This old school voodoo zombie film was made during Hollywood's horror spoof cycle, so the comedic elements take over instead of giving us a great horror movie. This actually had potential, but goofy Hollywood at that time dropped the ball on the horror genre for a good decade or two. This is even a decade before the Abbott and Costello ruin Universal Monsters series.
Mantan Moreland, with his reactions and comedic timing, steals the movie as a central character here, the colored servant in this film made in racist comedy times. Dey's lotsa racial stereotype humor here dat's sad looking back at Hollywood's historical treatment of da black man, but entertaining due to a great performance by a black man in a white man's film where the company Monogram gave him fairly high billing in the credits. I'm sure at the time it was thought to be hilarious, but it's hard to look at films of that time the same way in more recent enlightened times. Despite the political incorrectness, Moreland's comedic talent is evident and zombie fans will find there are some fun quotes here about the walking dead.
STORY: Government man's plane crash-lands on island while searching for a missing Admiral during WWII. They stay at the mansion of a 'doctor'; a house that the man's black servant thinks is crawling with voodoo zombies. They initially dismiss his superstitions while searching for a 2-way radio, but things with their host start getting mighty suspicious and they realize he might be right.
DE-ANIMATION METHODS: Apparently if a zombie eats salt they 'dries up and gets dead again', so zombies eat bland food.
There is some good atmosphere here and it could've made a credible horror film, but it still works as a good (if somewhat dated) comedy starring a great performer whom was later criticized for making a career out of playing up racial stereotypes. I recommend the movie mostly for his performance; just take it with a grain of salt I also recommended this for voodoo zombie fans; just go in knowing it's a comedy.
Mantan Moreland, with his reactions and comedic timing, steals the movie as a central character here, the colored servant in this film made in racist comedy times. Dey's lotsa racial stereotype humor here dat's sad looking back at Hollywood's historical treatment of da black man, but entertaining due to a great performance by a black man in a white man's film where the company Monogram gave him fairly high billing in the credits. I'm sure at the time it was thought to be hilarious, but it's hard to look at films of that time the same way in more recent enlightened times. Despite the political incorrectness, Moreland's comedic talent is evident and zombie fans will find there are some fun quotes here about the walking dead.
STORY: Government man's plane crash-lands on island while searching for a missing Admiral during WWII. They stay at the mansion of a 'doctor'; a house that the man's black servant thinks is crawling with voodoo zombies. They initially dismiss his superstitions while searching for a 2-way radio, but things with their host start getting mighty suspicious and they realize he might be right.
DE-ANIMATION METHODS: Apparently if a zombie eats salt they 'dries up and gets dead again', so zombies eat bland food.
There is some good atmosphere here and it could've made a credible horror film, but it still works as a good (if somewhat dated) comedy starring a great performer whom was later criticized for making a career out of playing up racial stereotypes. I recommend the movie mostly for his performance; just take it with a grain of salt I also recommended this for voodoo zombie fans; just go in knowing it's a comedy.