White Zombie
                                                                                    
Director: Halperin Brothers
Year: 1932
Rating: 6.5
This is considered to be the first full-feature zombie film. It wasn't until 1929 when a play about voodoo came out and a book about voodoo in Haiti was released that it became a popular subject. This was an independent film produced and directed by the Halperin brothers. It is reported to have been made for $50,000 but looks much better than that because they shot it on the Universal lot and used many of their props and sets. It is a shame that Universal didn't shoot it because it would have fit in nicely with their other horror offerings. The wonderful spooky mansion with the long staircase was already there. This was still pre-code and I have my doubts if the horror aspects of this could have been made in another two years. This has taken on some cult status over the years and in the 1970s there were showings in which the female co-star of this appeared. I see that this is out on Blu-ray now, but the copy I saw was right off of YouTube and rather crummy. The film is admittedly slow and creaky as early talkies tended to be, but still rather cool with some interesting choice of shots.



Much of the cult status has to do with Bela Lugosi as the Voodoo Master. It might seem strange that Lugosi coming right off of Dracula would take a job for a cheapie like this, but he was always short of money. It took eleven days to film. He is terrific in this with his patented Lugosi stare and his hairline looking like that of Eddie Munster. Not that he has to do much more than stare and intone menacing pronouncements in his accented voice. Most of the rest of the cast probably came cheap other than Madge Bellamy who was a star of sorts at the time but quickly fading out.



She has a tiny face with large eyes that make her perfect for going into a trance for much of the film. She must have been hell to live with as she had two marriages that both lasted less than a year. One for four days as she refused to talk to her husband on their honeymoon because he ate ham and eggs for breakfast. Much later in life, she wrote an autobiography. Should have titled it Ham and Eggs for Breakfast. The other cast member of note is Clarence Muse - he plays the black coach driver wearing the top hat like the witch doctor does in Live and Let Die. He had an all-around prominent career - appearing in the first all-black film, Hearts in Dixie, was a theater producer in Harlem and wrote the wonderful song When It's Sleepy Down South. He only gets a few minutes here but warns the couple about the zombies.



A young couple are in Haiti to get married. They have been invited by a wealthy landowner that she met on the boat to get married at his mansion. As they drive along a voodoo ritual is taking place in the middle of the road to a very nice piece of music written for the film. Then they come across Murder Legendre (Lugosi) who stops the carriage and gives them the stare and grabs her scarf. Behind him are his zombies. The husband to be says jovially, I guess this wasn't a great introduction to Haiti. Legendre has a sugar mill and uses zombies to work it. As he semi-jokingly says, they don't mind the long hours. Probably no chance of striking either. A capitalist's dream. Turns out that the owner who invited them is actually madly in love with Bellamy and goes to Lugosi for a solution. No problem. I will make it appear that she is dead, bury her and when the husband leaves, I will bring her back to life. As a zombie. Except zombie's are pretty boring as he finds out. Legendre has a group of former enemies that he turned into zombies who now serve him and each is more gruesome than the next. He can turn them into killers through his mind control. 67-minutes.