White Zombie (one and a half stars total) Did the band formed in 1985 really get its name from this 1932 movie? According to Wikipedia, yes. This shouldn't come as a surprise, since most of the band's song lyrics refer to various horror classics. Should this movie be considered one of those classics? According to my "100 Years of Horror Movies" list, yes. It's the first in a very long line of zombie movies and Bela Lugosi's first villainous follow-up to Dracula (1931). Zombie staples like race relations, class conflict, and a little bit of consumer culture are all present. That last one may be a stretch, but I'm referring to Mr. Beaumont's character, the plantation owner, objectifying another man's bride as if her heart can be bought or stolen. Softcore, another horror movie staple, might have got its start with this movie. There's a scene of the bride in her underwear right before the wedding, and jungle drums can be heard in the distance. Then again, maybe that's just to foreshadow that she's about to be "stripped" of her personality when she's transformed into a zombie. The idea of being drugged and buried alive on your wedding night is definitely creepy, but it probably works better in your imagination than on the big screen. On second thought, this movie would work great as a modern remake, or as a cross between Indecent Proposal (1993) and The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988). At the very least, the Haitian setting could be instantly improved by some simple stock footage of an actual Caribbean island, which was completely absent here. I realize it's tight for independent productions, but money could have been saved by ditching Bela Lugosi's fake unibrow and then used to hire some real black actors, rather than use white actors in blackface. Oh well, at least Rob Zombie got his name from it.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
'30s Horror Movie I Just Saw for the First Time
White Zombie (one and a half stars total) Did the band formed in 1985 really get its name from this 1932 movie? According to Wikipedia, yes. This shouldn't come as a surprise, since most of the band's song lyrics refer to various horror classics. Should this movie be considered one of those classics? According to my "100 Years of Horror Movies" list, yes. It's the first in a very long line of zombie movies and Bela Lugosi's first villainous follow-up to Dracula (1931). Zombie staples like race relations, class conflict, and a little bit of consumer culture are all present. That last one may be a stretch, but I'm referring to Mr. Beaumont's character, the plantation owner, objectifying another man's bride as if her heart can be bought or stolen. Softcore, another horror movie staple, might have got its start with this movie. There's a scene of the bride in her underwear right before the wedding, and jungle drums can be heard in the distance. Then again, maybe that's just to foreshadow that she's about to be "stripped" of her personality when she's transformed into a zombie. The idea of being drugged and buried alive on your wedding night is definitely creepy, but it probably works better in your imagination than on the big screen. On second thought, this movie would work great as a modern remake, or as a cross between Indecent Proposal (1993) and The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988). At the very least, the Haitian setting could be instantly improved by some simple stock footage of an actual Caribbean island, which was completely absent here. I realize it's tight for independent productions, but money could have been saved by ditching Bela Lugosi's fake unibrow and then used to hire some real black actors, rather than use white actors in blackface. Oh well, at least Rob Zombie got his name from it.
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