O Rei dos Zombies

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.

It is easy, too simple in fact, to dismiss this movie and the characterizations of men like Mantan Moreland and Stepin Fetchit as "racist". The later generation usually thinks of itself as more enlightened than the former. All the while Hip Hop videos and movies like "Fridays", "BAPS" and whatever Spike Lee is currently is at work on are hailed as masterpieces, all the while, doing the same sort of parody of current black culture that Moreland and Fetchit were doing with their generation. Do not forget that Mantan Moreland and Stepin Fetchit did a LOT of work doing these same routines and characters for black directors and black audiences and were hailed as comic geniuses within their own communities. Along with the current Politically Correct culture seems to be a lot of revisionist history and myopia.

That said, we see this movie for what it is, a brilliant comedy horror movie on a par with any of the "Abbott & Costello meet..." films. Mantan Moreland is excellent and steals every scene he is in, the other actors don't even have a ghost of a chance, as it were. The only person who comes close to matching him is the pretty Marguerite Whiddon as Samantha, the pretty, wisecracking kitchen helper.

Dr Sangre (Sangre..Spanish for Blood, get it?) is up to no good on his island in the middle of the Caribbean and it is up to the men of a crashed plane to figure it all out, IF they can survive what seems to be an island over-run with zombies! If you are looking for a 1960s or 1970s style juvenile gore-fest, look elsewhere, but if you are looking for some classic wartime horror-comedy, get some popcorn, turn off your PC brainwashing and enjoy!

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. ;-)

This film (along with "Dr. X" & "Night Monster") rank as my all-time fave Top Three! (I own over 700 films)!

Why? That "Master of Scared-Reaction Comedy", Mantan Moreland takes an (other-wise) dull film & adds a lot of "zip" into it! I think this was his finest role! He does MUCH to improve a cast who's acting (especially the two "heros") is as "wooden" as the zombies themselves!

My favorite line is when the "hero" & Mantan are walking through a dark secret passage, holding a torch. Voodoo drums begin to sound. "What's that?", says the Hero. "I dunno", answers Mantan, "...but it ain't GENE KRUPA!". A scream!

BTW..most people don't know that this film was actually nominated for an Academy Award; "Best Musical Score", but didn't get it.

You MUST SEE this film, if only for Mantan's marvellous comedy!

This film (along with "Dr. X" & "Night Monster") rank as my all-time fave Top Three! (I own over 1k films)!

Why? That "Master of Scared-Reaction Comedy", Mantan Moreland takes an (other-wise) dull film & adds a lot of "zip" into it! I think this was his finest role! He does MUCH to improve a cast who's acting (especially the two "heros") is as "wooden" as the zombies themselves!

My favorite line is when the "hero" & Mantan are walking through a dark secret passage, holding a torch. Voodoo drums begin to sound. "What's that?", says the Hero. "I dunno", answers Mantan, "...but it ain't GENE KRUPA!". A scream!

This film WILL offend the "Politically Correct" as "degrading Negro stereotypes", but these people have to realise that Morelan was a Comic GENIUS who also played these "scared reaction" comedy roles for BLACK directors, and the Black Movie-Going Community of the 30's and 40's.

You MUST SEE this film, if only for Mantan's marvellous comedy!