Review“No connection. According to Martha, the Hittites make the Amish look like swingers.” – LanaWow, I vaguely remember really enjoying this movie when it hit cinemas Downunder way back when, and was delighted to see Umbrella Entertainment had seen fit to release a R4 DVD, so I naturally snatched the movie up and ran home to get a viewing. Well actually I took a train – shut up, that’s called poetic licence, moving along here. Must admit to being extremely disappointed this time around; Craven has turned in something of a mess of a movie that’s not sure what it should be doing. There are any number of competing sub genres trying to get attention in Deadly Blessing with Craven weaving his way through the various requirements without going to bed with anyone of them. Yes, it’s part slasher, it’s part giallo, and just when you think all bases are covered Craven rolls into the supernatural side of the tarot deck with a shocking left-field final scene that though well staged and barely hinted at still manages to detract from the overall movie. If the final scene had been cut then I do think Craven would be applauded for having another classic on his hands. I’m blaming Brian De Palma for instituting the requirement though Carrie (1976). When Martha’s husband is mysteriously killed in a barn accident involving a tractor and the word “incubus” painted on the wall, her two friends from LA, Lana and Vicky, head on out to keep her company in the rural heartland. Unfortunately for the city folk they’ll need to contend with the local wildlife, the next door neighbour pseudo Amish community, and quite possibly a supernatural entity of some sort. There’s also Faith from down the road who gives gifts of eggs and paints some pretty freaky canvasses. Actually Faith’s mother also has some roos loose in the top paddock come to think of it. The three gals tend to spend a huge amount of time lounging in their lingerie, guess it’s all part of the rural grieving process or something, and getting chased by various things. Some sort of movie ensues that has a couple of twists that you probably won’t see coming, assuming you get towards the resolution and haven’t turned it off. So what works with this movie? Actually quite a lot if we forgive the final scene and pretend it never actually ended up clamped to the tail end of Deadly Blessing. Craven keeps us in the dark over who is committing the murders right up to the final unmasking, take a walk on the wild side there. Could it be the “Hittites” who make no bones about wanting to buy up Martha’s land which adjoins their rural paradise? How about Faith and her mother, the roos are bounding through the top paddock in that family? Or could there be a supernatural explanation? You are going to have to catch the movie to get your answer, but it surprised me in a sort of Norman Bates fashion. You got to love a movie that throws a left field resolution at you, and makes it all perfectly logical in a weird sort of fashion. Craven’s murder set pieces are handled well and show an informed look at 1970s Italian gialli from the likes of Bava or Argento. In fact Craven pretty much copies Argento’s use of gloved hands and non-showing of the villain in order to keep the mystery flowing. This film doesn’t have a high body count but is certainly stylised in presenting the few it does have. So what scares you? Craven throws in a mixed bag in an attempt to creep out various audience members with phobias. Don’t like spiders, then Craven has you covered: a lot of hairy monsters crawling around throughout, and poor Sharon Stone – that scene will lodged itself in your memory well after the closing credits, an arachnophobe’s worse nightmare kids. Wild dogs not your thing, Craven has one appear in a scene that makes no sense really, but if Cujo sees you diving behind the sofa then the director has you in mind. Snakes send the chills down your spine, we get a bathtub scene which works as a preview of Nancy’s bath time fun with Freddy in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Surprisingly Martha’s bath time playmate does work in the context of Deadly Blessing, but you may want to think it through; Craven throws a big hint that there may be more than one killer with this scene. Craven overall goes with a washed-out sepia look that works for the rural gothic, very mood-inducing and handled well. The opening scene, which shows black and white photos before gradually the scene comes to life in colour, introduced the notion of the “Hittites” being caught in a time loop, was pretty stunning and got to the point very quickly. Notably the use of photos to give a quick background to current events informs a lot of movies since Deadly Blessing, proving the film is at least influential in horror circles. Maren Jensen (Martha), here in her last screen role, presents a pretty good performance without over doing anything. Nice solid day at the office without having me all enthusiastic. Sharon Stone (Lana), first speaking role, looks slightly out of place and I guess was trying to turn in a sort of gal traumatised thing. Reminded me of Judith O’Dea’s performance in Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Not the best outing for Stone, and surprisingly she’s a weak link in this movie. Susan Buckner (Vicky) was the best of the female cast for mine but was noticeably slightly too old for the role. Good performance that had me nodding my head in approval. Jeff East (John) nailed it as the wide-eyed innocent Hittite farm boy out for some booty call and getting more than he bargained for. Ernest Borgnine (Isaiah) simply blew the house down with an over the top and menacing display that wowed me two sides of Sunday. One of Borgnine’s best ever performances, he simply had all bases covered here. Special mention of genre fave Michael Berryman, who does another Berryman role following his work for Craven in The Hills Have Eyes (1977). You simply have never heard fear put into the word “incubus” till you have it from Berryman’s lips. Guys get down tonight; Craven throws in some T&A with Maren Jensen going naked during a bathroom scene. Hell yeah, worth a look just for that. The gals get the square root as ever, great to be male, huh? James Horner delivers a score that pretty much covers Craven’s bases. Eerie, tension-filled, and hitting all the right notes in the right places. One of the better horror scores that Jerry Goldsmith had nothing to do with. Well I was excited to finally get my hands on a copy of Deadly Blessing, and sorry to the pensioners I was pushing out of the way to get the only copy down JB way. What the hell are you doing in the horror section anyway? The movie wasn’t as good overall as I remember from a cinema outing, but wasn’t as bad as the poor reviews it received would lead you to believe. Some nice tension-filled scenes, all about Lana’s trip to the barn that dripped blood, a good left field resolution that I didn’t see coming, and overall there were enough chills in the air to keep me jiving to Craven’s beat. What happened Wes, when did it all go downhill? There are some poor aspects to the movie, the final shock scene that undermines the rest of the flow, the narrator that frames the movie adding nothing, and the trite cinema advertisement for Summer of Fear. But overall a pretty good film that had me sucker punched throughout. I was all over the place deciding what rating to give Deadly Blessing but finally averaged it at seven. Wes Craven had previously made the horror cult classics The Last House on the Left (1972), The Hills Have Eyes (1977), and was of course on his way to making the heavy-hitting smash hit A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) when he was called in as a gun for hire to make Deadly Blessing. If you like horror flicks of the old school variety then hunt down Deadly Blessing for a screening one evening. The movie will definitely pay you back, but probably won’t make your top twenty movie list anytime soon. There’s at least one iconic scene, it involves a spider and Sharon Stone done for real, so you’ll at least take something to the bank from the movie. If you see the word “incubus” painted on your garage wall run for the frigging hills, it’s not going to end up all wine and roses.
ScaryMinds Rates this movie as ... Very much a mixed blessing.
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