It seems safe to say that we are experiencing something of a wave of interests in zombies at the moment. Yet I'm sure many of those who are interested in the various movies, shows and books based on the undead might well be unaware of their real world roots in Haiti and voodoo. Offering something of a contrast with George Romero, 28 Days Later and The Walking Dead is this film from 1988. Directed by Wes Craven and inspired by the real events detailed in Wade Davis' book of the same title, The Serpent And The Rainbow presents a look at the real-life "zombie" phenomenon with dashes of horror added to it.Note that I used the word "inspired" above. The film itself claims to be inspired by true events and cites that it is inspired by the book rather than based on it. I must confess that I've (yet) to read the book but watching the film and doing a bit of online research makes it clear that a liberal amount of adaptation must have taken place. The real life ethnobotanist (a scientific field that mixes elements of anthropology and botany) Wade Davis becomes the fictionalized Doctor Dennis Alan in the first of many changes the film makes. Amongst the changes are a shifting of the time frame in which events take place from across several years in the late 1970s and early 1980s to a short period of time in 1985-86 (which was in fact after the book had been published). Nor does it appear that Davis went through many, if any, of the hellish experiences presented in the film. In other words, it is VERY important to take what the film presents in terms of events with a grain of salt though there are, to mix metaphors, nuggets of truth in an otherwise barren landscape of fiction.Judging the film on its own merits, it's actually pretty good for what it is. For much of its running time, we're presented with a film that's part Indiana Jones, part The Omen as the cynical American Doctor Alan goes to Haiti in search of a presumed drug responsible for the zombie phenomenon and begins to encounter a series of strange people and events that leads the film into psychological horror territory. Not that the film has the budget or story for Indiana Jones large scale action sequences but it's hard not to see Doctor Alan as something of a Jones type though his brashness and cynicism quickly lead him into trouble. With the horror being played out in largely dreams and hallucinations, combined with threats and a moment of slightly overplayed but unsettling torture, the film has an air of menace to it that lends tension to proceedings. For its first seventy minutes or so, while the film is firmly in this territory, it works.It's in the last twenty-five minutes or so that the film goes off the rails a bit. Having presented a solid tale of intrigue and psychological horror, the film shifts into full-on horror film mode for its last act. In a full departure from real events, we see Alan go through the zombie process and have a showdown with the sinister head of secret police who it turns out is at the heart of the phenomenon. Neither the writing, nor the special effects for that matter, are up for much here (nor are they in another major departure from real events earlier on in the film) as clichés including the villainous cult leader combine with low budget effects to give the film a rather unsatisfying ending.More satisfying perhaps is the film's cast. A young Bill Pullman does quite well as Doctor Alan, bring the right amount of both American naiveté and scientific cynicism to the role as someone who has to deal with increasingly strange happenings while also just trying to get out of the country in one piece. Indeed the film's American characters, including Paul Guilfoyle and the always delightful Michael Gough, probably come across best of all the performances. The film's Haitian characters are, largely due to the script, little more than walking and talking clichés. The standouts from those include Zakes Mokae as the villainous head of Haiti's secret police who, despite the clichés attached to his character, gives quite a good performance under the circumstances and Conrad Roberts as Christophe Durand (a character inspired by the real-life zombie case of Clairvius Narcisse). Despite some of the script issues that hamper them, the performances by and large work and serve the film well.Looking past the script and sometimes iffy special effects, the production values are quite good as well. The film benefits immensely from being shot in location in both Haiti and the nearby Dominican Republic, both of which lend the film a strong sense of both place and (perhaps more importantly) verisimilitude that it might otherwise lack given its subject matter. The sets, costumes and especially the make up all look good when they're trying to be done subtly and not (as mentioned earlier) when they're put to full on "horror" effect. All of which leaves the film feeling solidly made at the very least.Despite its far removal from reality and its ill-done shift to "horror" movie in its last act, The Serpent And The Rainbow stands up decently. As a tale of intrigue and psychological horror, as well as presenting an interesting look at the real-world inspiration behind zombies, it works quite well thanks to its cast and production values. Those expecting a horror film might be disappointed while those hoping for something that plays more to the film's strengths will likely be left feeling likewise with its last act. The film seems to fall between the two and, due to being unable to pick a side and stay there, ends up being intriguing though perhaps a tad unsatisfying in the end.

