The Serpent and the Rainbow

"Don't Bury Me...I'm Not Dead!"

Feb 5 1988 R 1h 38m
Fantasy, Horror

A Harvard anthropologist is sent to Haiti to retrieve a strange powder that is said to have the power to bring human beings back from the dead. In his quest to find the miracle drug, the cynical scientist enters the rarely seen netherworld of walking zombies, blood rites and ancient curses. Based on the true life experiences of Wade Davis and filmed on location in Haiti, it's a frightening excursion into black magic and the supernatural.

Plot

In 1985, after a successful research in Amazonas, Dr. Dennis Alan from Harvard is invited by the president of a Boston pharmaceutics industry, Andrew Cassedy, to travel to Haiti to investigate the case of a man named Christophe that died in 1978 and has apparently returned to life. Andrew wants samples of the voodoo drug that was used in Christophe to be tested with the intention of producing a powerful anesthetic. Dr. Alan travels to meet Dr. Marielle Duchamp that is treating Christophe and arrives in Haiti in a period of revolution. Soon Alan is threatened by the chief of the feared Tonton Macuse Dargent Peytraud, who is a torturer and powerful witch. Alan learns that death is not the end in the beginning of his journey to hell.

Written by

Wade Davis, Richard Maxwell, Adam Rodman

Directed by

Wes Craven

Production Countries

United States of America

Production Companies

Universal Pictures

Languages

Français, English, Español

Awards

1 nomination total

Scores
# of Votes
29,531
Average Rating
6.4 out of 10
Metascore
64
Popularity
NA