What are the aspects of a stereotypical zombie film? Some Most people will jump directly into scenes from Night of the Living Dead, or even associating what they consider zombies in AMC’s The Walking Dead. With so many different takes on the zombie subgenre, people may find it hard to believe a film that approaches a zombie movie in a different way. “The Serpent and the Rainbow”. Wes Craven’s “The Serpent and the Rainbow” is special in that it does away with all three of the usual tropes of zombie films. “The Serpent and the Rainbow” identifies “zombification” as a voodoo poison which causes its victims to only emulate death, and doesn’t actually turn them into zombies. Instead, viewers follow the psychological journey of one Dr. Dennis Allen into the dark world of voodoo.
Viewers may be disappointed if they go into the film expecting a zombie outbreak, or a gore fest. Instead they are treated to a psychological thriller that relies on visual storytelling, in a manner that is only fitting for a Wes Craven film. Luckily the film still holds up in present day; besides the 1980s fashion, any and all of the scenes could fit in modern day settings. For fans of Wes Craven, this Blu-ray release is a treat, even though it’s not one of his more acclaimed films.
Menu:
The menu is very intriguing, and for a first-time viewer perhaps a bit too spoiler-heavy. It consists of a slow fade between different scenes of the movie (in the film’s chronological order, in fact), and includes scenes of some of the biggest shocks and scares from the film right on the main menu. You get several options on the main menu screen: Play Film, Chapter Select, Bonus Features and Setup. In the “Setup” selection, there are only three options: 2 audio options including commentary by Bill Pullman, and the option of turning on or off english subtitles. While viewers are selecting their scenes or grabbing their popcorn, the film’s ominous theme plays in the background behind the loop of film footage. Other than the perhaps spoiler-heavy scene loop played on the menu, it’s well laid out and easy to navigate!
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Special Features:
For a “Collector’s Edition”, the Blu-ray release of The Serpent and the Rainbow is pretty limited in its special features. Here’s what the Collector’s Blu-ray includes:
-“The Making of The Serpent and the Rainbow”: A half-hour long mini-documentary including recent interviews with Bill Pullman, the director of photography John Lindley, author Wade Davis and special effects artists Lance Anderson and David Anderson. I have always loved these “making of” mini-documentaries, and it’s fascinating hearing Bill Pullman and Director of Photography John Lindley discuss filming in Haiti. Of course it’s always entertaining hearing about how the special effects artists made some of the scenes comes to life.
-Audio Commentary with Actor Bill Pullman: This is an audio track option that includes Bill Pullman commenting scene-by-scene the different aspects of the film. He provides some great insight into what it took to film some of the scenes (including an awkward sex-scene in a cave). Unfortunately, the commentary doesn’t seem to last more than 45-50 minutes into the movie, and is nonexistent in the entire 3rd act.
-Photo Gallery: a conglomeration of various behind the scenes photographs on set in Haiti. The vast majority of these photos are shots of when the cameras were rolling, but there are several that are behind the camera as well. There are some great pictures of the late and great Wes Craven in there as well.
-Theatrical Trailer: Want to see how this movie was originally advertised? Look no further than the theatrical trailer! Unfortunately this was not digitally remastered, so it has the original aspect ratio. One thing’s for sure though: they really cleaned up the Blu-ray’s picture quality when compared to the trailer!
-TV Spot: What made people go see this movie? The TV Spot of course! Again, this was not digitally remastered, and it’s quite easy to tell that. The TV spot looks as though they pulled it straight from a VHS recording, which very well may have been the only way they could have gotten that footage.
Yes, the special features are great and everything, but how does the video look and audio sound?
Video:
The film looks great in 1080p with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. While the film did appear to be a bit stretched out, I doubt viewers will notice after several seconds into the film. Never having seen this film before, I had to take several things into account: it was filmed in the 80s, and probably not in a wide format. Film grain is noticeable throughout, but this should be expected with a 29 year old film. Some scenes were cleared up better than others, and I must admit that the film may not have the same horror-effect had the film grain been 100% removed. Overall the colors were vivid, as they needed to be with some of the very colorful Haitian and voodoo elements. If there was one disappointment I had from the video would be to have a different option for the aspect ratio.
Audio:
The audio is where I had the biggest problems. More often than not I have found that Blu-ray rereleases of classic films have audio issues. Mostly that some scenes are louder than others. Unfortunately The Serpent and the Rainbow falls victim to this. While the 2.0DTS-HD Master Stereo Audio sounds great when the volume is set at a good level, it got frustrating when after a scene that I could hear everyone talking, and the next scene everyone was nearly muted. In a film that includes heavy accents, it was irritating to have my finger on the volume button at every scene change. Overall, the audio was crisp and clear when set at the right audio level.
