The Serpent and the Rainbow(1988)

Universal Pictures

R
1h 38m
- Fantasy
- Horror

Release Date: Feb 5, 1988

64%
57%
6.4

An anthropologist goes to Haiti to research a drug that makes someone appear dead by suspending all vital signs.

Release Details

Original Release | Feb 5, 1988 | Wide

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Box Office Results

2026-09-06T11:23:40.379Z

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$5,848,700
Total US & Canada:
$19,595,031
Total Worldwide:
$19,595,031

Current Showtimes

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Location

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Director & Top Cast

Wes Craven
Director

Bill Pullman
Dennis Alan

Cathy Tyson
Marielle Duchamp

Zakes Mokae
Dargent Peytraud

Paul Winfield
Lucien Celine

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo

Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English,French,Spanish

Summaries

Storyline

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 Macoute 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. — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Dennis Allan is a scientist who visits Haiti on the strength of a rumour of a drug which renders the recipient totally paralyzed but conscious. The drug's effects often fool doctors, who declare the victims dead. Could this be the origin of the "zombie" legend? Alan embarks on a surprising and often surreal investigation of the turbulent social chaos that is Haiti during the revolution which ousted hated dictator "Baby Doc" Duvalier. Often a pawn in a greater game, Alan must decide what is science, what is superstition, and what is the unknown in a anarchistic society where police corruption and witch-doctory are commonplace. — Murray Chapman

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