 - 2015) I really miss you and thank you for all the Freddy movies, thank you for all horror franchise and movies like are: A Nightmare on Elm Street, New Nightmare, Scream, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Shocker and The People Under the Stairs.
The Serpent and the Rainbow is a 1988 American horror film directed by Wes Craven and starring Bill Pullman.
The script by Richard Maxwell and Adam Rodman is loosely based on the non-fiction book of the same name by ethnobotanist Wade Davis, wherein Davis recounted his experiences in Haiti investigating the story of Clairvius Narcisse, who was allegedly poisoned, buried alive, and revived with a herbal brew which produced what was called a zombie.8/10 Grade: B+ Studio: Universal Pictures Starring: Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson, Zakes Mokae, Paul Winfield, Brent Jennings, Conrad Roberts, Aleta Mitchell, Badja Djola, Theresa Merritt Director: Wes Craven Producers: Doug Claybourne, David Ladd Writers: Richard Maxwell, Adam Rodman Based on The Serpent and the Rainbow by Wade Davis Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 38 Mins.
Although I must say that the battle at the end is a tad over the top, but I'm not cynical enough to let that change my positive review too much.Bill Pullman's lead character is a kind of geekier Indiana Jones, and as much as I say 'geekier' he is still able to scrap with the best of them - he has no hesitation when it comes to smashing someone over the head with a bottle certainly.In short this is a well-worked adventure story with subtle, creeping horror themes running throughout it - put down that slasher film and watch this..
Editing: 9/10 (Academy Award winner Glenn Farr keeps us on our toes) Acting: 7/10 (Bill Pullman and Zakes Mokae do a great job in their parts) Dialogue: 7/10 (The screenplay was well drawn out, for the most part) Sound: 6/10 (Works well enough to please the audience) Effects: 10/10 (Some genuinely creepy looking corpses will keep you watching) Art Direction: 7/10 (One of David Brisbin's more memorable achievements) Costumes: 8/10 (Peter Mitchell's vision suits the film and the actors) Music and/or Score: 6/10 (Brad Fiedel provides enough to satisfy)Total Score: 75/100On release it was competing with The Blob, Child's Play and Critters 2.
I wanted to watch this basically just because it was a Wes Craven film I hadn't seen, but it really went far beyond my expectations.I always thought Voodo are the perfect theme for a horror movie.
of course like all American movies they have exaggerated a bit for the showmanship, but many of the rituals were performed by real Voodo priests.The tag-line "Don't bury me, I'm not dead" may sound a little corny, but any horror fan would grad this film off the shelf and buy it when they read it.
However, since I'm rating the movie as a whole, it must be noted that there are some scenes that are extremely creepy (especially the freaky dreams that the main character keeps experiencing) and the whole Voodoo culture in Haiti is the perfect setting for this type of film.
Ever since George Romero's horror classic Night of the Living Dead, the word zombie has been synonymous with the image of a shambling reanimated corpse with a hunger for human flesh (or braaainnnsss!); few films have delved into the real phenomenon of the Haitian voodoo zombie, making Wes Craven's The Serpent and The Rainbow an all the more unusual and engrossing film.Set in Haiti during the oppressive regime of "Baby Doc" Duvalier, the film sees Captain Peytraud (Zakes Mokae) of the Tonton Macoute (the island's secret police) using voodoo practises to control political radicals; through the inhalation of a special powder, his enemies are reduced to a state of living death, only to awaken hours later to find themselves buried alive.When anthropologist Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman) is hired to locate a sample of the powder, which might prove useful as an anaesthetic, he finds himself immersed in a world of bizarre rituals, horrific hallucinations, and very real terror at the hands of Peytraud, who will do anything to protect the secret of his power.Craven clearly has a very real interest in his subject matter and his eye for detail when recording the bizarre rituals and voodoo practises of Haiti give his film an almost documentary feel at times; at the same time, he doesn't miss an opportunity to exercise his more creative muscles, the film boasting several of his impressive trademark nightmare sequences.
A Harvard anthropologist Dennis Allen is sent to Haiti to retrieve a strange powder that is said to have the power to bring human beings back from the dead.In his quest to find the miracle drug,our heroic scientist enters the rarely seen netherworld of walking corpses,blood rites and ancient curses."The Serpent and the Rainbow" is actually one of the better horror films directed by Wes Craven.It's based on the true life experiences of Wade Davis and filmed on location in Haiti.The script is pretty good and there are some truly creepy moments.The cinematography is gorgeous and the score is excellent.So if you're a fan of Wes Craven's horror films give this one a look.It is certainly better than "Deadly Friend","Shocker" and "Swamp Thing".7 out of 10..
It does indeed provoke more thought than the average horror film (but then so do most movies), and it does have some truly great surreal imagery.The fact that it purports to be based on a true story, should go without comment.
