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Deadly Blessing |
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Jim breaks with his family, members of Amish-like
sect Hitties, to live a normal life with his wife
Martha. When Jim is killed in a farming "accident"
Martha is left to face her fanatic neighbours and
stern father-in-law. She brings home some
girlfriends for support and when one of them
makes passes at Jim's little brother all hell
breaks loose.
One of Wes Craven's best and underrated films, this
is also one of the more original 80s shocker mixing
elements from both religious horror films, slashers,
snake- and spider flicks, and in a completely
out-of-place twist ending monster movies (more about
that later). Several actors (including a pre-stardom
Sharon Stone) apparently have been wanting to bury
this film and veteran actor Ernest Borgnine got a
Razzie nomination but the film is really not bad at all.
Craven's apparent hateful feelings towards Amish
people's strict upbringing is a bit disturbing but
gives the film its bizarre and tense style. Craven
has a bunch of wild ideas that he practically have put
in a bag and tied up. A method that rarely works but
in an oddball film like this it almost seems to be
the only way to do it. Instead of just going along
the usual storyline film-telling, the movie ranges
from subplot to subplot with new, different surprises
and scares thrown at you.
The film's strong point is that it's not build-up like
most horror films where it starts with a story being
presented, developing it and delivering most good stuff
in the end. This throws in scary scenes when you don't
expect them, like one where Maren Jansen is attacked
by a snake in her bathtub or one where Sharon Stone
is trapped in a farmhouse with a killer. Scariest one
though is a nightmare sequence (don't think Elm Street)
with a spider.
The cast is above average, although some actors are
underused and their characters underdeveloped. The
trio of heroines (Jansen, Stone and Susan Buckner)
works fine as likable scream queens and Stone (especially
in the climax) proves her star-making acting talent
early on. Borgnine is effectively creepy as the sinister
father-in-law and cult leader and cult favourite Michael
Berryman (Pluto in Craven's classic The Hills Have Eyes)
has a small but memorable role.
This movie is not for everyone though, that should be
cleared out. The throw-in-a-bad surprise method makes
the film somewhat hard to get into and symbolic and
psychological stuff might not seem to make sense and
just be strange and silly. Also, the climax is too
over-plotted (even though there's some good Friday the
13th-inspired action) and the final shock twist ending
is almost unforgivable lousy. But still, it's just
a horror film and it manages to deliver more scares and
shocks than many other flicks in the genre.
Some stabbing and shooting but not much blood-spilling.
A nice Omen-influenced score by James Horner, works fine.
One of Wes Craven's best films, an oddball but often
scary thriller mixing elements from religious, slasher,
snake, spider and monster flicks. Original storytelling
method, several shocks, tense scenes and a great cast
makes this pleasant horror-film viewing but it's not
for everyone and it's marred by some stuff that don't
make sense, including a bad, out-of-place twist ending.
Review By: Slicer-Dicer
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