Horror Movie Review: The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)

The Serpent and the Rainbow is a 1988 American horror film directed by Wes Craven and starring Bill Pullman. The script by Richard Maxwell and Adam Rodman is loosely based on the non-fiction book of the same name by ethnobotanist Wade Davis. Wherein Davis recounted his experiences in Haiti investigating the story of Clairvius Narcisse. Who was allegedly poisoned, buried alive, and revived with an herbal brew which produced what was called a zombie.

In 1978, a Haitian man named Christophe mysteriously dies in a French missionary clinic, while a voodoo parade marches past his window. The next morning, Christophe is buried in a traditional Catholic funeral. A mysterious man dressed in a suit who was outside Christophe’s hospital window on the night he died is in attendance. As the coffin is lowered into the ground, Christophe’s eyes open and tears roll down his cheeks.

Seven years later, Harvard anthropologist Dennis Alan is in the Amazon rainforest studying rare herbs and medicines with a local shaman. He drinks a potion and experiences a hallucination of the same man from Christophe’s funeral, surrounded by corpses in a bottomless pit.

Back in Boston, Alan is approached by a pharmaceutical company looking to investigate a drug used in Haitian Vodou to create zombies. The company wants Alan to acquire the drug for use as a “super anesthetic”. The corporation provides Alan with funding and sends him to Haiti. Which is in the middle of a revolution. Alan’s exploration in Haiti, assisted by Dr. Marielle Duchamp, locates Christophe. He is alive after having been buried seven years earlier. Alan is taken into custody, and the commander of the Tonton Macoute (Haitian Militia), Captain Dargent Peytraud. The same man from Christophe’s funeral and Alan’s vision in the Amazon. He warns Alan to leave Haiti.

Continuing his investigation, Alan finds a local man, Mozart, who is reported to have knowledge of the procedure for creating the zombie drug. Alan pays Mozart for a sample, but Mozart sells him rat poison instead. After embarrassing Mozart in public, Alan convinces Mozart to show Alan how to produce the drug for a fee of $1,000. Alan is arrested again by the Tonton Macoutes (Haitian Militia). He’s tortured by having a nail driven through his scrotum. Then dumped on a street with the message that he must leave Haiti or be killed.

Will Alan give up or will he continue down a rabbit hole too deep to crawl out from? Watch and find out.

It was a nice surprise to see Wes Craven directing this. Craven certainly puts his stamp on this movie and adds quality that to what could have easily been a below average film. However, it’s not. The Serpent and the Rainbow is a humid and busy movie, you feel the life of Haiti and the jungle oozing through the screen. Although the crew had a tricky shoot, with the real life trouble in Haiti, and a hasty move of location to the Dominican Republic, it only disrupts the flow slightly. Considering that difficulty, it’s very well put together and a coherent story.

And what a story. Wes Craven does a brilliant job at making us feel as if we’re in Alan’s shoes. A chaotic fever dream turned nightmare, carried along by the incredible, Bill Pullman. It did feel as if Pullman had little the work with though. His motivations were very thin, with a forced romance, little personality and naivety beyond belief. But, Pullman is fortunately a wonderful actor so it comes together anyway. I did struggle to feel too bad for his plight, with his nickname being “Blanc” and being the only Caucasian man skulking about, you’d think he’d at least try to keep a lower profile.

Acting is great across the board, with the Captain of the Militia being the stand out. It’s truly a fascinating deep dive into local culture, with different beliefs on burial, afterlife and voodoo. It seems as if they were on location as long as they could handle and that gives the film a layer of authenticity.

Overall, The Serpent and the Rainbow is an insane trip into the world of voodoo witches and stolen souls. With great effects and a Wes Craven twist, it’s something different to the usual tropes and effective with its dream sequences.