The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
An anthropologist goes to Haiti after hearing rumors about a drug used by black magic practitioners to turn people in zombies. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Wes Craven
Written By: Wade Davis, Richard Maxwell, Adam Rodman
Starring: Bill Pullman, Michael Gough, Paul Winfield, Paul Guilfoyle, Brent Jennings, Zakes Mokae, Dey Young, Badja Djola, Theresa Merritt, Cathy Tyson, Conrad Roberts, Aleta Mitchell
Country: USA
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The Serpent and the Rainbow belongs to 20 collections
1. Based on a Book (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 24 stars)
2. Voodoo (collaborative: moderated by Moribunny - 2 stars)
3. Drugs (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 16 stars)
4. retroCRUSH 100 Scariest Movie Scenes (collaborative: moderated by somnivore - 4 stars)
5. Dream/Fantasy/Hallucination Sequence (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 4 stars)
6. Dark Arts (collaborative - 3 stars)
7. 4: Interesting (public: KasperL - 2 stars)
8. People Buried Alive (collaborative: moderated by td888)
9. 1988: Year in Review (public: polanski28)
10. mwgerb's Netflix Instant Queue (public: mwgerb - 2 stars)
11. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 35 (public: PeaceAnarchy)
12. Moviedrome: Alex Cox (collaborative: moderated by Ag0stoMesmer - 1 star)
13. 500 essential cult films (not seen) (public: cayh - 5 stars)
14. Occult (collaborative: moderated by mattburgess - 8 stars)
15. Zombies (collaborative: moderated by ForrestQ - 3 stars)
16. Capsules, guest reviews, list candidates... (366weirdmovies) (collaborative: moderated by sesito71 - 5 stars)
17. Castration (collaborative: moderated by chronoos)
18. Folk Horror (collaborative: moderated by BeeDub - 8 stars)
19. -Added to Watchlists (public: KasperL)
20. Assombrado.com (public: Jobs-Bronson)
Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 6 |  |
Paxton | 74 75th |
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"All of us under its spell. We know that it's probably magic. Have you been half asleep and have you heard voices? I've heard them calling my name." "I've heard it too many times to ignore it. It's something that I'm supposed to be." - not Bill Pullman fearful about being buried alive as a victim of local Voodoo. It's actually Kermit the Frog singing Rainbow Connection. So there's that.
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| 3 |  |
BillyShears | 65 42nd |
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Lonestar gets a nail in his dick. The end.
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| 3 |  |
moraesfelipe | 80 85th |
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Craven uses Walked to make his living dead. As this fearless scholar goes deep into Haiti - all sorts of rituals and ceremonies - to find zombie powder for corporate - and, who knows, medical use - interest, we watch a spiritual and political battle in a country in turmoil - Duvaliers about to flee - and in the mind of the American visitor - in a way, he's the menace. Beautiful make-up - zombie taking his head off, chair taking the villain to hell. Some of the best nightmarish dream sequences.
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| 1 |  |
TheDenizen | 55 32nd |
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Bill Pullman gets his sack nailed to a chair by voodoo practitioners when he goes to Haiti to investigate zombies. Cheesy and forgettable.
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| 1 |  |
TheDiceman | 50 35th |
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Not bad.
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| 1 |  |
nilkynarfy | 70 61st |
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I actually liked this movie a lot. Neat locations, creepy plot which doesn't stray too far into horror movie territory, decent acting from Bill Pullman. Silly, but still worth a few viewings.
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| 1 |  |
Cianeto | 81 39th |
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Great zombie story that actually works for the story and ambience. It's a shame that Craven uses some Marvel Comics like special effects for the ending - it would work better if it remained on a more sobber level.
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| 1 |  |
martryn | 64 36th |
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Ok, I have to admit, I'm sorta guessing on this one based on the fact I saw this in the early 90's when I was barely a teenager, but I do remember being really fucking creeped out by it, and the movie was genuinely scary. Course, I thought, for some reason, that Scott Bakula from Quantum Leap was the star. He and Bill Pullman look nothing alike, though, so that's kinda fucked up.
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| 1 |  |
Mentaculus | 68 48th |
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This is a film where the political elements are just as frightening and claustrophpbic (perhaps even more so) than the shock/scare moments in the rest of the film. A wonderful entry into the zombie genre, with atmosphere to spare. Two plot elements bog this film lower than it should: 1) personally, for a movie about religion and Catholicism/mysticism, it is Godless; 2) the false/second ending really destroys the emotional resonance and contributes to point number 1.
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| 1 |  |
sophie | 70 56th |
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I really liked the whole atmosphere in this movie, it just feels kinda right. Reminded me a lot of Gabriel Knight at some points :) It also has its scary moments and I really enjoyed most of it, like, everything right up to the last 20 minutes or so, it got pretty silly and absurd.
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| 1 | pompousass | 20 44th |
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Not, as the title may have led you to suppose, an ingenious blend of two novels by D.H. Lawrence. With the added historical-political dimension of Baby Doc Duvalier and the Ton-Ton Macoute, this is a bit of a stretch for Craven, and he comes up a bit short, most embarrassingly whenever a two-fisted Harvard professor has to step in and take charge of the Indiana Jonesian heroics.
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| 1 |  |
tinysausage | 47 3rd |
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It's a shame Craven made this as a horror, the (true) story it is based on is really intriguing and would have made a great mystery thriller in good hands. The filmmaking is pretty poor - the editing and lighting in particular, but the film has a certain authenticity in mood and locations. There's also a whole white man/rationalism triumphing over black man/primitivism thing going on that I didn't like. For a good Zakes Mokae role, check Dust Devil.
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| 1 |  |
hellboy76 | 64 39th |
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I remember Bill Pullman, a nail, and a dick.
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| 1 |  |
Yiannos | 60 47th |
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A white man of 'reason' becomes lost in an otherworldly place that doesn't conform to his narrow preconceptions, much to his detriment. Craven works overtime to create a strange atmosphere that is pitched somewhere between Tournier and Friedkin (i.e. exoticism meets docu-realism), but its politics are simplistic and it descends into standard monster movie tropes in its final reel. Fortunately, the disturbing dream sequences and the buried alive scene rank amongst Craven's very best work.
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| 1 | WillyV | 78 83rd |
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Absolute horror classic. Loaded with stunning dream visuals.
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| 1 | Pickle_Man | 65 27th |
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An oddity amongst the Craven I've seen, probably because he didn't pen the script. It very much feels like a typical goofy archeological adventure flick in the vein of the Brendan Fraser Mummy, or National Treasure that somehow found its way into Craven's hands. It has some brilliant dreamy FX sequences, but the 'exoticism' of Haiti is uncomfortablely overplayed, the voice over is awful, and Pullman has about as much charisma as a shovel. Fiedel totally plagerizes his own T2 score.
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| Average Percentile 43.09% from 605 Ratings |  |