Review of The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) by Jonalyn B — 10 Oct 2017

Wes Craven directs more of a political-horror flick.

Bill Pullman plays an ethnobotanist tasked with finding out the properties of a powder in Haiti that can apparently bring the dead back to life.

Yet he remains very skeptical determined to disprove its effects.

During his time in Haiti it's being overrun by a corrupt politician dividing the country itself.

The further he goes down to find out the truth the deadlier it gets as he starts having nightmares about the voodoo magic being practiced.

The dream sequences are effectively creepy, being trapped in a foreign land works to this film's advantage, and of course there's a memorable torture scene showing the horrors of corruption.

Death is never the end and perhaps there are worse fates than it.

And given the fact this is based on a true story and a book this so-called miracle has yet to be proven as scientific fact.

But the viewer can decide for themselves if something like this exists altering the boundary between life and death.

Not very scary but Craven sets this apart from his other works going outside his usual range.