#22 THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW (1988)
BURIED ALIVE
WITH A TARANTULA
The Serpent
and the Rainbow is a nice change of pace from your typical zombie
movies, as it discards the comet or secret army gas type source of
creating the living dead, and explores the true origins of the zombie
mythology within Haiti. Based on a true story from a book of the
same name (and highly fictionalized in the actual movie), it's full
of some creepy funky voodoo action. In real life, a researcher found
that a poison made from a local blowfish could be used by a Voodoo
Priest to bring someone to a near death state. The funeral would be
held and the subject subsequently buried. The Priest would then
bring the subject back to life, still drugged and zonked out of his
mind, and the poor victim's families would soon be hit up for cash by
the Priest so he could finally put the man's "undead" soul to rest.
Wes
Craven adapted the book to film, and it starts with tremendous
promise, but devolves into your standard cookie cutter kill the
unstoppable bad guy flick at the end. Regardless, the movie has one
of my personal favorite scary scenes.
Bil
Pullman plays a scientist named Dennis Alan who gets in over his
head. Alan eventually becomes victim and is paralyzed, and while
he's laying down in a coffin, about to be buried alive, a tarantula
is dropped on his face while his eyes are wide open. He can't move
as the creature crawls and then stays there. Soon the coffin lid is
shut leaving Alan to suffer with the hair companion on his face,
unable to get it off, or escape.
