Wise Blood
A cult classic from the canon of one of Hollywood’s most towering directors, Wise Blood is one of John Huston’s lesser-known masterpieces, yet widely regarded as one of the finest religious dramas ever made.
Featuring a cast of some of Hollywood’s most respected actors, including the legendary Huston (The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen) himself, Wise Blood is loaded with amazing imagery, subversive humour and powerful appeal.
Wise Blood will be released for the first time ever on DVD on 2 March 2009 courtesy of Second Sight. War veteran Hazel Motes (Brad Dourif – One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Mississippi Burning) returns from battle with little waiting for him but the hypocrisies of the over-zealous evangelists that populate his bible-belt hometown.
‘Jesus Saves’ read the neon-lit signs that litter the streets. With an upbringing fuelled by fire and brimstone sermons Hazel realises he has had enough and begins his own rebellious crusade against the town, founding ‘The Church of Truth Without Jesus Christ’.
Featuring an all star cast including Ned Beatty (Deliverance, All The President’s Men), Harry Dean Stanton (Alien, Coolhand Luke) and Amy Wright (The Accidental Tourist, The Scarlet Letter), Wise Blood is blasphemous, thought provoking, funny, tragic and moving, exploring the weight of human deception, belief and redemption, while also exposing some of the hidden ‘evils’ of evangelism, the hypocrisy, the corruption and the hold its disciples had over southern towns.
Wise Blood is a Southern Gothic masterpiece, darkly comic and wonderfully sinister, steeped in atmosphere, and driven by amazing performances.