alexanderdavies-99382 There is no denying that "Deadly Blessing" has some effective scenes and that Wes Craven provides some inspired direction. The photography is great and the setting of the rural countryside is ideal. Casting Ernest Borgnine was certainly a feather in the capital of the film. However, I found the story quite hard to follow and a lack of incident. The climax was good though and also the build up to it. Michael Berryman is underused in "Deadly Blessing" and should have been given much more to do. Throughout the movie, there is an eerie feeling of awaiting some kind of supernatural phenomenon and this does happen after a while. A local farmer is suddenly murdered in his barn one night and this is followed by more violent deaths amongst the local community. Suspicion falls upon an Amish family who are rather set in their religious ways. Their harsh and uncompromising look on every day life could almost make them qualify as villains. Wes Craven was reported to have disliked the ending in the way it attempted to explain all that had happened. Personally, I enjoyed it. Not a bad horror film but it pales in comparison with "The Hills Have Eyes" and "A Nightmare On Elm Street."

Brian T. Whitlock (GOWBTW) Though I was too young for horror movies at that time, I always wanted to see that movie when I got older. In "Deadly Blessing", it was worth it for me. Here you have a very religious community known as the "Hitte". That community make the Amish look like swingers. A couple,(Maren Jensen, "Battlestar Galactica" & Douglas Barr, "The Fall Guy") are about to start a family. But on one night, someone messes around the barn, and is killed by an unknown figure. Friends from college,(Sharon Stone, her debut & Susan Buckner) visits Martha(Jensen) for moral support. The weird son, William(Michael Berryman) loses a shoe when he sneaks around the barn one night. When he tries to get it back, he sneaks around the widow's house, and he too is killed by the unknown killer. When all three friends stay in the house, many frightening things start to occur. Martha takes a bath, and a snake slither its way, but meets its end to a fire poker. Lana (Stone) has the craziest dream to unravel. A pair of hands are placed on her head. And she is asked to "open her mouth". Hoping to be pleasurable, instead a spider comes sliding down to her mouth! A heart attack in the works. Wes Craven is known for his intensity, this movie is great. A true gem. 4 out of 5 stars.

callanvass (Plot) This takes place in an Amish country, at a local farm, where a woman's husband is inexplicably killed by his own tractor. Weird things start to happen after it. Wes Craven sure had some balls, you know that? With Last House on The Left, Nightmare on Elm Street, and this one, Craven is responsible for unique horror films. He also reinvigorated his status in the 90's with New Nightmare & the Scream franchise, but now he's succumbed to making drivel like My Soul to Take (which I barely remember) but he did redeem himself a bit with the highly entertaining Scream IV. I wouldn't say I enjoyed this movie, but I did appreciate its boldness. This movie is seriously out there at times, and a bit too confusing as well. That's my main complaint with this one. It's a bit too hard to tell what's going on at times. The Amish setting is certainly eerie, and provides you with some excellent atmosphere. There isn't a ton of gore, but it does get nasty at times. The scene where Maren Jensen is taking a bath, and a snake pops up is rather frightening. Craven seems to have a thing with creepy things in Bath's. Probably because a bath is very relaxing, and terror while taking a bath isn't expected, usually. Maren Jensen does well in the lead role. She had a couple wooden moments, but nothing too bad. Sharon Stone is as hot as my feet would be if I walked on hot coals. She was very good and showed why she became such a big star. Earnest Borgnine's surreal performance is just plain creepy. The ending is all kinds of messed up as well. Final Thoughts: It's hard to rate this movie. I wasn't disengaged that's for sure, but it's a bit too weird at times. I'm gonna say it's fascinating enough for me to give this a warrant of recommendation. I can't say I enjoyed it, but I gotta give it credit for making me think6/10

Michael_Elliott Deadly Blessing (1981) ** (out of 4) A rather strange, lifeless and forgotten picture from Wes Craven has a woman (Maren Jensen) returning to an Amish-like community with her husband who used to be a member of them. The husband dies under strange circumstances and soon the woman finds herself under attack by someone who doesn't want her there. DEADLY BLESSING is a rather deadly weird movie. For the life of me I couldn't understand if this thing wanted to be some sort of supernatural film or a slasher. Perhaps the film started off as something more supernatural but after the success of Friday THE 13TH it had a few changes to add in some extra gore and violence. The final ten-minutes really seemed to be influence by certain aspects in Friday THE 13TH but I won't name them to avoid spoilers for those who haven't seen the film. For the most part this is a pretty weak film but I think Craven makes it a lot better than it would have been had someone else been in the director's chair. The highlight of the film is an incredibly intense sequence where our main character is taken a bath and someone puts a snake in there with her. This entire sequence is utterly creepy in the way Craven directs the build-up as well as him being able to milk every inch of tension out of it. There are also several shots here that Craven would rip-off from himself in A NIGHTMARE ONE ELM STREET during the sequence where Nancy is taking a bath. The film contains some nudity (a rare thing for Craven), some bloody violence and a nice twist ending but none of these things can completely make up for the flaws. The biggest flaw is that this thing is really dragged out at 101-minutes and the entire subplot of one of the boys from the group wanting to break free and join the real world just adds up to a lot of boring nothings. The performances are also rather hit and miss, although I did like Jensen in her lead role. It was also somewhat fun seeing Sharon Stone playing on of her friends but the performance itself isn't all that great. Former Oscar-winner Ernest Borgnine plays the leader of the group in what has to be called one of his least memorable screen roles. Michael Berryman also appears as one of the family members. DEADLY BLESSING might be of interest to fans of the cast or those wanting to see everything Craven has directed but others will want to stay clear as it just can't overcome the weak story.