Review – The Serpent and the Rainbow

No film could ask for an odder set of circumstances. The book upon which the movie is loosely based is a fairly dry treatise by an ethno-botanist about his experiences trying to learn the secrets of the tetrodotoxin-laced zombie powder used in Haitian rituals. However, after Wes “Nightmare on Elm Street” Craven gets done with it, there’s a lot of supernatural mumbo-jumbo thrown in. The effects are cheap, but every once in awhile they’re good for a shudder or two. If you can choke down the New Age pseudo-religion and kindergarten take on Haitian politics, you can find a somewhat-decent horror movie under the whole mess. Mildly amusing