Revenge of the Zombies

A somewhat fun Monogram horror movie. The wife of Dr. von Altermann (John Carradine) has died mysteriously. Her brother and a hired detective (hunky Robert Lowery) investigate. It seems the doctor is quite mad and experimenting on human beings and turning them into zombies.

Yes, it's a cheap no budget movie but it's fun. It has a nice atmospheric opening, a few amusing lines, some funny bits by Mantan Moreland and an interesting plot. Also Carradine gives a good performance and Lowery is tall, handsome, muscular and pretty good in a nothing role. A light enjoyable horror flick. Good viewing around Halloween. I give this a 5.

One of low budget horror schlockmeister actor, John Carradine's more animated roles as a implied Nazi scientist, who is turning humans into zombies to serve the Reich. Mindless scuffling brain dead, only able to obey the most simple of orders....bit like staff in McDonalds.

Hitler isn't mentioned by name, since America wasn't at war at the time they was filmed, but it's pretty obvious who the bad guys are working for!

There seems to be two types of zombies in film, the traditional voodoo type popular in the old black & white films of the 1930's and '40's. Blank eyed and just following the commands of someone else as they stumble along. And then there is the type we know from later films like 'The Night of the Living Dead' and 'The Evil Dead.' Still roaming about but with only the intention to kill and eat the flesh and brains of their victims. Both have their moments in various movies over the years.

'Revenge' features the former zombie type, although, these are particularly goofy looking and would look more at home in an old time freak shows as geeks as they bite the heads off chickens. One black zombie named Lazarus with his wild hair, looks like a young Don King.

As to the plot, the evil doctor decides to make his wife a zombie along with the others and that's where he makes his mistake. Even though he lets her keep her strappy heels as a nice womanly touch as he turns her into one of the living dead, she's not happy about it.

It all goes horribly wrong and ends in tears, and the moral of the tale must be, never, ever, turn your wife into a zombie, it's just asking for trouble....

The film is interesting enough and it quickly rolls along to a finish, but never rises above it's poverty row origins. Not a patch on any true zombie classics but fun just the same.

Scott Warrington and Detective Larry Adams arrive in Louisiana to mourne the death of his sister Lila, he is shocked to learn that his brother in law, Doctor Max von Altermann, has a very strange plan for his deceased wife.

For 1943 it's somewhat ahead of the curve, two things stand out, the casting and the content. It features a pretty diverse cast, good to see, especially in horror.

I have never really associated the 40's with zombie movies, so it did come as something of a surprise, the trouble is, it's not particularly good. It's pretty slow, it's very dialogue heavy, and the story, though well imagined, is badly realised.

Doctor von Altermann is an interesting one it's fair to say, the typical maniacal villain, one who'd fit in well in one of today's horror thrillers, the archetypal megalomaniacal villain.

Not the finest hour for either John Carradine or Mantan Morland, but there's no denying that the pair have a degree of presence.

Watch it as a curiosity, just don't expect too much.

4/10.

This is surprisingly well made. The direction features quite a bit of camera movement for a quickie, the photography boasts some moody shadows and interesting wide angle lens effects, the swamp graveyard set is cool, and above all it's well acted--with Moreland doing his thing but the rest of the cast giving their all. And the music score is also well done not too much music either--not the wall to wall stock music approach in this film.

There is a lab/montage scene that is pretty elaborate and well done. There is another nice tidy montage to show time passing at a dinner party which has a funny pay off line and the last shot has an unusual pay off as well.

Carradine fans will enjoy his bug eyed entrance into the film but for the most part he plays it pretty straight/sober and he has a kind of memorable exit from the film--not to give it away.

The intentions I guess are mainly comic though it's not all that funny you almost wish they had just gone for serious horror yet it isn't campy for the most part and it's an all professional job.

The script holds it back from becoming above average though it is above average in all departments for this low budget genre of the era. Even the sets though not memorable don't look impoverished and the lab has quite a bit of gear in it.

The direction really impressed me with always making the most out of every situation--within the restricted scale of the movie.

One interesting thing, and you know this right away, is Nazi scientist Carradine kills and zombifies his wife, she does occasionally speak and they do a kind of interesting hollow sound to her voice. I think this film may be the first of the Nazi dead army plot movies tough it's certainly not the best one.

All said and done on a script level you pretty much get what you'd expect which isn't much but the movie almost won me over and fans of this era of genre films could do a lot better but you could do a lot worse as well.

A pretty ordinary cheapie from Monogram Studios that begins with some promising atmosphere and visual style, but ultimately deteriorates with a lot of talk and some lame attempts at comic relief by black funny-man Mantan Moreland, who's not so humorous this time around.

A very youthful John Carradine plays it surprisingly low-key as an unconvincing Nazi scientist trying to create an army of non-scary zombies to fight for the Germans. He even turns his own wife into one of them, the fiend. These living dead sleepwalkers are more like what you'd call the "marching dead" as they step about in silly and perfect militaristic formation, like mindless robots. Those viewers unfamiliar with "pre-Romero" zombie movies are bound to be left especially stumped.

** out of ****