The Serpent And The Rainbow
by Wes Craven
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DVD details
Actor: Bill Pullman, Brent Jennings, Cathy Tyson, Paul Winfield, Zakes MokaeDirector: Wes Craven
Brand: UNI DIST CORP. (MCA)
Producer: David Ladd
Producer: Doug Claybourne
Producer: Keith Barish
Producer: Rob Cohen
Writer: Adam Rodman
Writer: Richard Maxwell
Writer: Wade Davis
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); French (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-09-23
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of The Serpent And The Rainbow
DVD Review: Better in the darkness with surround...
Summary: 5 Stars
The serpent and the rainbow, maybe the best cult horror movie for me, except the end, when special effects saturate the story, but it is based in a true story, very good script, acting, direction, and feelings... if you want the best response on you, have to watch it in the darknes with home theather, you will feel the same as the caracters... breath, breath...DVD Review: Great Movie, Not A Documentry
Summary: 4 Stars
Most people (Wade Davis included) whine about how unrealistic and bigoted the portrayal of the Vodun religon is.
There's one detail they leave out. ITS JUST A MOVIE. Not a documentary. It was made by Wes Craven for god's sake. It's supposed to be a horror movie, and that it is. And a damn good one I might add. It's really rehash of western urban myths of the voodoo religion, sprinkled with bits of the actual beliefs, but not a full scope.
Though the movie doesn't come close to the truth. It's not supposed to. It has a stable and provacative story, And derserves a watch for anyone who has an interest in the occult. Just remember yeah, none of it's real. But look at it this way. To the Hatians this stuff is VERY real. I've even spoken with hatians who praise the movie close to their beliefs, but were off on (many) things.
Anyone who is up for a scare, or a good story concerning poltical unrest, and black magic? Watch th movie.
Want the pure scientific facts? Read the book or go to Hati and find a Houngan, (but avoid Bokor)
DVD Review: Beetle's review
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been to Haiti a number of times in the last 8 years. This movie is fascinating mostly because it is very believable. The fact is that Voodoo is an integral part of Haitian society and culture. It is present everywhere and at all times, you just need to look around to see it.
The movie is a "thriller", "horror" and just plain scary film that is very believable once you have seen the "real" location. I recommend this film to anyone who is interested in the "real" World around us, much like HOTEL RWANDA was an excellent depiction of the realities of man's inhumanity to man.
DVD Review: Nothing special here...
Summary: 2 Stars
Loosely based on a true account, The Serpent and the Rainbow tells the tale of an anthropologist who is sent to Haiti to retrieve the famed "zombie powder", a drug that can render the user paralyzed but conscious that the US intends to use as an alternative to anasthesia. In his search for the witch doctor that creates the legendary powder, he becomes entangled in the times of political uproar that lead to the overthrow of Haiti's cruel dictator.
Many turn their noses up at The Serpent and the Rainbow because it is not faithful to the book of the same name. If you, like myself, don't read and simply want to watch a decent movie, this is still a bad choice. The storyline starts off on a fairly straight forward foot. Anthropologist wants the powder, dictator wants him out of the country and isn't afraid to show force to prove it, tension is building, etc. However as the movie progresses it continually devolves into a bloated, confusing bore with a few cheap scares thrown in until you finally hit the ridiculous special effects extravaganza ending. It's safe to say some of the original story's integrity was compromised here for the sake of making a scary or exciting movie, which it is neither.
In its defense, the movie does have a foreboding atmosphere that's actually authentic having actually been filmed in Haiti, but it's really not enough to make up for the rest. As mentioned, The Serpent and the Rainbow is drawn out, boring, confusing, and leaves you with a bad feeling upon completion of viewing. A safe one to skip for Wes Craven and horror fans alike.
DVD Review: Craven's best film....
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my favorite Wes Craven film, a very scary and intelligent film based on a factual account. Many of Craven's films (especially his early ones) have had either bad acting, poor production values, but have all had a creepy, scary quality to them that is impossible to shake. This film has very good acting, incredible atmosphere (it's shot on location in Haiti), and incredible tension. Craven doesn't go for cheap laughs here. He takes his subject very seriously, and doesn't make light of it. There's no self consciousness or the self referentialness of his latter Scream movies. Craven has said that strange phenomena happened during the shooting of this film to those in the crew who mocked the idea of the native religion, but Craven respected it deeply and nothing unique happened to him. I've always had mixed feelings about Craven, liking this film, liking some others (Last House on the Left, the original The Hills Have Eyes), and hating others (I was never a fan of the Nightmare on Elm Street, and I hate self referential films like Scream in general, but Craven didn't write the script). This is one of his best films, and the one I like the most.
Description of The Serpent And The Rainbow
A DRUG COMPANY SENDS A HARVARD ANTHROPOLOGIST TO HAITI FORVOODOO ZOMBIE POWDER.Eight years before he scored a phenomenal hit with Scream, horror master Wes Craven made a worthy effort to "legitimize" horror with this chilling supernatural thriller, based on the best-selling book by Wade Davis. More ambitious than most horror films, this one allowed Craven to generate compelling plausibility with the fact-based story of a Harvard researcher (Bill Pullman) who travels to Haiti to procure a secret voodoo powder that places people into a state of simulated death. His investigation into the hidden world of black magic grows increasingly dangerous until he's caught in a living nightmare--a potentially deadly predicament that inspired the film's advertising tag line: "Don't bury me... I'm not dead!" Craven pays particular attention to authentic details of Haitian society and the role voodoo plays in Haitian culture, and the film gains additional atmosphere from location shooting in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Craven would, of course, continue to thrive by making more "conventional" horror films including Scream, but this remains a fascinating departure for one of the genre's most celebrated directors. - -Jeff Shannon
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