King of the Zombies

When a plane crashes on a remote South American island during a bad storm, the planes three occupants find themselves in a doctor's mansion where strange things appear to be going on. The pilot, a government guy and his manservant must get to the bottom of the zombies appearance on the island and the doctors' sinister plan involving them.

Jean (The Devil Bat) Yarbrough's direction is quick and sure in the funny, underappreciated gem from the early 1940's. The film moves along after a very snappy pace and never drags. Not high on production value, loved the cheesy model of the plane crash in the beginning, King has a very high energy level thanks to the hilarious antics of the always entertaining Mantan (Spider Baby) Moreland. Easily the highlight of the film Moreland's bug-eyed often off-color schtick made this rather routine film is loads of fun. Good fun for anyone who likes a classic voodoo zombie kind of film with an outstanding comedy performance.

This movie was as much Whitten's as it was Morelands. She was beautiful. Had she been active during the 90s, with her talent and beauty, she could have ruled Hollywood. Moreland, given his delivery and timing, would give Murphy a run for his money. This movie is a comedy classic. Being dated as it is, and altogether politically incorrect by todays standards, it actually gave Whitten and Moreland a lot of space to show off their talents. It may seem backwards NOW but for that day and time it was really very progressive. The other actors, well ... The Doctor was cool, and I think was trying to play off Lugousi. The rest? Hey, some one has to play "third through the door".And they did OK. If nothing else they made Whitten and Moreland look even better. But they didn't really need that kinda help. ;-)

Mantan Moreland really shines in this movie. He was a great character actor, and he had a LOT of screen time in King Of The Zombies. He wasn't a supporting character in King Of The Zombies; his part was equal among the main players and his name shared equal billing in the opening credits.

Forget what others say about racial stereotyping and enjoy his performance. The man worked with what he was given and took it to as much of a polished performance as possible. Blame Hollywood, not the actor, if you don't like his performance. His takes and reactions were superb. Smiley Burnette and Lou Costello did the same thing in "scary" situations, but Mantan Moreland had a flair for the comedy take that set him apart. He really was great on screen.

King Of The Zombies itself is not the best for a mystery/adventure movie from the time period, but it has the right feel for the time period if you like old movies. All the right elements are there for a fun movie. Why it doesn't really work better is a mystery. Don't expect too much and you will have a good time watching this one.

I agree with what was said of Mantan Moreland, because this really is his show. He was really good at what he did and could have been in many, many better movies. With that aside, this movie is a schlocky laugh riot, combining Moreland's intentional humor with everyone else's unintentional humor to make a horror-comedy classic. One of the greatest laughs is an unintentionally hilarious moment where the "Irish" guy gets into a fight with some less-than-alive assailants. The oh-so-diabolical Henry Victor character blames the attack on over-zealous guards, but the "Irish" guy aggressively comes back with, "Are ya sure it wasn't a zombie?!" I also love it when Victor is given lines like, "That's nonsense, zombies don't eat... meat." Aside from Victor, Moreland seems to be the only real actor out of all of them. Some of the intentional humor is hit-or-miss ("Look out, admiral, here we come"), but Moreland carries nearly every joke with comic flair. I don't consider "King of the Zombies" a total classic by any means (as schlock or otherwise), but it is fun and more than worth the four bucks I spent to buy it.

This little gem of a movie is actually better than it should be considering it is a Monogram picture with a low budget and unfortunate racial stereotypes which were typical for the early 1940's.

Mantan Moreland is the star of this picture. He was a great comedic actor who was stereotyped into playing the dimwitted servant in most of his movies, but he really shines in this picture. I laughed out loud when he tells his boss that he had been "zombiefied". Every scene he is in he steals. This picture was billed as a horror movie, but it is actually a comedy. There is nothing remotely scary about the plot, which involves a German doctor who has taken over an island and is turning the natives into zombies while trying to get classified secrets from a captured American admiral through the use of hypnosis. I really enjoyed this movie despite the cheap sets, silly plot and racial stereotypes. If you want a good laugh on a Saturday afternoon, then pop some popcorn and sit back and enjoy Mantan Moreland. He more than makes up for this movie's deficiencies.