Deadly Blessing

Trailer—Deadly Blessing

For a long time, I've remembered a film where someone was asleep with their mouth wide-opened and a spider goes from the ceiling into their mouth... this is that film! Now I know which film I was trying to remember. -- Warning if spiders and snakes bother you in a film then you might want to pass this one up!! This isn't a bad film... rather fun to watch. There is a group of Hittites (Amish like-community) that live near the modern people. Some of the moderns are afraid of the Hittites - especially when the Hittites call some of them an Incubus and refuse to let their kin speak to them. People end up with strange deaths. The questions: Is it the Hittites? Is it the strange Christian family? Is it some of the other moderns? Or is it an Incubus? There is great casting this film. Suspenseful, scary at times and a lot of fun to watch. 8/10

Wes Craven was attached to this project which should be enough for me to watch ... That being said its got excellent cinematography for its time, perfect music score, good acting and sexy beautiful girls ...and what do you know, an original horror plot. I found this film to have a great ambiance and artsy vibe, the location elevated the film and the death scenes were similar to those of Dario Argento .. (suspiria). The ending was a bit blotchy, but overall the film was very good with great scares, you can tell while watching it that its something created by the master behind SCREAM! It truly deserves a higher rating and more acknowledgement ... and even a remake ... (under tim burton or wan?) Ps. Be wary of the Amish lol FINAL GRADE B

How goofy is it that the villains in this are obvious stand ins for the super pacifist Amish? The same ones that refuse to kill even in self defense. I made it halfway through this film before giving up in frustration. Nothing happens except a tractor accident. Then I read the reviews describing a snake in a tub and a spider falling down a throat. Fast forwarded to the scenes. Yawn...big deal. Of minor interest only for having a very young Sharon Stone.

Like great wines, Craven's Deadly Blessing improves with age. When looking over the spectrum of his cinema one can see how this films fits into that particular period in his career when he struggled to finance A Nightmare on Elm Street. Unfortunately that classic would not appear until after Swamp Thing and Hills Have Eyes 2. But here we have a story closer than usual to Wes Cravens's heart, repression, religious conflict and social devision, therefore it comes as quite a surprise that Craven does not regard this as one of his more accomplished efforts.

In a once peaceful farming community, a series of unexplainable events creates tension and confusion in a film that begs for a better understood script. Several disturbing scenes are really never tied together with a cohesive plot, and thus the bewildered viewer is left holding an empty bag of hope, and unfortunately things only get worse as the movie progresses. This is not story telling, but merely several undeveloped ideas. The presence of the always interesting Michael Berryman, and a sadistic performance from Ernest Borgnine as the cult elder, cannot overcome some intriguing visuals and ridiculous plot twists. I would classify this as more a missed opportunity than anything else, and it's a real shame because of the wasted potential. - MERK

When a farmer is killed in his barn, his wife, Martha (Maren Jensen) finds herself up against a local Amish-like group, known as the Hittites. When Martha's friends, Lana and Vicky (Sharon Stone and Susan Buckner) arrive for a visit, horror ensues. It seems that someone is bumping off believers and non-believers alike, making an already bad situation much worse! Ernest Borgnine is perfectly glum as the stolid Isaiah, leader of the Hittites. This is easily his best role since THE DEVIL'S RAIN. Director Wes Craven pulls out all the stops here, using spiders, snakes, chickens, religious madness, Sharon Stone in awesome nightwear, and Ernest Borgnine in a beard to incite terror! Sort of a wacky giallo, complete with black-gloved killer, there's much enjoyment to be had! P.S.- The final conflict in the farmhouse, and the hellish epilogue must be witnessed to be believed!...

This was awesome fun! I totally loved it, from beginning to end. I don't see why this got such mixed and/or bad reviews! This was great. Yes, the script could've used another polish, but after I saw it once I figured out what was happening. Maren Jensen, Sharon Stone, and Susan Buckner are bodacious babes living in a farmhouse in the remote countryside, surrounded on all sides by a religious cult known as the Hittites. Soon weird things start happening and people begin to die. Who is responsible? Is it the Hittites? Or something else? This is great! Rent it! Buy it! Cherish it! There are such great scenes, such as the scene in the barn (I swear, this scene had me jumping out of my socks!), the bathtub sequence, the double murder in the car, the peeping tom sequence, and the finale which was awesome! See this one, you won't be disappointed!

I have a soft spot for this movie since I saw it years ago. The plot goes haywire in all kinds of directions and nothing much actually happens (it is a little too slow-moving for it's own good). But it is imaginatively directed I think, with nice touches (the bath, the dream with the spider, the barnsequence) and an overall creepy atmosphere. Of course, the acting has it's weak spots with some overacting and some none-acting, but the women are all gorgeus and Maren Jensens husband isn't a badlooking fella' himself but he doesn't get much screentime. The ending, as so many have pointed out, is just a little bit silly/weak and I suspect that there was an alternative one (it seems so much like a tacked-on scene). But I don't understand that so many people really dislike this film. It's not the best from Mr Craven (he has done far worse. "Deadly Friend", "Swamp thing" and "The Hills have eyes 2" are truly embarassing). If it shows up as a late-night movie, give it a try!

A solid shocker, ruined by a botched story and a ridicolous finale, but already demonstrating the greatness of his director, Wes Craven. A couple of scenes in the movie (like the dream spider sequence with a young and pretty Sharon Stone, and the almost heartstopping snake in the bath scene) are really good and even the movie is good for more than half is length. Alas, the botched explanation of the resolution of the story (really stupid and very similar to another movie of those years - Sleepaway Camp) and the really ridicolous demon apparition at the end of the movie soften the total impact of this otherwise more than watchable thriller with mildly supernatural tones.