Classic B Horror Movie - White Zombie

Bela Lugosi possibly the finest horror movie actor ever, follows up the success of Dracula with White Zombie. This is a classic horror movie that offers a decent story that was produced by the Halperin Brothers.

If you have not seen this zombie flick …..
Horror Guy says …. what are you waiting for?

White Zombie
White Zombie drips with atmosphere from the opening, as eerie chanting accompanies the credits and Madeleine (Madge Bellamy) arrives at midnight to witness a mysterious burial before coming face to face with the satanic looking Murder Legendre (Lugosi with goatee and searing eyes), a hypnotist and voodoo master who has been supplying the local mills with an army of zombie laborers. Madeleine’s nightmare is just beginning. Having landed in a world of almost perpetual night, where hollow-eyed zombies lumber through the sugar mill and the ghostly town is eerily bereft of living souls, she becomes the object of desire for Legendre, whose plan to possess her involves her initiation to the world of the undead. This first zombie movie is also one of the best, with Lugosi’s archly sinister performance dominating the film (thankfully obscuring a lot of overacting by supporting players), and astounding sets and gorgeous matte paintings creating a wondrous sense of poetic doom. –Sean Axmaker 
 

Customer Review: Delightfully yummy…
A diabolical voodoo master plots to turn a beautiful young American into a WHITE ZOMBIE, a slave of his perverted passions… Here is one of the great unheralded horror classics of the 1930’s. Almost forgotten today, it is an excellent example of what can be accomplished by an obscure film company (in this case Halperin Productions) working with a tiny budget, but using enormous flair & imagination. Some of the visuals - the opening scene of the burial on the road, the sugar mill worked by zombies - remain in the imagination for an uncomfortable amount of time, one sure sign of true success for a horror film. Certain of the settings - the hillside graveyard, the villain’s towering fortress - are as good as you’ll find anywhere. Additionally, the moody music of Xavier Cugat & the make-up wizardry of Jack Pierce help tremendously. But it’s the performance of Bela Lugosi, looking utterly satanic, which is truly memorable. Released the year following his celebrated Dracula, WHITE ZOMBIE gives him another character which, in measures of pure menace, is easily the equal of the Count. With his mesmeric eyes, expressive, spider-like hands & wonderfully eerie voice, Lugosi radiates absolute evil. This talented Austro-Hungarian actor (born Béla Ferenc Dezsõ Blaskó, 1882-1956) would fritter away much of his career in low-budget dregs, but here he must have realized he was in competent hands and he is obviously having a wonderful time. To see his imposing, cloaked figure stalk about the screen, closely followed by his Living Dead slaves, is to enjoy one of cinema’s most deliciously spooky moments. Madge Bellamy & John Harron are both impressive as Lugosi’s victims. Robert Frazer is very good indeed as the plantation owner whose obsession for Miss Bellamy throws him right into Lugosi’s clutches. Elderly Joseph Cawthorn scores as the aged missionary who may be the only person wise enough to thwart the zombie master. Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited Clarence Muse as the frightened coach driver in the opening sequence.

Customer Review: A “B” Horror Masterpiece
This atmospheric horror film of a happy young couple finding danger on a Hatain plantation is a “B” horror classic. Coming closely on the heels of Lugosi’s “Dracula,” “White Zombie” has much of the same atmosphere and look of that film. Brothers Edward (producer) and Victor (director) Halperin worked with cinematographer Arthur Martinelli to give Garnett Weston’s story of zombies an eerie look and fun atmosphere. Anyone popping this one in late at night won’t be disappointed. John Harrow and pretty Madge Bellamy star as the young lovers who learn right away that those who work in the sugar mills, and the fields at night, are no longer men, but dead bodies. Lugosi is their master, controlling the glassy-eyed undead at every turn. Plantation owner Charles Beaumont (Robert Frazer) loves Madeleine (Madge Bellamy) also, but cannot convince her not to marry her true love, Neil (John Harrow). He will finally turn to Lugosi for help, but Lugosi has his own plans for the beautiful young bride. The discovery that her body has been removed will lead her new husband Neil and his new friend Dr. Bruner (Joseph Cawthorn), a missionary, to follow a trail to Lugosi’s foreboding castle by the sea in order to break the zombie spell and save her soul. This is a “B” horror masterpiece which is a lot of fun to watch. The ending doesn’t disappoint in this one either, as it does in “Dracula.” Don’t miss this one!

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