Director: Wes Craven
Year: 1988
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Zombie
Plot:
Sent to a Haitian village, a botanist for a US pharmaceutical company is asked to explore the uses of a psychotic drug used there and as he continues looking into the stories is soon immersed into the world of voodoo and ancient spells that goes way over his head and has to fight for his very soul.
Review:
This is quite the chilling and enjoyable effort. Among the films' positives is that this is one of the very few horror films ever made that treats it's subject matter as accurately as possible. It's true that all the depiction's and discussions about voodoo and its power are real. Those are real practitioners of voodoo performing on film, and how it happens in the film are real representations of how voodoo works. That adds to the realism to the film, because real-life horror is far scarier than anything else a human mind can come up with. Whatever the people in the film are doing to the characters to turn them into zombies are very powerful and the spells and potions used to control and create them are just as powerful. This includes the practice of making a zombie which is fully explored, and the process is an incredibly creepy one. We get to know it in intricate detail as the realness of it makes it that much more compelling.
That means this gets so much better when he has been overwhelmed with the voodoo world and everything comes crashing down, as once he knows the process of creating the drug the movie kicks into hyper-drive as he is just relentlessly tortured by what he knows. That it happens in a quick manner of time is staggering, which is mainly based around the continuous dream sequences he keeps having while being tortured that are truly trippy and delirious. The first one, where he's inside this candlelit room and witnesses a wedding being performed where the bride wanders over to him with the veil down, pulls it up to reveal a corpse underneath before pulling it's mouth open and jutting it's tongue out to bite him which is one of the biggest scares, while another big one is where he's dissolved into a wall of blood among the other numerous quick shots of charred hands or vicious being charging at him. It was also nice since the torture inflicted on him was more mental than physical which also manages to include the heart-stopping climax which is justifiably famous.
The cast here is definitely worthwhile and helps to sell this one considerably. Bill Pullman delivers capably as Dennis Alan, a botanist working in the Amazon basin who is slowly overwhelmed by the encroaching madness. Skeptical at first, the manner that he becomes overcome is quite appropriate as this gives him a solid turn that generates quite a great deal of sympathy for him as he slowly gets over his head when dealing with the mysterious cult. The leader of the cult, Lucien Celine, played by Paul Winfield, is a fine ally in his journey. Initially seeming to be a gregarious local celebrity, his kindness is quite endearing when it's revealed that he's not who he thought which is a fine turn overall here. His assistant Marielle Duchamp, played by Cathy Tyson, works nicely as the guide to his journey which is why we like her. She's quite proactive when she needs to be, has a logical head about her and has no qualms getting involved which helps us generate extra sympathy in his quest. The supporting cast is quite appealing in it's one-note appearance being bodies to spook him along which makes this one quite entertaining overall.
The biggest flaw to be found is the fact that it's so long before anything really happens here that it can feel somewhat challenging in terms of pacing. The film is basically more of an adventure film for the first half as he's immersed into the world and around the mystery in the village which isn't all that horrific beyond the nature of the events happening which isn't all that exciting to see play out. This one still manages to maintain a solid pace, but it remains all the more removed from the genre for a large stretch of time. Likewise, some might also be put off because of the supernatural and religious themes portrayed in the film. Since they are very accurate, it may upset the very religious persons out there where this is something that some may be put off against because it may clash with their faith. Witnessing some of the blasphemous actions throughout here could be upsetting, but overall it's not all that bad here.
Overview: ****/5
I don't know why this one isn't more well known among horror fans, but this is one of Craven's best friends. It's very accurate about its subject matter, and that is so rare in today's movies. See this one at once, all Craven fans, supernatural and horror fans, but the overtly religious should exercise caution.
Comments
Post a Comment