Deadly Blessing

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.

Neglected and overlooked Wes Craven film that falls between his best (Hills Have Eyes{1978}) and his worst (Vampire in Brookyn{1995}). The acting is ok and direction is not anything special but competent. Stars Sharon Stone before she became known for her infamous role in Basic Instinct(1992). The film seems to have suffered some cuts that were not the director's choice. I would love to see someone unearth a director's cut of Deadly Blessing(1981) with an alternate ending if such exists. Ernest Borgine replays the kind of person he played in The Devil's Rain(1975). A hard to find Craven pic that is in need of a DVD release by someone who cares about good horror pics. Deadly Blessing(1981) is a good feature film that has its share of flaws and could have used a better lead actress than the one used in the film. Has some daring aspects that were typical of Wes Craven during this stage of his career. The best and my favorite scene of the film involves a snake in a bathtub while a woman takes a bath.

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!...

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.

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!