Director: John Gilling
Year: 1966
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Zombie
Plot:
After a series of strange disappearances in the area, a professor heads to a remote village where he finds the brutish village headmaster using voodoo rites to reanimate the dead and use them as his personal slaves, forcing them to race to stop the madman before he can accomplish any more misdeeds.
Review:
This was an absolutely enjoyable effort all around, with a lot to like about it. One of the film’s better qualities here is the overall atmosphere, which has plenty of stellar work about it. A lot of that comes from a spectacular Gothic village complete with the perpetual fog bank around it, while detailing the numerous superstitions held by the locals, which only fuels this one nicely. That’s introduced early on with their visit to the village countryside, interrupted by the funeral that signals the introduction of their backwards customs and beliefs, which bring about that sense of Gothic flavor to be had in the rest of the film. From the slow-burning revelations about the mysterious body disappearing ploy to the discovery of witchcraft as the culprit, there’s a lot of wonderful atmosphere at work here.
What makes this even creepier, though, is a lot of voodoo-related rituals and such happening in these creepy locations that are perfect for this sort of film. It starts immediately with the tribal ceremony taking place with all the tribal drumming and elaborate ritualistic paraphernalia that signal the witchcraft origins rather well, carrying on through the rest of the film. The sly bits here, from the fusing over the drinking glasses, which produce some fun with the realization of its purpose, to the controlling factor of keeping the investigator confounded with dead ends and red tape, while he carries out his plans in focus. The main part of the finale furthers that as well, taking in sacrificial ceremonies and plenty of combat with the henchmen to make for a rousing time, including the old Hammer standard of burning-the-house-down finale that always works well in these films.
The other factor to be found here is in the treatment of the zombies and how they’re portrayed. Beyond having a group of fine-looking creatures on-screen that look imposing and threatening with their sunken, grey faces and bulging eyes, their motivation of being taken as slaves to be controlled by a master to do his bidding harkens back to the absolute beginnings of the gene, where that was also the case with the creatures. That they’re kept off-screen and only used sporadically, as there are only two scenes featuring them before the finale, which manages to make this a fairly intriguing take on the creatures.
There aren’t really all that many flaws to be found here, although the main issue that springs up is the absolutely bizarre mindset of the locals to ignore everything as if they’ve been paid off to ignore the Count’s activities. That they’ve been aware of the deaths but not inclined to suspect the stranger secluded outside their walls, who is far more dapper and refined compared to their superstitious manners, strikes as odd, especially once the pattern of death keeps emerging and he refuses any details on the matter. Likewise, some of the stuntwork here with the fire is clumsy and obvious, giving away the fake nature quite clearly and momentarily becoming jarring. Otherwise, this was a solid and engaging effort.
Overview: ****.5/5
An incredibly strong and enjoyable Hammer outing, this one comes across incredibly well and manages to have quite a lot that holds this up over a few minor drawbacks, which hold it down slightly. Those with an interest in this style or era of genre fare, who are curious about it, or are hardcore zombie fans, will have a lot to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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