(Reviewed by Eminem4569) - DEADLY BLESSING (1981)

Before Scream, Basic Instinct, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Casino, there was Deadly Blessing.

Yes, Wes Craven directed this film. Yes, Sharon Stone was one of the main characters. However, this does not portray their talents very well. It is no wonder Craven does not regard this as one of his more accomplished efforts.

The story, if you want to call it that, is about a former Hittite (a member of an Amish-like sect) who dies in a mysterious tractor accident and his widow is left to face the frightening Hittites who view her as the incubus and may have sinister plans for her. Might not sound all that horrible but the way it is written together seems like the writers (not Craven thankfully) just thought of some cool scenes then connected them by trying to develop characters. They obviously failed horribly.

One of the two writers Glenn M. Benest has worked on 7 projects over the last 26 years, 4 of them for television, the theatrical releases being this along with the critically acclaimed efforts (ha ha) He Married a Lover and Hungry Lovers. The even bigger success has been Matthew Barr, who besides doing this has also done the teleplay for 1989’s made for TV movie The Forgotten.

There are many problems with this film like…

*The narration at the beginning and end adds nothing to the film.

*The music sounds way too much like the music in The Omen.

*Susan Buckner and Jeff East’s characters fall in love way too fast, like Meg Ryan and Hugh Grant would if they were ever in a film together.

*Why was there blood in milk carton?

*Sharon Stone looks stoned when she is ( poorly ) acting.

This is absolutely the biggest problem, which insults any viewer of this film’s intellect. When Susan Buckner's car is dosed with gasoline, she tries to drive away only to die when the car blows up. Why didn't she just step out of the car! It is obvious that would be everyone’s initial instinct. My god! She deserved to die!

Obviously I could go on about this film, but I won’t. I will reserve that for a turkey (no star) film. I give this film 1 star because Wes Craven comes from psycho-crazed over-the-top religious parents. I think that was his purpose with this film; he found it scary as hell as a child and wanted the rest of us to watch in terror.

* 1 star