12 Hidden Gem Zombie Movies You've Probably Never Seen

Despite the potent combination of zombies and legendary horror director Wes Craven, The Serpent And The Rainbow remains an underseen curiosity in the Nightmare On Elm Street and Scream helmer's filmography.

The film reaches back beyond Romero to the idea of the zombie in Haitian Vodou traditions. Adapted from the non-fiction book of the same name by Harvard-educated anthropologist Wade Davis, The Serpent And The Rainbow is the closest thing that there is to a "based on a true story" zombie movie.

There may be little scientific corroboration for Davis's observations of "real life zombie" Clairvius Narcisse, and the possible combination of toxins, hallucinogens and cultural beliefs that made him seem to die and then be resurrected mindless and suggestible. But they do make the basis for an original and intriguing horror film.

Set against the backdrop of the 1986 Haitian uprising, the film uses a heavily fictionalised version of Davis, Bill Pullman's Dennis Alan, as an anthropologist hired by a pharmaceutical company looking to use Haitian Vodou drugs as anaesthetics. In Haiti Alan tangles with the commander of the Tonton Macoute (the real-life dicatorship's paramilitary organisation, named after a local bogeyman) who is also a "bokor", a Vodou witch doctor.

Craven's attempt to tackle complex political and religious themes and take the zombie movie back to its roots is ambitious and doesn't always work smoothly, but it's nothing if not unique and distinct from the rest of the genre.