Les Fantômes de Mora Tau

I can never resist a good Zombie movie, and this one gives that interesting twist ....the zombies appear to be amphibious! They are protecting their treasure resting at the bottom of the murky waters....and do so by scaring the treasure-seekers with their horrible looks! Ahhhh!! It seems every group of treasure-seekers that tries to steal the loot, end up dead, so good ole granny (who seems to be the only one who accepts these walking weirdos) takes it upon herself to have the grave sites pre-dug for their convenience....how charming... This flick also provides us with our standard staple of "ear-piercing scream" from the helpless and unknowledgeable "Jan" The underwater sequence becomes quite amusing when the zombies casually stroll along the bottom of the lake towards their sunken ship....I guess being dead prevents the burning of calories, thereby giving them that extra weight to stay down............happy viewing!

Fortune hunters try to recover diamonds from a shipwreck at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Africa. They don't have much luck thanks to the seaweed-covered zombies that guard the treasure. They spend most of the movie on the island of Mora Tau with an old lady who tells them that the diamonds must be destroyed to put an end to the zombies.

Fun B movie from producer Sam Katzman. I don't see why it gets so much flack. Sexy Allison Hayes is always a treat to watch. One of my favorite B movie queens. She plays the trampy bad girl here and steals every scene. Marjorie Eaton is good as the old woman. Cutie Autumn Russell plays the bland female lead. The men in the film are mostly a forgettable lot but fine for the parts they play. For a 70-minute movie it's fairly effective. It's got a decent plot and reasonable atmosphere. It isn't going to scare you but it is entertaining as a time-passer. Don't expect too much and just enjoy it for what it is.

A bunch of people go to the island of Mora Tau. Right off the coast of it, a ship sank with diamonds aboard and they want them. There's nice guy Jeff Clark (Gregg Palmer), Dr. Eggert (Morris Ankrum), George Harrison (!!!) (Joel Ashley) and his slutty wife Mona (the immortal Allison Hayes). What they don't know is that the ship is guarded by zombies who kill anyone who tries to take the jewels.

Admittadely novel idea is almost completely destroyed by a silly script and some pretty bad acting. The "underwater" scenes are actually pretty hysterical. They're obviously shot on a sound stage with the actors moving very slow and having bubbles pour out of their diving suits! Notice how the plants on the "ocean" floor never move.

Still I have a certain fondness for silly movies like this. It takes me back to my childhood where these popped up on Saturday afternoon TV constantly. It does have a little creepy scene when the zombies attack at the end and Hayes (a seriously under rated actress) is very good in a nothing role. Also I saw a nice, clean, letter-boxed (!) version of this on TCM. Silly but fun.

For all of the critics who rated the film less than 5 stars, well... It is a campy example of 50's B movie making. It isn't supposed to be anything more than that! To its credit, the film has some atmospheric moments. The sets are pretty good and the acting is better than bad. Mona (Allison Hayes) steals the show with her good looks and crazy persona. There are not a lot of production flubs given the low budget. This film compares favorably with other B efforts of the 50's. Check out Allison in the 50 foot woman flick. This was her most famous science fiction role. My advice: watch 'Zombies' it and enjoy it for what it is...!

Adventurers tangle with zombies who can walk underwater. (Did George Romero ever catch this?)

The fifties were a fallow decade for the walking dead. Scary zombies may have roamed INVISIBLE INVADERS and CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN, but they were sci-fi generated. (PLAN 9, anyone?) MORA TAU more or less sticks to the hoodoo playbook, but its finale is unforgivably weak, and the underwater scenes, which should have been a highlight, are blatantly bogus. If the story were rewritten on land, it would have spared lots of trouble and unintended laughter.

On the plus side, quickie director Ed Cahn always aced day-for-night shots, and nearly all of the action here occurs in darkness. The film is free of stock wildlife footage and white dudes dressed as natives. The cast seems to appreciate scripter Bernard Gordon's snappy dialogue. Cult actress Allison Hayes pulls double duty as a shrewish moll and a zombie. Can't act worth stale jujubes, but still a treat to watch. There's also plenty of gaffe guffaws, my favorite being the portly zomb who "chases" victims down a staircase as he clutches the railing.