While I've never read Wade Davis' book, I'm betting it bears little in common with this movie.What we have here, ultimately is a dated horror film, that is probably not as thought provoking as it once seemed (the works of Ken Russel and David Cronenberg have since seen much more widespread exposure, and have plumbed such depths to greater effect) nor as surrealistic (again others, most notably David Lynch, have far exceeded this), but nevertheless, sometimes eerily effective.It's most notable elements indeed are not those of horror imagery, nor certainly not the paper thin plot that manages to stutter along, but in the bits of history - the search for the truth behind zombies and the repressive regime that was the Duvalier government - which I kept wishing were more integrated into the overall conflict.Still, it remains along with 'White Zombie', among the best films dealing with the subject of Voodoo.
This is really a big miss film from Craven.Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman ) a researcher out of Harvard goes to Haiti to tackle the mystery of a zombie legend and also a type of drug that might be connected.
Pullman makes this movie somewhat bearable along with some rather different zombies.I think this is a case where Craven basically had a couple of random ideas and put them together and called it a film.
The movie starts off a bit roughly, then takes on a nice pace and settles in, delivers its plot and introduces the various characters, all the while showing life in Haiti, some of the cultural aspects there.It should be said Zakes Mokae, the 'bad guy', puts in a fabulous performance.Other than that, the ending ruins so much of the potential the whole film may've been driving towards, there's not much commentary to be made really.
Horror director Wes Craven explores that particular subject in his 1988 movie, "The Serpent and the Rainbow".
A Lesser Known Wes Craven Film, But not a Bad One. A researcher (Bill Pullman) goes to Haiti in order to find a "zombie drug" that can give someone the appearance of death, when in actuality their body is at its lowest functioning.
The script found its way to Wes Craven, and Bill Pullman (at that point a young rising star) was given the lead.Author Wade Davis was on set from the very beginning and wanted to make the best film he could regardless of who the director would be.
Though Allen hopes to use the drug for the good of the medicine world and in trying to find this drug he becomes caught up in this voodoo magic and blood rites.The set-up for this film is quite original and an inventive look into the macabre underworld by director Wes Craven (Nightmare on Elm street, The Hills have eyes).
First, the 'true story' that this film is based on is the story of Wade Davis, who traveled to Haiti much like Bill Pullman in this film, and found the secret formula for making zombies.
Interesting work from director Wes Craven and also recommended for those who like their zombie films  la George A.
Loosely based on the non-fiction book by the ethnobotanist Wade Davis, "The Serpent and the Rainbow" started production as a realistic approach on the author's investigation in Haiti about a drug used in the Voodoo religion to create zombies.Davis wanted Aussie director Peter Weir to direct and his then favorite leading actor, Mel Gibson to portray him on screen, but after the duo lost interest, the project was delivered to the "master of schlock", Wes Craven due to his work in the dreamlike movies such as "Deadly Blessing", "Deadly Friend" and his most well-known "A Nightmare on Elm Street".
Craven brought in all his bizarre imagination, surreal sets & gruesome scenes, but with him on the helm the movie started itself to distance from the realism of a, supposedly, true story.Visually, "The Serpent and the Rainbow" is craftsmanship at its best for a movie of this peculiar genre: the locations were perfectly spotted so as the hundreds of extras selected and the engaging cinematography by John Lindley gave it a sweaty, gritty & hypnotic feel, in the vein of what Michael Seresin did for Alan Parker's "Angel Heart" a year before.The screenplay have its flaws, it may be too confusing for a viewer at a first watch and like Craven's own direction, it tried to achieve in so many genres: the 'serious' drama / suspense movie; an unrealistic popcorn horror film (such as "A Nightmare on Elm Street") or a revolution / war drama (such as Weir's "The Year of Living Dangerously") that the end result is a bit messy.The pace is uneven and the plot is slow to develop and the editing even if it isn't the best, it's still passable.Bill Pullman for the central role of Dennis Alan (an alias for the author Wade Davis) was an odd choice, he isn't that great of an actor and lacks charisma to carry a movie on his shoulders and his clean looks, boy scout smile and fragile appearance of a townsman did not contrast well with the "Indiana Jones" adventurer, skilled in Jungle methods of survival and in establishing contact with lost tribes that his character required.
Directed by Wes Craven and inspired by the real events detailed in Wade Davis' book of the same title, The Serpent And The Rainbow presents a look at the real-life "zombie" phenomenon with dashes of horror added to it.Note that I used the word "inspired" above.
Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson, Zakes Mokae, Paul Winfield and Brent Jennings star in Wes Craven's 1988 horror film based on the book.
Anthropologist Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman) goes to Haiti to find how supposedly dead people are coming back to life as zombies.