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| I didn't say I'd buy them all Individually. |
Starring: Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson, Zakes Mokae, Paul Winfield, Brent Jennings.
Director: Wes Craven
I haven't been making the progress with this blog that I had originally hoped...I'm well behind schedule. I suppose there's plenty of time to make it up, though. But I only got seven films done in my first week, assuming I don't manage another film tonight before I go into work which, I suppose, is possible...
Anyway, "Serpent and the Rainbow." It's odd: I remember liking this film, and thinking it was one of Craven's better films, but I can remember very few actual details of the film itself besides Bill Pullman and Voodoo. I can't remember when and where I saw this thing for the first time, either. I usually have more memory of these things, but I'm getting old and find myself forgetting more and more films. So, hey, this might be like watching a movie for the first time.
My most specific memories come from stories I heard about cast and crew kinda making fun of the Voodoo in Haiti and getting kinda whammied by it. Like a camera man went nuts, fell naked onto a balcony with a fever and shrieking about bugs in his skin...crazy stuff. I mean, if you believe in that sort of thing. Also, I don't feel like a lot of movies really play with Voodoo, which is kinda interesting. It's one of the strangest and most frightening things we have in real life, whether or not you actually believe in it, considering the medical factoids behind it. It's a fascinating world we live in...but I guess fiction works better for film in the end.
The only thing cooler looking than voodoo is crime voodoo. The opening sequence of the criminals firing off a gun while dressed in skeleton make-up and a tiny tux and then setting a coffin on fire is really good looking. Plus, the imagery of a dead man shedding a tear is pretty damn chilling.
It doesn't seem to matter what Bill Pullman does, he always seems like a goof. Even as the very serious President of the United States in "Independence Day" he seems like a goof. Who wouldn't want to play with a Jaguar, though, really? Actually, the whole hallucination scene is really well done. Starting with the Jaguar, to the Shaman watching Pullman pretend to play with a Jaguar, to his being pulled beneath the ground...actually, the pulling down into the ground and through the tunnel with the hands grabbing at him is a pretty terrifying sequence.
I really don't particularly care for voice over. Especially overly stylized, cliched voice over. Especially overly stylized, cliched voice over done by Bill Pullman.
There are some weird cuts in this movie. Pullman is objecting to the whole project and we smash cut to him in Haiti. I expected the voice over to say "But then I caved for whatever reason and now I'm in Haiti on behalf of EvilCo Pharm." Pullman's character spooks easier than Cats during a thunderstorm. It's kinda hilarious. Yet he leaps into action pretty quickly...but with his floppy hair and polo shirts...it's just kinda silly sometimes Don't get me wrong, he's giving a strong, honest performance but he's always just geeky Bill Pullman underneath.
I love Pullman losing his shit in the cemetary. The hot doctor says "It was just graverobbers" after he falls into an open grave. She follows with "You should see your face." Hilarious. The line read of "They acted as though you could walk on water and now I know why: shit floats" is unintentionally funny, too. How hard was that line, though? It's such an odd line. I wish I had that level of wit, to be able to set myself up with that.
Maybe it is because I have seen this movie, even if my memories are foggy, but Pullman seems incredibly stupid in this flick. He's wandering around in an area he knows to be sketchy, where he isn't safe, and yet goes around to locals saying "Hey, I wanna buy some of your mysterious voodoo medicine" as if there couldn't possibly be any repurcussions...and then panics at the danger he's absolutely in and even discusses in the voice over how dangerous being in public is...I mean, he certainly isn't that brave a character, so how is it that one minute he can be formidable and the next terrified? Weird.
I like a religion that comes with nap time. You wander around dancing for awhile and then just...plop down with everybody and take a big group nap. Neat.
I feel like a great deal of Pullman's motivation was "Indiana Jones," The thing is, though, I'd watch the shit out of "Indiana Jones and the fucking voodoo." How rad would an Indiana Jones movie about voodoo in Haiti be? Especially instead that Crystal Skull garbage.
Some of these scares are really something special. I actually really liked the subtle moment of Pullman getting the attention of one of the "zombies" and the look on her face being so unbelievably unsettling. Then, during the group nap, he sees someone dressed in a wedding dress, she (?) wanders down to him, acting weird, he's spooked (his natural state) and kind of quickly tears the veil off and it's a skeleton...and then the skeleton pulls its jaw down and out jumps a snake...quite a scare. Some real good scares in this movie.
