Director: Victor Halperin
Year: 1932
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Zombie
Plot:
Moving into a new house in Haiti, the next-door neighbor's secret of running his profitable sugar mill holds a deadly secret for his success, and when she eventually stumbles upon it, he takes drastic action to keep her silent and forcing her husband to stop him before she becomes a zombie-like slave under his control.
Review:
With only a few mildly decent good points, this one feels like a really overrated film that barely warrants its status. What really works here is that there are plenty of rather good shots of the zombies in here that are quite fun, starting with the opening voodoo burial in the middle of the street which they pass by on the way to the house which really does look good. The first scene of them up on the hilltops has a pretty great look to it, as it shows them off in the distance and really comes the closest to determining the sheer number of them present in the film, and a really impressive scene is the one pan in the plantation showing scores of zombies divided into teams working on numerous different devices in a huge, multi-tiered workshop really looks good.
This one here even manages to contain a really chilling grave-robbing from the crypt where it shows the zombies move the coffin from within in a gloriously Gothic sequence. There is a whole lot to this film from their look as well, with the blank expressions, robotic movement, and bulging eyes that create a distinct look here. The last big plus is the final confrontation, which injects some action to the proceedings with the voodoo being fashioned and the possessed attempting to carry out an execution order against a friend leading to a fine if brief confrontation with the creatures that come off nicely as it does give it a little life and keeps it from slipping lower.
Otherwise, these here are all that work for the film as this here is a really lackluster film. Most of that is due to the film not doing much of anything for most of the running time. This one talks out everything and doesn't seem concerned with giving it too much action, as in a film that short, it can be crucial to keep the interest going and this one spends most of it doing nothing. For a huge part of the time, there's nothing going on as his attempts to control her mind and his dealings with the father as their attempt to come together for their agreement make for some really bland, boring action-less scenes for the most part and it makes the film feel a lot longer than it's running time indicates.
The last flaw in the film is its pathetic excuses for zombies. Those used to more modern fare will have a hard time getting any fear out of these creatures, and they really only serve several scenes they're present. This here doesn't treat the zombies as threats, making them even less frightening than normally featured in such films since the little screen time, non-threatening nature and unmodern behavior from these zombies really destroy this one. These issues are the flaws of the film.
Overview: */5
A disappointing, dull and completely overrated feature that doesn't have much going for it, the few positives here are somewhat disappointing as the main negatives are more than enough to keep this one down. It’s really only for the most devout fans of this era of the genre or fans of the creative crew, while most others out there won’t find much value here and should heed extreme caution with it.
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