In 1988's "The Serpent and the Rainbow" Bill Pullman plays an anthropologist who goes to Haiti to investigate a rumored drug that can make people seem dead, but they're really not. In other words, the plot addresses the reality behind the zombie myth. The story's supposedly based (loosely) on factual material contained in Wade Davis' book. Davis reportedly wanted noted director Peter Weir to direct the film, but he got stuck with horror maestro Wes Craven. Wes is great for cartoony horror flicks, like "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and the "Scream" series, but he was apparently out of his league here. I hate giving bad reviews to movies because I realize no one intends to make a bad film. Making decent movies is expensive and takes a lot of work by scores of talented people. "The Serpent and the Rainbow" had the funds, talent, locations and music to make a quality film, but it horribly fails.Over the years it's taken me four attempts just to get past the 20-40 minute mark. I finally forced myself to watch the entire film last night and it was a chore. It starts out intriguing, but immediately fails to engross. The story's fine, but the way it's told is bad, which includes the puzzling editing. It's incoherent and you soon find yourself bored watching interesting images and cool percussion-oriented music, but characters and a tale you don't care about, mainly because you were never allowed to comprehend it.There's a shallow love story with the requisite beautiful native (Cathy Tyson) and the second act gets a little better with Brent Jennings as Mozart, but the third act spirals into to ultra-horror cheese. Some scenes are so ridiculously bad they're laugh-out-loud funny. For instance, a classy white woman suddenly jumps on the dinner table radically attacking the anthropologist; a torture-chair moves across the room by itself on a couple occasions; someone's head falls off; a scorpion walks out of someone's mouth; something alien and diabolic comes out of someone else's mouth (or head); etc. On top of this, there are so many dream/hallucination sequences that they become tedious. These scenes were obviously included to up the ante with horror props and – hopefully – jolt the audience, but they utterly fail because, after a while, you suspect that what's going on isn't really happening and it's hard to be scared by illusions. Most of the time, they just make you laugh, like the (supposedly) creepy hand coming out of the soup (rolling my eyes). Don't get me wrong, scenes like these CAN work in horror films, but they have to be done right and in the right context, which isn't the case here, unfortunately.The only reason I'm not giving it an "F" is because of the positives noted above.The film runs 98 minutes and was shot in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Boston.GRADE: D

"The Serpent and the Rainbow" is a film that works best if you don't think through the plot but instead just take the movie as it comes. This is because if you think about it, the plot doesn't make a lot of sense---especially the amazingly silly finale. On the positive side, the film has a wonderful sense of creepiness--all brought to you by the guy responsible for the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series, Wes Craven.The film is set in Haiti during the latter part of the Baby Doc Duvalier era. For some completely insane reason, a doctor (Bill Pullman) has been sent to the country by a pharmaceutical company to learn the secret of zombification so that they could possibly use the zombie formula for positive/curative purposes. This really makes no sense at all. What also doesn't make sense is how horrible and dangerous it is there--with all sorts of voodoo, zombies and terror. The ending is amazingly stupid--where some of this terror is really scary and creepy and some of it is hampered by the 1988-style prosthetics which look very fake by today's standards. Still, the creepy factor is an A+ for the film overall. It's not the sort of film I'd usually watch, but for a change of pace, it was pretty good.

"The Serpent and the Rainbow" is true horror, a deeply sinister tale just dripping with flavour and atmosphere. It's based on the non-fiction book by Wade Davis, and tells the story of anthropologist Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman) who travels to Haiti for the purpose of investigating what could be causing supposedly dead people to still be alive. He finds himself in a whole lot of trouble, what with his stubborn insistence on solving the mystery and poking his nose into places where other people don't want it. His chief antagonist is local policeman Dargent Peytraud (an effectively scary Zakes Mokae), a man who's not exactly subtle about his malevolent intentions. Fortunately, Dennis has some allies, in the form of crusading doctor Marielle DuChamp (gorgeous Cathy Tyson) and business owner Lucien Celine (Paul Winfield). There are some absolutely great horror moments in this very competently made chiller, and some very vivid characters. Dennis, unfortunately, is an intelligent but not terribly likable protagonist, and Pullman can't do much to make us want to root for him; it's the other actors & characters that really make this sing. Tyson is appealing and Winfield solid as always; Brent Jennings as Mozart, Conrad Roberts as Christophe, Michael Gough as Schoonbacher, Badja Djola as Gaston, Theresa Merritt as Simone, and Paul Guilfoyle as Andrew Cassedy are all fine, especially the engaging Jennings and the haunted Roberts who is able to mine his part for much pathos. Adding to the feel of the piece is its political subtext as the movie takes place during the reign of the notorious "Baby Doc" Duvalier. Makeup and visual effects are nicely done, and the movie has some good zombie action and highly surreal moments. It sizes up as one of the more interesting and entertaining films of Craven's career, projecting a strong sense of doom & gloom; it could have used some more humour, and the finale gets a bit silly, but overall, it's definitely worth a look. Seven out of 10.