Voodoo Man

A car pulls into a lonely country gas station. Owner George Zucco oozes out to greet the driver, a young woman. "Stranger in this part of the country, aren't you?" he inquires. She should not ask him for directions!

Yes, attractive young female motorists are disappearing, and it's not long before we learn that they are being misdirected onto a detour that will take them to a spooky mansion where Bela Lugosi is practicing—with Zucco's assistance—some very strange magic.

Lugosi has most of the best lines in this goofy but entertaining quickie. For example, his introduction to his wife, who died 22 years ago: "She's dead…only in the sense that you understand that word." (Actually, she's dead in a way I do not understand, since she seems to walk okay but just doesn't have much to say.)

John Carradine is hilarious as a sort of nutty henchman; he is in charge of the hypnotized captives and moves from spot to spot in a sort of hippity-hop trot instead of just walking. Henry Hall is also funny as the local sheriff: "Sheriff's job in this county used to be a cinch," he says. "Now it's a pain in the neck"—meaning, all of these missing motorist reports are really eating up his time. Wanda McKay and Tod Andrews are the attractive if rather bland young couple who are drawn into the mystery.

Zucco spends most of his screen time in a sorcerer's robe decorated with stars and crescents; Lugosi has one that matches. They look…um…silly. But they appear to be having fun—and although this picture is no great shakes and contains no great frights, it is indeed fun.

"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.

Sam Katzman and William Beaudine are two of the immortals of Poverty Row,and Voodoo Man is the literal definition the of the movie that is sooo bad that it's a great picture.Katzman's Banner Productions filmed Voodoo Man in 7 days in October of 1943 for Monogram Studios.What sets this apart is the appearance of Bela Lugosi, George Zucco, and John Carradine in the lead roles and all three are at their rip roarin', hammiest, and over the top best in this little horror opus.Beaudine was the acknowledged master of turning out "Economical" but extremely watchable B movies.

Lugosi is the sinister doctor who is channeling Snidely Whiplash. He would twirl his mustache if he had one and yell"curses, foiled again" at every setback. Zucco is a gas station manager and voodoo high priest who scouts out young ladies and potential victims for the doctor and chants an unrecognizable gibberish in the background much of the time. during the transference ceremony. Carradine portrays Lugosi's dimwitted gofer and bongo drum player. In a lesser actors hands the role would be a total embarrassment but Carridine is able to sell it.The scene where Carridine gets a closeup playing the bongo is so over the top that it is classical. His character really believes in the magic of the ceremony.

Micheal Ames AKA Tod Andrews, Wanda McKay,and Louise Currie do a commendable job with their roles, particularly Currie whose character is forced through the voodoo ceremony then wanders the countryside in a zombie like state while wearing flimsy and very sexy nightgown. McKay was a Paramount contract actress who did a lot of screen work for Monogram during the 1940's.Currie was another talented actress who did a lot of work at the B studios in the 1940's. She had worked with Lugosi before in the Ape Man for Monogram.

The plot of Voodoo Man is less important then getting to watch Lugosi, Zucco, and Carridine go through their paces. They could make reading the ingredients to a can of soup sinister fun!Sam Katzman would would have probably made a feature film of them doing it if he had thought of it. With Beaudine directing of course!

I'm glad that I purchased "Voodoo Man". It is a pleasant way to pass an hour for fans of 1940's horror films. It is weird and strange, but has a certain beauty to it as well. I believe that it's the best of the horror films that Bela Lugosi made for Monogram during that time. Lugosi is a devoted husband to a wife that has been dead (although, still beautiful and looking as if she were in a trance) for 22 years. He has two of his helpers kidnap young women motorists off of a deserted road so that the young women's life forces can be transferred (via Voodoo) into his dead wife in order to bring her back to life. One pretty young motorist is missed by her cousin and soon the sheriff and his deputy pay a visit to Lugosi's home. Lugosi has a whole basement full of lovely young ladies who are entranced and standing behind glass doors in large cabinets. Will the missing cousin be rescued and the other young ladies be set free? Watch "Voodoo Man" to find out. The DVD that I bought through Sinister Cinema.com has the vintage trailer for "Voodoo Man" as a bonus feature.

'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!