The Serpent and the Rainbow (film)
The Serpent and the Rainbow | |
---|---|
Universal Pictures | |
Release date |
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Running time | 98 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $7 million |
Box office | $19.6 million |
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.
Plot
In 1978, a Haitian man named Christophe mysteriously dies in a French missionary clinic, while a voodoo parade marches past his window. The next morning, Christophe is buried in a traditional Catholic funeral. A mysterious man dressed in a suit who was outside Christophe's hospital window on the night he died is in attendance. As the coffin is lowered into the ground, Christophe's eyes open and tears roll down his cheeks.
Seven years later,
Back in Boston, Alan is approached by a pharmaceutical company looking to investigate a drug used in Haitian Vodou to create zombies. The company wants Alan to acquire the drug for use as a "super anesthetic". The corporation provides Alan with funding and sends him to Haiti, which is in the middle of a revolution. Alan's exploration in Haiti, assisted by Dr. Marielle Duchamp, locates Christophe who is alive after having been buried seven years earlier. Alan is taken into custody, and the commander of the Tonton Macoute, Captain Dargent Peytraud—the same man from Christophe's funeral and Alan's vision in the Amazon—warns Alan to leave Haiti.
Continuing his investigation, Alan finds a local man, Mozart, who is reported to have knowledge of the procedure for creating the zombie drug. Alan pays Mozart for a sample, but Mozart sells him rat poison instead. After embarrassing Mozart in public, Alan persuades Mozart to show Alan how to produce the drug for a fee of $1,000. Alan is arrested again by the Tonton Macoutes, and tortured by having a nail driven through his scrotum, and then dumped on a street with the message that he must leave Haiti or be killed. Alan again refuses to leave and meets with Mozart to create the drug.
Alan has a nightmare of Peytraud, revealed to be a 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 decapitated. The Tonton Macoutes enter, take photos, and frame Alan for murder. Peytraud tells Alan to leave the country and never return, lest he be convicted of the murder, executed, and then his soul stolen by Peytraud. Peytraud puts Alan on a US bound plane, but Mozart sneaks on board and gives Alan the zombie drug. Mozart 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. Alan returns to Haiti, where his only ally, a
Having escaped Peytraud's trap, Alan returns to the Tonton Macoute headquarters looking for Marielle. There, Alan defeats Peytraud through a battle of wills, using Celine's white magic to drive a nail into Peytraud's groin, and sends his soul to hell. As the Haitian people celebrate the downfall of Jean-Claude Duvalier, Marielle proclaims "The nightmare is over".
Cast
- Bill Pullman as Dr. Dennis Alan
- Cathy Tyson as Dr. Marielle Duchamp
- Zakes Mokae as Dargent Peytraud
- Paul Winfield as Lucien Celine
- Brent Jennings as Louis Mozart
- Conrad Roberts as Christophe Durand
- Aleta Mitchell as Celestine Durand
- Badja Djola as Lieutenant Gaston
- Michael Gough as Dr. Earl "Schoonie" Schoonbacher
- Paul Guilfoyle as Dr. Andrew Cassedy
- Dey Young as Deborah Cassedy
- Luis Tavare Pesquera as Kyle Cassedy
- William Newman as French Missionary Doctor
- Francis Guinan as American Doctor
- Jaime Pina Gautier as Julio, Dennis' Helicopter Pilot
- Philogen Thomas as Priest
- Evencio Mosquera Slaco as Old Shaman
Production
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The Serpent and the Rainbow was filmed in
During production in Haiti, the local government informed the cast and crew that they could not guarantee their safety for the remainder of the film's shoot because of the political strife and civil turmoil that was occurring during that time; as a result, production was relocated to the Dominican Republic for the remainder of the shoot.Release
Rating
In an interview, Craven stated that unlike his previous films that had problems with the
Box office
The Serpent and the Rainbow was released theatrically in the United States by
Critical reception
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2019) |
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Serpent and the Rainbow holds an approval rating of 62%, based on 37 reviews, and an average rating of 5.7/10. Its consensus reads, "Although it's occasionally overwhelmed by excessive special effects, The Serpent and the Rainbow draws on a chilling atmosphere to deliver [an] intelligent, politically informed story."[5] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[6]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the movie three stars out of a possible four, praising Pullman's performance and the "stunning" visuals, while also noting The Serpent and the Rainbow seemed to take Haitain voodoo more seriously as a religion and cultural force than most horror movies with similar themes, which merely use voodoo as a "gimmick".[7]
Home media
The film was first released on
See also
References
- ^ "The Serpent and the Rainbow (18)". British Board of Film Classification. March 22, 1988. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
- ^ "The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) – Filming Locations". IMDb.com. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
- ^ Andrew, Robyn (September 18, 2015). "Wes Craven – Dreaming Up Nightmares That Will Last Forever". Cryptic Rock. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
- ^ "The Serpent and the Rainbow". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved April 13, 2011.
- ^ "The Serpent and the Rainbow (1987) – Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Fandango Media. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
- CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
- ^ "The Serpent and the Rainbow movie review (1988) | Roger Ebert".
- ^ "The Serpent and the Rainbow (DVD)". dvdempire.com. Retrieved April 13, 2011.
- ^ "The Serpent and the Rainbow (DVD)". dvdempire.com. Retrieved April 13, 2011.
External links
- The Serpent and the Rainbow at IMDb
- The Serpent and the Rainbow at the TCM Movie Database
- The Serpent and the Rainbow at Letterboxd
- The Serpent and the Rainbow at AllMovie
- The Serpent and the Rainbow at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Serpent and the Rainbow at Box Office Mojo
- Zombie Powder Archived December 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine