Oh, The Horror! #15: Serpent and the Rainbow

Man oh man! Where the heck have I been to have never heard of this movie until last night? For a little while now I've had a bit of an interest in learning some stuff on Haitian folk lore. I feel that there are many types of stories that can be seen as pretty darn scary back in my parent's homeland and I'm always interested to hear a story from the country. So when my god brother told me about this movie, it taking place in Haiti, I was automatically intrigued. My brother, Berto, and I watched the movie and just had an absolute blast. You should have seen the way we were freaking out at a lot of the scenes, mostly because it seems to hit close to home with us. Let me tell you that Haitians are some of the most superstitious folks you'll ever meet and a lot of things about the supernatural is driven into our minds since being very young. Heck, I lived there for a short while too. So a lot of the things in the movie scared some bit of craps out of me watching, not in jump out of my seat thing, but more of a mentally fear thing. And I loved every moment of it.

Bill Pullman plays a doctor who goes to Haiti to find the reasons why a once buried man is now walking around again. Of course, he's a man of science but he also gets haunted by these strange and extremely freaky dreams and we are introduced to the villain of the story played by Zakes Mokae And let me say that I do not understand why this guy isn't in a top villains list. This guy played no games whatsoever and was damn terrifying as he led his group of Ton Ton Machutes, a special police force in Haiti who are known for being quite... well...unlikable. As the movie goes on, we are pulled into the world of voodoo and zombies. And the movie just gets freakier and freakier. I can definitely see this movie scary folks from even visiting the country. So much twists and turns, enough to keep you at the edge of your seat and frightened for the main character and his love interest. And that torture scene. Oh man! When they strapped Pullman's character on the torture seat, I said to my brother, "Oh no! Haitians DO NOT PLAY when it comes to torture." And man, was I right. Sheesh. Another thing I loved about this movie was it being shot on location and hearing the Haitian language being spoken throughout. Everything seemed very authentic and helped with the creepiness. Fantastic movie that I fully recommend for horror fans. Below is a trailer.