The Serpent and the Rainbow Review by Corbin Bond

          Imagine being in a world where one day a person could be declared dead and the next they are walking amongst the population like they were never buried in the first place. This is the case in Wes Craven's nightmarish film on the Horror of voodoo in The Serpent and the Rainbow. The film, which is based off of truth, is the story of Dennis, an anthropologist who has worked in the the farthest reaches of South America and other areas in search of medicinal sources to cure ailments in the United States. After surviving in the Amazon on his own, Dennis is assigned to go to Haiti to find an infamous drug capable of bringing about zombification. 
          While in Haiti, we are presented with images of 1985 Haiti in the middle of a revolution and the historical disappearance of Baby Doc. Meanwhile, we are presented with violent secret policeman who eventually arrest Dennis and brutally torture him in an unforgivable interrogation. However, the central point to this movie is the depiction of voodoo. The imagery in the film is very much a signature of Wes Craven, seeing as this follows his masterpiece, A Nightmare on Elm Street. What's even more fascinating is the mix between dream and reality as we are given multiple haunting and gruesome dream sequences in Dennis's mind. Probably the best examples are the dreams of a woman in a veil who is in fact a zombie. She seems to be a disturbing guardian angel for Dennis as we see her multiple times throughout the film. 
        What makes this film even more fascinating is the fact that Wes Craven and his producers filmed on location in Haiti during these revolutions. Furthermore, one of the actors in the film is one of the most famous voodoo priests in Haiti. The film crew was given permission to film on sacred voodoo ritual grounds. They were shown the entire process of creating a zombie in Haitian voodoo along with the drug used in the ritual. These processes served as the basis in showing such scenes of voodoo ritualism. This is impressive in how it gives the film a great sense of realism. 
       Meanwhile, the effects in this film are gorgeous as we are shown some very interesting moments with puppetry and makeup that are very frightening. The zombies are very chilling. Meanwhile, the many hallucinations that Dennis suffers from are extremely disturbing and truly nightmarish. One in particular places him in a coffin filling up with blood as he drowns inside. Another very sublime image depicts a burning boat on the water with a corpse in a crucified stance at the front of the boat. Combined with the frightening events occurring in Haiti with the secret police, the film is very much a Horror film for the eyes. It clearly reflects Craven's work in A Nightmare on Elm Street in combining the real world with the world of the unexplained - a mixing that is very true to Gothic fiction that precedes modern Horror films. 
       Another factor about this film is that the acting is also very well done. Bill Pullman shows himself as a very impressive actor in his presentation of a man terrified for his life but willing to sacrifice all to find the truth of Haiti's "zombie drug." Meanwhile, the presence of the actual voodoo practitioners, as mentioned earlier provide a very high sense of realism in this Horror atmosphere. Speaking of the atmosphere, we are presented with a very isolated feeling in this film as Dennis is technically alone in this country and very vulnerable to the horrors it has to offer.
         In conclusion, The Serpent and the Rainbow is a new nightmare for Wes Craven to present to all Horror fans. It not only has some very terrifying moments that cry out to many traditional fears, such as being buried alive and loss of control, but the film presents us with a very realistic setting that just makes the film all the more suspenseful. Furthermore, with haunting visuals in the form of dreams and hallucinations accompanied with some very impressive special effects, we are given a film that is both impressive as well as terrifying. The acting is superb and we are also given a very good amount of character development and depth. Overall, Wes Craven had already proved himself as a master of Horror with A Nightmare on Elm Street; however, The Serpent and the Rainbow adds further justification to this argument as it shows Craven as a director with a basis in imagery that is both mesmerizing, beautiful, and absolutely nightmarish.