I feel like I'm handing out a beating on Bill Pullman in this article, and it makes me feel like a bad person. I mean, there's no denying he's kind of a goofy actor-he's had the same haircut for, like, thirty years- and wasn't the best choice for the lead role in this film. But. Here's the thing about Bill Pullman, and it's probably why he's been so prolific, he makes a really excellent "everyman." It's easy to project yourself onto him. Also, specifically in this film, he brings a real vulnerability to the role which is astonishing for a male lead in a horror film. It's done very rarely. The fact that he IS scared most of the time, that he isn't able to be the master of every situation...even the sex sequence I'm watching right this second, which does admittedly feel like it came out of left field because there really isn't much chemistry between the two leads, is really Her screwing Him. Pullman is passive.
Hot Doctor Exposition has a lot of very awkward dialogue. It's often a thankless role being exposition. She does an okay job of it, though. Actually, this whole movie works better when it's free-wheeling. Unfortunately it's one of those films where the plot gets in the way a lot.
Once again we got some weird macho posturing that doesn't quite track from what we've seen of Pullman throughout. For some reason he feels really tough around the con-man. Not so tough when he's being psychologically tortured with a blowtorch. By the way, I hope someday I have an opportunity to light a cigar with a blowtorch. It's officially on my bucket list. The torture scene is like a bad rap song. "I wanna hear you scream." "Okay, I'll scream. AHHHH!" "Again!" "AHHH!" "Not good enough!!!" I feel like they should have tossed in "Now throw your hands in the air!" "Now wave them around like you just don't care!"
Pretty nice of the bad guys not to castrate him. I wonder if Doctor Exposition would have just broken it all off with him if they had. Instead of just going through his scrotum to "scare him."
I bet this was a fascinating film to work on, especially for Pullman. He participates in some very strange bits. I don't think many films have you dip your hands in weird gunk and set them on fire.
So many sequences have me riffing "Yeah, fuck a buncha that." Any scene with the bridal dress and I'm just like "Nope." All of the dream sequences in this are really intense and well done. Again, a nice show of vulnerability. He wakes up in tears from his nightmare...and then finds a decapitated woman in his bed and basically freaks out. Then the police burst in and take his photo like it's prank, which is kinda rad but also very deprived and frightening.
I think Louis Mozart is one of my favorite Wes Craven characters. It's a little odd that he'd suddenly just hand over his work for no money but, it's a nice moment. There's also Michael Gough in this movie, which is always a treat.
The hand in the soup and the woman eating glass and lunging at Pullman with a knife is yet another solid scare. This film may not have it altogether in terms of plot and dialogue...but man, this film just has its shit together when it comes to scares.
NOOO, MOZART!!!! Actually, the beginning of the last act is really well done. The film quickly takes all of the lead's support system away and scares the crap out of him (again, nice moment of vulnerability you don't typically see from a male lead, with him just freaking out and nearly vomiting as a scorpion comes out of his friend's mouth) and then places him immediately at the mercy of the villain...actually not would be a good time to sing that guy's praises.
The villain, played with real malice by Zakes Mokae, is one evil dude. I mean, the zombification and murder stuff aside...putting a tarantula on the guys face is just kind of a dick move, really. But he doesn't bring any moral ambiguity or kindness to the role...just a whole lot of evil and menace. It's a marvelous performance.
There's a real sense of Dues Ex Machina going on with this last act, though. I guess it was kind of necessary: if Pullman had pulled off the victory himself it probably wouldn't have worked. A revolution suddenly occurring is kind of weird, but I guess not entirely out of place considering the setting.
When you control someone's thoughts, do you need to actually say that you control their thoughts? I guess it doesn't really matter when you can throw illusions this terrifying at a dude. Some good effects work throughout this film. Great imagery. Guys pulling their own heads off and sideways staircases...some of it is very simple but used to excellent affect. I should look up who did the art for this film. David LeRoy Anderson is credited. Great stuff, Mr.Anderson.
He he, you know that Pullman improved that somersault during the climactic fight sequence. There is something truly satisfying about Pullman growling "I'm tired of this shit" while punching the now-presumably-undead villain in the face. Also, nice call back to the torture sequence. I still couldn't help but say "Now throw your hands in the air like you just don't care!" "NO!" "Yes!" "AHHHH!"
I let the "bumper sticker" gag I was using for the first few films slide lately. Gonna have to bring that back. "Don't let them bury me, I'm not dead" seems a little obvious. Maybe "the pain I cause you will be nothing compared to the pain I can cause in your own mind." "In this country, I haven't felt protected by anything" is kinda vague, but would be an okay one. Maybe, in the end, the best would be "I wanna hear you scream." "No!" "Yes!" Doesn't have quite the ring to it I would want.
In the end, "Serpent and the Rainbow" really is a pretty great film. Good effects work, really great scares, a half-praise worthy performance by Bill Pullman, a scary villain, and a sub-par plot. Can't win 'em all. In the end, it's worth it all for those really intense and impressive scare gags, and the silly but fun haphazard plot.
Final Rating: 3 and a half stars.
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