subscribe to rss The Serpent and the Rainbow (1987)
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THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW
98 min, Rated R. Review by Baldy |
“Don’t let them bury me! I’m not dead!”
When MCFTR’s resident houngan sent out the call for zombie flicks, the first thing that came to mind was The Serpent and the Rainbow.
After all, just about all of the other flicks out there are plainly fictitious and bear no resemblance to reality. This film (to be known henceforth as SNR) came at it a different way. Rather than portraying shuffling, brain-eating undead somehow always cathing up with the physically fit protagonists, or creating mindless Kenyan sprinters who crave the taste of human flesh, this film comes across as…a documentary that has been embellished. It will treat you to a disclaimer stating that the film is based on actual events, but it’s up to you to determine exactly what was factual and what was made up. It’s a thinking man’s zombie flick and a damned good movie, and I try to watch it about once a year.
The scene is set when protagonist Dr. Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman) arrives in a remote area of the Amazon. His goal is to speak with a local magic man and obtain a medicine that only this witch doctor-ish fellow can produce. He’s given the medicine, but is told that he has to drink some noxious potion because the old man wants to show him something. Dr. Alan then falls into some astounding hallucinations in which he finds that the jaguar is his totem and spirit guide. Watch out for the brown acid, though, because the pleasant vision is hijacked by a malevolent and grinning/grimacing/snarling black man who has Dr. Alan pulled into the ground by corpses. When the hallucinations are over, everyone in the Amazon village is vanished and Alan has to find his way back to civilization.
This opening sequence does a great job of setting up the rest of the film. After all, it seems like a plausible scenario. Biomedical researchers are constantly journeying into the wilder parts of the world, looking for the mysterious and previously unknown medicine that will cure cancer/AIDS/psoriasis/stupidity and make their fortunes. The vision shows us that, while the film is anchored in the real, there is an undercurrent of the unknown or supernatural running through it. It also sets up our hero for the journey that makes up the meat of the film.
Dr. Alan is sent to Haiti to look into rumors of a zombie-making drug in hopes that this will revolutionize medicine and save thousands of people from dying due to anaesthetic shock each year. When he arrives, he finds a country that is restless under the rule of Baby Doc Duvalier and ready for revolution. Voodoo permeates everything that he encounters: the daily habits of Haitians, the religion, the secret police. The naturally skeptical Dr. Alan is presented with several examples of “zombies” that do nothing to make him think that there’s anything to the rumors that sent him to Haiti. Then, while out for dinner, he spots the head of Duvalier’s secret police…and the malevolent man from his hallucinations in the Amazon.
The rest of the film is a clever mixture of political intrigue, thriller and horror. Dr. Alan becomes a target for the authorities and manages to make a lot of enemies. His white face is a constant reminder that he can never hide among these people. He is framed for murder, chased, tortured, and chased out of the country only to find that the man from his hallucinations can invade his dreams. He must find a way to get what he came there for and get out before he vanishes forever and becomes part of the local lore.
I won’t blow the plot and tell you everything that happens. I do want to point out that I like the way that zombies are portrayed in this film. They are people who are buried while still alive, and their time in the coffin (and resultant lack of oxygen) causes brain damage that impairs the ability to reason. They believe that the person who made them into zombies has also stolen their souls and makes them enter people’s dreams and do things that they don’t want to do. For once, zombies are given very sympathetic and human characteristics and actually get us — we, who love zombies! — to pray that the Bad Men can’t make any more zombies. I also appreciate that the film uses special effects sparingly, allowing them to accentuate parts of the film without making it an “effects film.”
No witty repartee about this one. This is simply a good movie that will stick with the viewer long after it’s over. I would recommend this film to anyone who really digs zombies and is interested in seeing another side of the genre.
Rating: Four out of five Brains.
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