THE DEAD TIMES

RATING:

ZOMBIE RATING:

DESCRIPTION:

Hearing of a mysterious drug used by practitioners of black magic to turn people into Zombies, an anthropologist by the name of Dr. Dennis Alan, travels to Haiti to investigate. If possible, he aims to obtain a sample of this so-called 'Zombie Powder' and return it to America for further study, especially to determine its potential use in the treatment of terminal illnesses.

MY VERDICT:

I'm not entirely sure I should be reviewing Wes Craven's The Serpent and The Rainbow at all as there are no actual Zombies in it (none of the monstrous kind anyway). However, the movie is an adaption of the very real case of Wade Davis travelling to Haiti to learn the secrets of the mysterious Zombie powder - a very real drug that could apparently bring the dead back to life for use as highly obedient slaves. It's definitely one for the Zombie purist, who wants that insight into how the Zombie mythology was born but, for the general Zombie-fan, I would probably avoid this one. The main thing the film has going for it is the production value, both of the effects and the set. The gruesome bits - of which there are a few for such a non-violent film - borrow quite heavily from Wes Craven's most memorable work; A Nightmare on Elm Street. Things are achieved almost entirely using prosthetics and this gives everything a wonderful 'solid' feel, despite most of the truly horrific moments occurring in dreams (again, a reference to Nightmare). In terms of set design, the film was shot entirely on location, at the island of Haiti, and the movie definitely benefits massively from this - the environments look incredibly lifelike, from the slum-like, shanty towns to the spooky Voodoo religious sites. Other than these two highlights though, everything is just average; the narrative is relatively uninteresting, the acting is merely okay and there are no particularly shocking or memorable moments.