Despite the strongly emphasized exoticness its Haitian scenery, The Serpent and the Rainbow may be Wes Craven's most pedestrian film.
The Serpent and the Rainbow (1987)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 27
Fresh: 16
Rotten:11
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Synopsis: Dennis Alan heads to Haiti in hopes of obtaining a mysterious potion that represses the nervous and respiratory systems without causing death; this draught would also scientifically explain the... Dennis Alan heads to Haiti in hopes of obtaining a mysterious potion that represses the nervous and respiratory systems without causing death; this draught would also scientifically explain the myth of the zombie. Once on Caribbean soil, however, Alan encounters powerful cults, government corruption and a poverty-stricken populace ready to revolt -- and he finds himself deeply seduced by voodoo, though his sense of logic cannot comprehend its mystical nature. But more earthly dangers lurk in the form of an evil magistrate and the local police, who do not hesitate to torture Alan when he defies their leader. In the end, Alan emerges from the experience radically changed, with the realization that Western notions of science cannot explain the many things he's witnessed in this world. [More]
Starring: Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson, Zakes Mokae, Paul Winfield
Starring: Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson, Zakes Mokae, Paul Winfield
Director: Wes Craven
Director: Wes Craven
Story: Wade Davis
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Reviews for The Serpent and the Rainbow
Craven combines the terrifying dream sequences of A Nightmare on Elm Street with the subtle and evocative atmospherics of Val Lewton.
Unfortunately, the political parallel between the ideological repression of Baby Doc's regime and the stultifying effects of the zombifying fluid is only sketchily developed, leaving us with a series of striking but isolated set pieces.
The Serpent and the Rainbow has a screenplay that often breaks its spell.
Director Wes Craven learned that the scariest things often have nothing to do with special effects wizardry.
An invisibly smart film, a lot brighter underneath than its surface gloss would suggest.
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