Voodoo Man

I found this film to be an enjoyable little effort from monogram I really liked the pairing of Lugosi and Zucco as the villians and also having John Carradine as an evil assistant....pretty much the standard fare you,ll get from most all Monogram films of this genre..but if you enjoy a simple little horror film like I do,this is a great one for a rainy day or a dark night...

"Dr. Richard Marlowe" (Bela Lugosi) is intent upon bringing his dead wife "Evelyn" (Ellen Hall) back to life. In order to do that he resorts to voodoo which requires a young woman with similar attributes to transfer her life forces into Evelyn. Those who aren't a perfect match become zombies. At any rate, the loss of several young women in a small country area begins to trigger suspicions which flare up when one of the zombies "Stella Saunders" (Louise Currie) accidentally escapes from the house and is found wandering on the side of the road by the local sheriff. When Dr. Marlowe comes to examine her, he realizes that her best friend, "Betty Benton" (Wanda McKay) is a perfect candidate and decides that he must have her. At any rate, rather than give away any secrets I will just say that lovers of old horror movies will probably really enjoy this one as well. Granted it is clearly dated and the zombies of this era are totally dissimilar to those we typically see today. As such, it doesn't have the action or the gore that most people these days might expect. But I still found it entertaining enough and I recommend it to anyone who might be interested in an old-style zombie film.

Sadly the days when a lone, mad scientist, toiling in the basement of his sinister mansion, could perform miracles over life and death with just a few test tubes and pulsing lights, without thought of glory or patent rights, have been curtailed by the corporate monopoly of science; the simple human desire to revivify the dead, trumped by the thirst for profit. Happily, voodoo has, thus far, eluded the grasping grip of greed (ouch!) and retained its humble individuality.

Voodoo Man returns us to that simpler time when science and magic worked hand in hand. It is another absurd poverty-row horror, filmed in seven days, in case you can't tell, by Bill "One-Shot" Beaudine for Sam Katzman's Monogram Pictures. Lugosi plays Marlowe, another mad scientist with another ailing wife. Indeed this wife is rather more than ailing: for 28 years she has been dead, but not in the sense we understand the word, of course. He tries to reanimate her by transferring to her the life force of abducted female motorists. Marlowe has some impressive technology – an impressive surveillance system, a car disabling ray, and some weird wife maintenance machinery. Still, he isn't one of those finicky skeptics who practice science nowadays. Like the alchemist, he recognizes the potential to improve scientific outcomes by utilizing magic.

This film is sensationally silly especially given the quality of the cast. This may not be Lugosi's most absurd role; unfortunately, the same can't be said for Carradine and Zucco. Carradine plays Toby, Marlowe's jogging, dimwitted henchman, who kidnaps women and doubles as Marlowe's percussion section. His bizarre performance is only over-cast by Zucco who plays Nicholas, gas station proprietor and voodoo priest. Zucco usually brings an air of dignity to the foolish roles he plays but this one is beyond him. While Toby bashes a bongo, Nicholas, in a cheap college gown and "Phyllis Diller wig," chants gibberish at a piece of string in the name of Ramboonya who is, apparently, all powerful. And, to be fair, Nicholas is getting results until meddling relatives and policemen interfere with the ceremonies.

This film has remained too obscure and deserves a far greater audience. Amazing stuff.

'Voodoo Man' is possibly the best of Bela Lugosi's Monogram minor budget films from the early 40's most, but not all, of which we horror films.

A typically brief running time of just a smidgen over one hour keeps things just about brisk enough without lapsing into repetitiveness or filler of people running in circles which are two common maladies of minor budget cheapie b-pics in my experience.

Instead there is a bit of atmosphere and tension generated in a film that centres on a cracking, creaking and cranky set up of a demented mad doctor (Bela Lugosi) organising the abduction and Voodoo exploitation of unaccompanied young women in the service of reviving his zombified wife.

All in all along with a smattering of atmospheric tension there is also a clearly delivered tone of dark, dank, dirty and dangerous human behaviour which puts the horrible into horror.

Of course Bela Lugosi is the centrepiece but he gets some willing support from a game cast.

Added value comes from the playful treatment of the whole idea of 'Voodoo Man' as being utterly sappy nonsense that only a wacky Hollywood scriptwriter hack could sell.

With sly nods to the real silliness at play with references to the films producers and its star early in the piece and then at the very end.

I rate at 5/10 and obviously this rating takes into account that 'Voodoo Man' was a very Poverty Row minor b-picture cheapie/quickie!

I recommend to anyone willing to lend large globs of suspension of disbelief and be as game at the cast. Also to anyone less charitable but looking for a laugh and a hoot.

Having said that some if the broad comedy exchanges are the only real misfires of 'Voodoo Man' for my personal taste although a grim dry humour from Lugosi is nicely included on a couple of occasions!

Monogram's "The Voodoo Man", which not only features George Zucco in his most demeaning, humiliating role as a voodoo priest (Ramboona never fails) but also has John Carradine as an imbecile and Bela Lugosi as a mad scientist of a sort. Bela turns in a pretty good performance as the demented doctor trying to instill life into his amazingly well preserved dead wife through the use of voodoo and some nubile Monogram starlets. Carradine is in there pitching in an embarrassing role. Zucco, as the voodoo priest, is required to wear an absurd costume and chant gibberish in most of his scenes. Being the old pro that he was, he manages to turn in a credible performance. If you are willing to look past the hokum, this isn't a bad way to pass an idle hour.