Year: 1998

Duration: 01:38:00

Directed by: Wes Craven

Actors:  Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson and Zakes Mokae

Language: English

Country: USA

Also known as: La serpiente y el arcoiris, Die Schlange im Regenbogen, A Maldição dos Mortos-Vivos, The Wes Craven’s Serpent and the Rainbow, L’emprise des ténèbres

Description: The film Serpent and the Rainbow is based on real events that took place with the scientist Wade Davis. Dennis Alan, an anthropologist at Harvard University, sent home a black magic voodoo – the island of Haiti, to find the place of manufacture of the strange powder.

Local legend has it that this powder is able to return to life the dead. On the island of Alan to face with a terrible science, the history of which goes back centuries, science, subverts all human conceptions of life and death.

Filmed by the famous Wes Craven, the movie maker of Deadly Blessing and Shocker

Review: American critic Leonard Moltin responded rather tartly about this picture: “Ambitious (by the standards of Craven), but has not received a thriller about a genuine anthropological studies of the phenomena of black magic and voodoo in Haiti.” However, the documentary book by Wade Davis suffered the inevitable fictionalization, and the scientist turned into a hero by the name of Dennis Alan, who is faced with the terrible facts “zombification” (as defined in the handbook “he Muviz Tee Vee End videotape”). However, the style of “The Chronicles of Nightmares” (as before – snovidencheskaya structure of the famous “Nightmare on Elm Street”), Wes Craven has brought new success.

In fact, before there was a special deficit in strips about zombies or shamanic cults, but Craven, a talented master of his craft, offered an unexpected turn – to update fiction, a full visibility of the reality of what is happening (if we consider that in actual cases have been for beauty and eeriness of the atmosphere, probably added too and made-up stories). Political background experiments doctor reviver Darzhana Petro-time – the leader of the local “death squad”, would have been unnecessary in the usual horror movie. A director of “Snakes and the rainbow” is not in vain went to the dangerous shooting under a dictatorial regime in Haiti, the necessary calculations, that the authenticity of the background work on the effect of a more impressive perception as to the documented horrors that are happening on this Caribbean island.

Review #2: The film “The Serpent and the Rainbow” is not quite a typical example of zombie horror, which by that time was widespread and consisted of a huge amount of dissimilar jobs. However, Craven chose to make a film emphasizing the viewer is not directly on the rituals and ways of raising the dead. The result was the work of a very good and interesting, somewhat reminiscent of a documentary chronicling or in its style.

Risking their own safety crew went to Haiti – home of Voodoo, where some of the seething social unrest, but a little later the whole team had to migrate to the Dominican Republic. But this fact does not prevent a very high quality and atmospheric horror movie with plenty of suspense. In general, this all certainly contributed to a significant budget, which later paid off.

The film Serpent and the Rainbow is about a scientist Dennis Alan, went to Haiti, how to find out the secret of making a certain powder that can raise the dead and turn them into zombies. However, our hero did not even suspect that he will meet with the sinister sorcerer – Dorzhanom Petro, who is also the chief of the secret police and. In general, the balance of events is not in favor of Dennis, but that no matter what dangers decides to ferret out the mysterious powder formula.

It should be noted that the whole subject of the picture is developed against the background of an approaching people’s revolution. Therefore, the “Serpent and the Rainbow” is also quite clear political overtones, which is certainly a plus. Kills in the film is not much, but it’s not just his spoils. This fact is compensated by a variety of sinister scenes of dreams and visions of the protagonist.

Actors played at the proper level, revealing images of his heroes. Bill Pullman (who also played in a popular mainstream movie Brokedown Palace) looks great in the picture as the main character – a scientist. A Zakes Moca, who played the main villain, has created a very bright and charismatic image of a sinister sorcerer. Musical accompaniment film, now a rarity, it turned out pretty well not bad, under a whole picture.

Bottom line: a good film, mandatory viewing for every fan of horror, has political implications, it is rare for such pictures.

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The Serpent and the Rainbow