10 Shocking Horror Movies Where THIS Happened
4. Zombification - The Serpent And The Rainbow (1988)
The Serpent And The Rainbow is a forgotten gem from the creator of A Nightmare On Elm Street, the late Wes Craven. Ethnobotanist Dennis Alan is recruited by a US pharmaceutical company to locate a fabled Haitian drug used in Voodoo zombification rituals. The applications for a 'super anaesthetic' could make a lot of money, so Alan decides to take a chance, and travels to Haiti.
The population live in fear of zombification, a spell which transforms the victims into undead slaves. Alan believes this to be a simple paralysing agent, unaware of the risks.
After being tortured at the hands of Captain Dargent Peytraud (Zakes Mokae on sinister form) and the Tonton Macoute, the Haitian secret police, things couldn't get much worse for Alan. He is, of course, wrong.
A powder is blown into his face which paralyses him within seconds. He then watches helplessly as he is pronounced dead by a coroner. Peytraud takes a second to gloat, knowing Alan is fully aware on the gurney: "In the coffin it is worse... much, much worse."
He is then taken to a graveyard in the dead of night and lowered into the ground. Before the coffin lid is nailed shut, Peytraud then gives him something for company - a very large, very hairy tarantula, which crawls across his frozen face. The coffin lid is nailed shut and he is BURIED ALIVE.
Claustrophobes and arachnophobes beware, this sequence is painfully realistic, especially when you realise this type of superstitious manipulation really happened in Haiti.