Deadly Blessing

Starring: Sharon Stone, Ernest Borgnine, Michael Berryman, Maren Jensen, Susan Buckner, Douglas Barr

Synopsis:

After her husband Jim (Doug Barr) dies under mysterious circumstances, Martha Schmidt (Maren Jensen) attempts to live life as normal, or as normal as she can with a Hittite community nearby. Two old friends that she went to college with arrive to give her some comfort following the accident. Very soon the three become embroiled in a mystery that could be supernatural, wit all three battling to survive against an unknown assailant.

After the cruel and more horrific movies; Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes, Wes Craven directed this far more sedate tale of potential demonic activity in and around a restrictive Hittite community. It’s a bit of a curiosity because it is so different from his previous movies; yet it paves the way towards A Nightmare on Elm Street with some visual cues that will get repeated in future movies.

The title Deadly Blessing (“Blessing” is the name of the Schmidt farmhouse, in the story) suggests a far more horrific tale than it actually is. For me, the movie is more of a melodrama with a horror overtone. I think of it as a spicier TV movie of the week focusing on a religious community that delivers a strict regime on how the people should live their lives.

The Hittite people, in the movie, resemble the Amish in the way that they live but dialogue in the screenplay ensures that the viewer knows that there is a difference. People still get confused. Even Michael Berryman refers to them as Amish in interviews. Little of their actual lifestyle is shown, or their beliefs. One of the most interesting characters, played by Ernest Borgnine is heavily underused. Any chance of character depth is swept by with Fire and Brimstone dialogue. Michael Berryman is also hideously underused. (No pun intended). Berryman had already been established as the go to guy for the weird and wonderful in horror movies, notably so in Craven’s own thrill ride, The Hills Have Eyes.

On the whole, the performances are strong enough. Borgnine is effective as Isaiah. Sharon Stone impresses in her first proper role. Generally, the acting is of the 80s TV standard; not awful but not exceptional.

One very obvious visual gag that Craven effectively repeats in A Nightmare on Elm Street is the bath scene. A snake sneaks into Martha’s bathroom while she indulges in a relaxing soak. The camera’s POV is proactively positioned to show her in the bath with her legs apart. The snake pops up out of the water between. Craven would later replicate this in the movie A Nightmare on Elm Street , with Freddy’s gloved hand threatening Heather Langenkamp in the tub, before attacking and dragging her into the water.

James Horner provided the score, and although it’s different from the scores he is most famous for with genre fans, you can still pick out some trademark sounds that he would later employ in movies like Aliens.

Summary:

Deadly Blessing is very much a product of it’s time, with long sequences of quiet time before something happens. I watched Joseph Zito’s The Prowler (aka Rosemary’s Killer) recently and it was similar in that respect. Modern audiences tend to want the tension and gore throughout. The lack of exploration into the background of the Hittites is also a bit of a fail. What the movie does do right is pre-empt the post-feminist action heroine, as the female characters go on the offensive in this movie. Deadly Blessing is quite unlike most horrors and is a curiosity worth having a look.

Haven’t I Seen Them Before?

Maren Jensen was the original Athena in the 1978 TV series of Battlestar Galactica.Doug Barr was famous for being Colt Seaver’s sidekick, Howie Munson, in the The Fall Guy with Lee Majors.Lisa Hartman was famous for being in Knot’s Landing, as Cathy Geary.

6 out of 10 (Wayfarer)

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