The Serpent & The Rainbow Review

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Based on the true accounts in the book written by Wade Davis, The Serpent And The Rainbow is a dark and powerfully magical movie.

Movie: The Serpent And The Rainbow
Director: Wes Craven
Year Of Release: 1987
Cast: Bill Pullman
Cathy Tyson
Zakes Mokae
Paul Windfield
Brent Jennings
Conrad Roberts
Michael Gough
Theresa Merritt
Paul Guilfoyle
Dey Young
Badja Djola
Aleta Mitchell.

Based on the true accounts in the book written by Wade Davis, The Serpent And The Rainbow is a dark and powerfully magical movie.

It is about a Harvard anthropologist who is sent to Haiti and to retrieve (by any means necessary) a powder that allegedly raises the dead. Well our cynical scientist friend scoffs at the idea and basically laughs in the face of the governor (who just turns out to be a witch doctor/voodoo priest of sorts). He messes with them and they mess back. I will not give away any more than that.

This movie was actually filmed in Haiti, which gives it a far more natural and evil atmosphere feel. Also this movie is mainly about the magic behind voodooisim and the black (not being racist, I mean the evil side of things) cult. The zombies do not eat brains, nor do they break open doors and walls in shambling masses to devour all in sight. They are just mindless slaves, used purely for example of he power that is the voodoo priest, and as prisoners of the soul and body, even after death. One zombie even remembers his name, some of his past, how he died and even people that he has meet, before and after death. But he is still very much a mindless, walking zombie that stalks the local graveyard by night.

We actually get to see how the zombie powder is made, it is a long, tedious and painstaking process. It is both evil and disrespectful to the dead.

Verdict: This movie is great, but if you are looking for a horde of mindless flesh eaters devouring the innocent, look the other way, this is not what you are looking for.