FILM · 1981
Deadly Blessing
22 archived facts 2 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (22)
- #001
The idea of the snake in the bathtub came to Wes Craven in a dream.
- #002
The producers imposed on Wes Craven an ending in which the nightmares rise from the ground.
- #003
It was Sharon Stone's first major speaking role in a theatrical film.
- #004
Sharon Stone had an acting coach on set throughout the filming of this movie.
- #005
Ernest Borgnine had to be taken to hospital for treatment of a head injury after an accident involving a horse and carriage. However, Borgnine returned to the set three days later to continue acting in the film.
- #006
It was actress Maren Jensen's last film and television credit.
- #007
The film was known for its famous scene in which a spider falls into a woman's mouth. The woman in question was played by Sharon Stone, then little known and also the face of many of the film's posters. Stone would later achieve great fame with her breakthrough film role in Basic Instinct (1992), about ten years later. Director Wes Craven tried to persuade her to shoot the spider scene by holding the creature himself. Still unconvinced, Stone demanded that its fangs be removed. Although the crew knew this would make feeding the spider incredibly difficult, the procedure was carried out and Stone agreed to continue.
- #008
Maren Jensen used a stand-in for some of her nude scenes.
- #009
Susan Buckner was pregnant when she took a role in this film.
- #010
It is one of four collaborations between actor Michael Berryman and director Wes Craven. The films include Deadly Blessing (1981), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), The Hills Have Eyes (1977) and The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1984).
- #011
Two years before the release of Sleepaway Camp (1983), this slasher film contained a surprise in which the female killer is revealed to actually be a man.
- #012
The fictional rural religious sect living in a farming community in Pennsylvania was called the "Hittites." The religious group was said to be based on the Amish community, which would find popular cinematic fame about four years later with their inclusion in the major motion picture Witness (1985). At one point in Deadly Blessing (1981), it is stated that the Hittites "make the Amish look like swingers."
- #013
The paintings were generally made by a female artist who produced medical illustrations.
- #014
Co-screenwriter Glenn M. Benest came up with the idea of the strict Hittite religious sect after reading an article about the Amish in National Geographic.
- #015
The isolated rural farm where the farmers and the Hittites lived and worked was called "Our Blessing."
- #016
It is one of six film scores composed by James Horner among the films first released in 1981. The other two were also for horror films, "Wolfen (1981)" and "The Hand (1981)."
- #017
Ernest Borgnine played an Amish farmer in the 1955 film noir "Violent Saturday."
- #018
The name of the religious cult the Hittites held for a demonic figure or demonic entity was "Incubus." In fact, a horror film titled The Incubus (1981) was first released the following year, after Deadly Blessing (1981) had opened in cinemas.
- #019
The tombstones in the cemetery were made of styrofoam.
- #020
The final title sequence at the end of the film begins before the narrator's closing dialogue is finished.
- #021
It is the first of two theatrical films with "deadly" in the title directed by Wes Craven, who would go on to direct Deadly Friend (1986) about five years later.
- #022
The trailer was narrated by Percy Rodrigues.
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