The Serpent and the Rainbow (film)
| The Serpent and the Rainbow | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Wes Craven |
| Produced by |
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| Written by |
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| Based on |
The Serpent and the Rainbow by Wade Davis |
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Bill Pullman |
| Music by | Brad Fiedel |
| Cinematography | John Lindley |
| Edited by | Glenn Farr |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $7 million |
| Box office | $19.6 million |
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 a herbal brew which produced what was called a zombie.
In 1978, a Haitian man named Christophe (Conrad Roberts) mysteriously dies in a French missionary clinic, while outside a voodoo parade marches past his window with a burning coffin. The next morning, Christophe is buried in a traditional Catholic funeral, at which his sister cries over his body and prays for his soul. Onlooking is a mysterious black man dressed in a suit who was also outside Christophe's hospital window on the night he died. As the coffin is lowered into the ground, Christophe's eyes open and tears roll down his cheeks.
Seven years later, Dennis Alan (an ethnobotanist and anthropologist from Harvard University) narrowly escapes the Amazon Jungle and returns to Boston after acquiring rare herbs and medicines from a local shaman. During his ordeal, Alan drinks a hallucinogenic potion and experiences a horrifying image of the same black man from Christophe's funeral, surrounded by corpses in a bottomless pit. Alan also sees his totem jaguar spirit which leads him out of the jungle to safety.
Back in Boston, Alan is approached by a large pharmaceutical corporation looking to investigate a drug used in the Voodoo religion of Haiti to create zombies. The company wants Alan to acquire the drug for mass production and use it as a type of "super anesthetic". The corporation provides Alan with significant funds and sends him to Haiti where the country is in the middle of a revolution. Alan's exploration in Haiti to find the drug, assisted by the doctor Marielle (Cathy Tyson), locates Christophe who is alive again after having been buried for dead seven years before. Shortly thereafter, Alan is taken into custody by the Haitian authorities, with the commander of the Tonton Macoute (Captain Dargent Peytraud (Zakes Mokae) - the same black man from both Christophe's funeral and Alan's vision in the Amazon) warning Alan to leave Haiti. Alan is at first not harmed by Peytraud, due to Alan's status as a U.S. citizen.
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Wikipedia