Deadly Blessing

A prototypical Friday the Elm Street sort of thing, but even worse, and takes place among the Amish. Give this one a mish.

An interesting mess. Craven has problems settling on a style. Is it a slasher? A psychological thriller? A supernatural tale? Studio interference is responsible for the puzzling ending, which drastically undercuts previous events, but there is a schizophrenic tone that is never resolved. Stone isn't bad in an early role and Borgnine is terrifically hammy, but there is a constant sense that it's torn in too many directions to really work, despite its novel Amish setting.

Most WTF slasher. Craven knows how to pull the carpet when it comes to creating horror narratives - barn attack, red milk, snake attack on tub, shot at paint can all make the case for great scenes. While the twist doesn't actually click - we already know the amish couldn't be that violent and that the mom and daughter neighbors seem weird -, Craven creates a near-perfect silent, furtive killer who moves and attacks like death. That Incubus appearance in the end just make this even more curious.

Even the killer Amish are painfully dull! There are some good ideas here but it's mostly filmed like an episode of Little House on the Prairie that's trying to get the series cancelled.

Came in expecting a Wes Craven slasher but got more of a thriller, albeit a lukewarm one missing direction. Nice to see a rural setting with mostly (pretty and strong) female characters, including a surprising early Sharon Stone. Craven's always good with setting up memorable scenes (paint can, snake, barn drop, final pit drag). refreshing to see Berrman in a non-villain role. Fav scene: driving away from ignited gasoline.

Why is this movie so underrated? Yes, plot twist was meaningless and unbelievable. I don't know what's point of the final scene either. Yet it must have been an inspiration for Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell. Also, I really enjoyed how the film created haunted atmosphere using religion.

One of Craven's most underrated films. This won't ever win any awards for logic but *does* have some truly haunting visual touches, a lush _Omen_-esque score by James Horner, bodacious babes aplenty, and a ludicrous shock ending you have to see to appreciate.

Definitely not as bad as Criticker thought I'd find it. It is flawed, sure, but decent enough to hold the attention. The cast is okay - Borgnine is pretty good as the leader of the incubus-obsessed Hittites (were they from what is now Turkey?). The plot goes off in a couple of unexpected directions towards the end, and there are a couple of decent scenes (a couple that we'd see referenced in Craven's later work). It has a TV-movie feel, however, and is a bit confused. It's alright.

This was a pleasant surprise. For some reason this early Wes Craven film is quite unknown and underrated. It's biggest fault is trying to squeeze too many elements into one film; it's partly a slasher, partly rural vs. city and also an devil/incubus horror. There are some very effective scenes, and it's rare to have so many important female characters in a horror film. The cast is solid too; Borgnine is charismatic as the cult leader and even Sharon Stone fits her role well enough.

56.

Veers between craptastic and really sold, with some moments that are better than the material. Kind of a dress run for Craven's later, more focused movies.

It has some solid horror set pieces, f.e. the scene with a snake in the bathtub, which make it worth watching. But the overall movie is uneven, unsure of what it wants to be, and lackluster.

43.000

Benção Mortal estreava há 40 anos nos EUA. Ele até que não estava ruim, mas os últimos 10 minutos são terríveis. Box OP Wes Craven.

The summary is wrong. The film is set in Hittite country, who according to the dialog in the film "make the Amish look like swingers". The ending is ludicrous, but Sam Raimi used it to better effect in Take Me To Hell.

43.500

On the fine line of Boredom Kingdom.

Bad Movie