The Dead One

This film (also known as "Blood of the Zombie" ) is one of those movies that could have been much better if the acting had been at least average. But it wasn't and the results speak for itself. Essentially, "John Carlton" (John McKay) is a young man who by getting married inherits a plantation as stipulated in a will. So he and his bride, "Linda Carlton" (Linda Ormand) drive into the Louisiana countryside to legally claim it. The problem is that his cousin, "Monica" (Monica Davis) has no intention of giving it up even though John Carlton offers her half of it. Realizing that the plantation will be all hers if something happens to the bride, Monica resorts to voodoo and raises a zombie to kill Linda. Anyway, rather than giving the entire story away I'll just say that this movie had a good location and decent storyline. John McKay turned in an adequate performance as did Linda Ormand and the nightclub dancer "Bella Bella" (Darlene Myrick) to a lesser degree. But what really killed this film was the acting of Monica Davis who sounded as if she was reading her lines for the very first time. In short, this film is worth a look only if you're an extreme fan of zombie films. Otherwise, just skip it.

The Dead One stars John McKay and Linda Carlton as newlyweds John and Linda (what inspired names!) who, after a tour of New Orleans jazz joints and girlie bars (what new wife doesn't enjoy a visit to a strip joint on her wedding night?), drive to John's ancestral plantation Kenilworth, which he is due to inherit as a result of getting married. En route, the couple stop to help exotic belly dancer Bella Bella (Darlene Myrick), whose car has broken down, and invite her to spend the night at the plantation.

On arrival, John, Linda and Bella are greeted by John's cousin Monica (Monica Davis), current owner of Kenilworth, who isn't at all happy that the property will soon be taken from her. In order to prevent the deeds from being transferred, Monica conducts a voodoo ceremony with the help of her loyal staff, resurrecting her dead brother Jonas (Clyde Kelly) and sending him on a mission to kill John's new wife. Proving that you can't trust a shuffling corpse with even the simplest of tasks, Jonas kills Bella by mistake. On discovering Bella's body, John investigates (leaving his wife alone in the house with a gun) and catches Monica in mid-ritual—but can he save Linda before Jonas carries out his mission?

Directed by Barry Mahon, who would later go on to carve himself quite a career in the 'nudie' film industry, this obscure voodoo zombie film is, like the 'dead one' of the title, a bit of a shambling mess, with unbelievably bad performances, dreadful dialogue, lacklustre direction, and obvious padding in the form of the excessive New Orleans nightlife footage (viewers are treated to two jazz performances and a couple of exotic dances) and overlong voodoo sequences. What is rather remarkable, however, is quality of the crisp, colour-rich photography, which is far better than one might imagine for such a cheap production, and the look of zombie Jonas, who is supremely creepy with his gaunt face, talon-like fingernails and long hair of death (shame that he moves so bloody slow; it detracts slightly from his scariness).

Not great, but worth a look for zombie movie completists and any time-travelling jazz fans planning a trip to 1960s New Orleans.

The Dead One (1961)

* (out of 4)

Johnny (John McKay) and his new wife Linda (Linda Carlton) travel to a property that now belongs to him but once there he notices that a voodoo priestess is bringing a man back from the dead to kill for her.

Barry Mahon was a filmmaker who dealt with a variety of subjects but the majority of his pictures were in the sexplotiation genre. He created some pretty bad movies and some rather bizarre ones but this one here is pretty darn boring from the opening scene to the closing one. With that said, it's interesting to see what he attempted to do with such an early zombie movie and one that most people haven't seen or haven't even heard of.

The film was eventually released to DVD under the "new" title of BLOOD OF THE ZOMBIE and the zombie is about the only reason to watch the picture. It's interesting seeing another zombie movie made before NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD so this one here has more in common with WHITE ZOMBIE and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE. Once again we've got someone using voodoo to bring the dead back to life in order to do her killing.

Everything about this movie shows it's "C" grade. Everything from the performances to the direction to the way the story is told. There's really not too much that happens in the 68 minute running time and usually all of the scenes are padded to the point where you might start laughing. Just check out the scene where the zombie is climbing up a flight of steps and moving incredibly slow. How anyone would get caught by this thing is just hilarious.

Writer/Director/Producer Barry Mahon, who gave us Santa and the Three Bears, started out with cheesy flicks like this one, also known as Blood of the Zombie.

Despite the low grade script by Mahon, and the Grade Z acting, this was a fascinating zombie picture, set appropriately in New Orleans.

John MacKay may be investigating fellow cops on "Law & Order" but this baby is in his early career. His wife, Linda Ormond, was probably too ashamed to make another movie, as was the zombie, Uncle Jonas (Clyde Kelly), who was the perfect zombie. he had the clothes and the walk and the movement down pat. He should be in the Zombie Hall of Fame, if there is one.

Good for a laugh and a look at the career work of Barry Mahon, an interesting character.

Over thirty years ago in his eternally cherishable 'Keep Watching the Skies!' the late Bill Warren raised the fascinating and still unresolved question of the possible existence south of the Mason-Dixon line of a cottage industry producing sci-fi and horror films made and distributed only in the American South on a states' rights basis, "rarely if ever surfacing in other parts of the country, even on television". On page 867 of the revised edition of his book, 'The Dead One' - made by a company called 'Mardi Gras Productions'- is one of four titles Warren mentions by name that achieved this leap.

Remarkably glossily photographed by Mark Dennes on location in and around New Orleans in Eastmancolor and 'Ultrascope', it looks good but the tinny sound betrays its low budget; and it moves as slowly as the late cousin Jonas.

After an interminable tour of nightlife in New Orleans as it was in 1960, the action then takes until well after the halfway mark for mad cousin Monica to use voodoo drums to raise her late brother Jonas from the dead. Cousin Jonas - as an earlier reviewer observed - resembles Alice Cooper in black tie. The film's title lays its cards on the table about having just the one zombie (unlike Herschel Gordon Lewis's boastfully titled 'Two Thousand Maniacs!') who anticipates the zombies - whose sheer numbers were what made them such a formidable threat - in 'Night of the Living Dead' (not to mention Cooper's own appearance in John Carpenter's 'Prince of Darkness').

Monica Davis as the malevolent Monica gives both the worst and the most compelling performance in the film - well complemented by Margaret Johnston's vengeful old harpy in 'The Night of the Eagle' (screened under its US release title, 'Burn, Witch, Burn'), with which this was paired in a double bill in Seattle in May 1962

The cops as usual are useless - arriving late and then shooting the wrong person - but as one of them laconically observes, "How would you have explained this if we hadn't gotten here in time to see it?".