Other Titles • The Serpent and the Rainbow • Die Schlange im Regenbogen (1988) • Die Schlange und der Regenbogen (1988)
Synopses for The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
1.
Don't bury me...I'm not dead!
Director Wes Craven explores the black magic and voodoo of Haiti in this atmospheric chiller based on a real-life story. Starring Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson and Paul Winfield.
A Harvard anthropologist is sent to Haiti to retrieve a strange powder that is said to have the power to bring human beings back from the dead. In his quest to find the miracle drug, the cynical scientist enters the rarely seen netherworld of walking zombies, blood rites and ancient curses..
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(20 votes)
2.
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.
(19 votes)
3.
Dennis Allan is an scientist who visits Haiti on the strength of a rumour of a drug which renders the recepient totally paralyzed but conscious. The drug's effects often fool doctors, who declare the victims dead. Could this be the origin of the "zombie" legend? Alan embarks on a surprising and often surreal investigation of the turbulent social chaos that is Haiti during the revolution which ousted hated dictator Papa Doc. Often a pawn in a greater game, Alan must decide what is science, what is superstition, and what is the unknown in a anarchistic society where police corruption and witch-doctory are commonplace.
(19 votes)
4.
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
(18 votes)
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