Have You Ever Watched: White Zombie
This is the tenth in a recurring series I will be doing highlighting obscure, unknown, forgotten and underrated horror movies. The goal is to bring to light great horror of yesterday and today that are just not on most people's radar. Just assume spoilers will be included. Enjoy.
Certainly there were horror movies prior to the 1930’s but when we talk about the decade in which horror started, we talk about the 1930’s. A quick glance at the films released that year you’ll see a majority of the Universal Monsters. Dracula was released in 1931 starring the incomparable Bela Lugosi as well as Frankenstein with Boris Karloff. The decade also saw the release of two sequels for Frankenstein including Bride of Frankenstein which is widely regarded as one of the greatest horror movies of all time.
This busy decade also saw the release of two other Universal Monsters with The Mummy in 1932 and The Invisible Man in 1933. These five iconic movies alone are enough to elevate the decade to the upper echelon but remember that the decade also saw the release of King Kong, The Old Dark House, Freaks and numerous adaptations of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Clearly, horror in film was booming and all of it backed by the big studios of the time Universal, RKO and MGM.
But what about independent horror? Was it too early in the game for independent horror to exist and was it any good? The answer is yes! As a matter of fact, one of the greatest, most influential horror movies of all time was released in 1932 at the height of the big studio booms, it was a film that would go down in infamy, quietly and under the radar. With a familiar name, a familiar star and produced independently by the Halperin brothers, we present White Zombie.
Have you ever watched White Zombie? No? OMG, let me tell you about it.
I’m biased, I absolutely love this film! Starring Bela Lugosi as the evil voodoo sorcerer Murder Legendre. Pause. Before we go any further, starring Bela Lugosi? Dracula himself a tear after Dracula was made had free time to star as a bushy eyebrowed villain in an independent horror film? And his character’s name is Murder Legendre? Amazing! It seems that even at the very beginning of the horror movie movement that independent horror films had a bit of a flair for the dramatic and absurd.
So, the movie opens with a couple who have come to the Caribbean for their wedding but then their carriage ride is interrupted by a road side cemetery and an ominous visit by Murder Legendre and his gang of zombies. Yes, zombies! Who would have known that included in all of the iconic monsters from the 1930’s that the decade also introduced zombies. Now these aren’t the zombies that you’re used to but they are the original, proper zombies. As a matter of fact when George A. Romero was interviewed about Night of the Living Dead and the topic of zombies came up he famously said, “I never thought of my guys as zombies, when I made the first film. To me, zombies were still those boys in the Caribbean doing wet work for Lugosi”. He was talking about White Zombie. There are similarities: the blank stare, the shuffling and the whole being undead thing but that’s where it ends. The zombies in White Zombie aren’t flesh eaters, they’re farm workers and they weren’t reanimated by Trioxin toxin nor did it have anything to do with the Venus space probe. These zombies were purposely made and controlled by Murder Legendre and his voodoo grip.
The pre-wedding couple arrive at the mansion of family friend, and eccentric, Charles Beaumont. Soon it becomes clear that he is madly in love with the bride to be, Madeline, and will try to make her his at any cost. Now, I have a fondness for black and white movies, to me there is an art to film-making and a level of creative eye that needs to go into these films to make them work. When you’re only working in gray-scale, careful considerations must be made regarding textures, lighting and wardrobe. Something that I absolutely love about White Zombie is the bride. The whole movie is dark and drab, set in a drafty cliff side castle at nighttime but the bride, she’s something much different. Bright, pure white shining through the darkness of the rest of the film in her flowing magnificent white dress and veil. Absolutely beautiful film-making.
Mr. Beaumont seeks out Murder to make Madeline his zombie love slave and to do this all it takes is, “just a pinch, in a flower or a glass of wine”. Beaumont gives her the flower on her wedding night and at the reception Murder arrives, carves the bride’s likeness out of a white candle and lights it. Suddenly, she seems dead and is buried in a mausoleum where she is retrieved by Murder’s zombies and brought to his castle to remain as his love slave. Much to Beaumont’s dismay Madeline is a shell of her former self, a brainwashed zombie, emotionless and cold. He takes her to Murder for help but he has his own intentions for the blushing bride. Then with just a pinch, a flower or even a glass of wine he turns Beaumont into one of his zombie slaves.
The grief stricken husband is informed by the townsfolk that his love may not be dead, only zombie dead and under the control of Murder Legendre. He heads to the castle and battles numerous zombies and finally the bride who is commanded to kill her husband. But Murder’s zombie grip is no match for the grip of true love and she awakens from her zombie trance just in time for her lover to push Murder off of a cliff and to his death.
White Zombie is my favorite classic horror monster. I refer to the old days as the Universal Monsters Plus, and that plus is this film. Iconic and beautiful, White Zombie stands the test of time and still is great after nearly 100 years and is so cool that Rob Zombie named his band after the movie. If you haven’t seen it check it out this Halloween season.
If you like this series and would like to catch up, check the archives here and feel free to follow along on letterboxd
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