Deadly Blessing
1981 Directed by Wes Craven
Synopsis
Pray You're Not Blessed!
A former Hittite (a member of an Amish-like sect) dies in a mysterious tractor "accident", and his widow is left to face the frightening Hittites who view her as "the incubus" and may have sinister designs on her.
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"You find (that shoe). And remember the wages of sin!"
Such a great movie. From a young, eager Wes Craven (before Elm Street), a young, eager Sharon Stone (before Basic Instinct), it's got everything you could want; people hating on the band Incubus (or something to that effect), crazy Hittities that "make the Amish look like swingers", spiders and snakes, an absolutely batshit crazy Ernest Borgnine, and Michael Berryman running around like a loon.
Seriously though, it's really good. Just a classic pitch perfect horror film, set in the mysterious countryside full of religious zealots. What could possibly be scarier? I love that Wes always casts women, and they play a crucial role in this one as well. Other than…
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The October Ordeal 2012 day #14a: Deadly Blessing
Wes Craven, despite being four decades into his career, is still without anything resembling a definable style. Deadly Blessing signals his career second-act entrance into mainstream cinema, it being mostly bloodless and aesthetically close to a soapy TV-movie. Deadly Blessing exploits both the rural panic of Deliverance and the religious horror of The Exorcist, within the framework of a slasher. Its reference points seem dated by 1981, a few years out of the decade of Avon Gothics and movies-of-the-week like Dark Secret of Harvest Home and Crowhaven Farm.
Like Dark Secret, Deadly Blessing suggests supernatural evil through domestic surrealism and close-knit religious community, here represented by the "Hittites", a kind of Mennonite…
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Atmospheric but completely mad Wes Craven chiller from the early 1980s. It makes little sense and plods along for most of the time but there are some creepy moments and Ernest Borgnine steals every scene he's in.
http://www.onemetal.com/2013/03/22/deadly-blessing/
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I hadn't seen this since I was a kid and had actually forgotten quite a bit. So it was almost like watching it fresh for me. It's a lot better than you might think it will be from the opening which plays a little cheesy. A couple of really good scares and the Scream Factory Blu-ray is really great.
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“Deadly Blessing” is never going to reach the lofty heights of Wes Craven’s other high profile releases, but it is a nice peek into the famed director’s early work. From Ernest Borgnine and James Horner to a young Sharon Stone and Michael Berryman there is a lot of onscreen comfort for movie fans. Unfortunately, the uneven feature keeps “Deadly Blessing” from leaving a lasting mark in the horror genre. Horror fans will enjoy this trip down memory lane, but “Deadly Blessing” will never convert anyone to the genre. Save that task for some of Craven’s other features. Read the full review here...www.theaterthoughts.com/?p=4544
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Occasionally feels like Straw Bitches. Always looks like The Giant Spider Invasion. [Slant review.]
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Snake in the bathtub.
Spider in your mouth. -
Despite a bit of nudity, for the first hour or so this resembles a very pedestrian Made-for-TV style movie. The last half adds a few intriguing scenes that lifts this up enough to warrant at least a one-time watch.
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Mediocre horror with a couple of interesting ideas.
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A woman tries to challenge a religious cult that may be responsible for for a string of murders. Pretty good 80's Wes Craven thriller.
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I hadn't seen this since I was a kid and had actually forgotten quite a bit. So it was almost like watching it fresh for me. It's a lot better than you might think it will be from the opening which plays a little cheesy. A couple of really good scares and the Scream Factory Blu-ray is really great.
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Not sure I understood what was really going on here, even after the truth is revealed, and the end is akin to finishing The Wicker Man with a big fire-breathing sun god coming down and carrying Edward Woodward off in its jaws, ie undercuts everything that came before. But this is good fun anyway, especially the Ernest Borgnine scenes. And it brought back great memories of seeing the iconic cover on the shelves in the video shop as a kid ('if thine right eye offends thee, pluck it out!).
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“Deadly Blessing” is never going to reach the lofty heights of Wes Craven’s other high profile releases, but it is a nice peek into the famed director’s early work. From Ernest Borgnine and James Horner to a young Sharon Stone and Michael Berryman there is a lot of onscreen comfort for movie fans. Unfortunately, the uneven feature keeps “Deadly Blessing” from leaving a lasting mark in the horror genre. Horror fans will enjoy this trip down memory lane, but “Deadly Blessing” will never convert anyone to the genre. Save that task for some of Craven’s other features. Read the full review here...www.theaterthoughts.com/?p=4544
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My review for CineVue www.cine-vue.com/2013/03/blu-ray-review-deadly-blessing-rerelease.html
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www.strangethingsarehappening.com/deadlyblessing.html