L'Invasion des morts-vivants

Andre Morell's character, Dr. Forbes, makes a very unusual house call at the opening of "The Plague of the Zombies." His old student, now practicing in a small (Victorian era) Cornish village, is mystified by the recent outbreak of deaths in that town, and even his wife, Alice, is starting to exhibit some strange lethargy. After Forbes arrives to help, he and his friend uncover a mix of voodoo, grave robbing and the undead, in this lesser known Hammer title that certainly deserves a greater renown. And thanks to the fine folks at Anchor Bay, this film's popularity may soon spread beyond its current cult reputation. "Plague" features an intelligent script, fine acting, solid photography and great atmosphere. Andre Morell's doctor makes for a very reassuring action hero, despite the actor's age (he was 57 at the time this picture was made). The film boasts three very chilling scenes: the first, nighttime appearance of a zombie on a hillside; the much-celebrated dream sequence; and Alice's rising from her grave. The smile on actress Jacqueline Pearce's face in this last scene is just haunting. Though marred by a somewhat disappointing finale, the film remains a minor horror masterpiece and one of the scariest works that I've yet seen from the House of Hammer. This movie would make a wonderful double feature with the similarly themed "White Zombie" (1932), or with another Hammer film made that same year (1966), "The Reptile," featuring Pearce again and the same director, John Gilling. Any way you watch it, though, the film is a real winner.

Hammer's only stab at the zombie genre, the film takes place in a small town where strange occurrences and the odd disappearance catches the eye of local doctor Peter Tompson (Brook Williams). To investigate further, he enlists the help of his old teacher Professor (and Sir!) James Forbes (Andre Morell) who arrives with his daughter Sylvia (Diane Clare). Soon strange sightings are seen of zombie-like creatures, and suspicion is aroused with the aggressive behaviour of a group of fox hunters and the reclusive Clive Hamilton (John Carson). Is this the work of black magic and voodoo, or scientific experimentation gone wrong?

This is probably Hammer's most shamelessly entertaining film. This doesn't have the cutting edge politics and satire of Romero's original zombie trilogy, or the over-the-top cheap gore of Raimi's Evil Dead films, but has the distinction of being a typically British film, only with zombies! It's predictable and silly but it's bloody good fun. It's also made with Hammer's high production standards, beautiful sets and a surprisingly sinister edge. These aren't zombies that will eat your brains, and to be honest they only properly turn up in the last twenty minutes or so, but the film moves fast and has a great lead performance in stiff-upper-lipped Andre Morell. Not bad for a film that was the supporting feature in a Hammer double bill.

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This movie begins with a young woman by the name of "Alice Mary Tompson" (Jacqueline Pearce) awakening from what appears to be a bad dream. The scene then shifts to London where a gentleman named "Sir James Forbes" (Andre Morell) is handed a letter from his daughter "Sylvia Forbes" (Diane Clare). The letter just happens to come from the husband of Alice who goes by the name of "Dr. Peter Tompson" (Brook Williams) which details a mysterious ailment in the Cornish village where he and Alice live. Being a professor of medicine Sir James is intrigued and decides to travel to this village to check it out. Sylvia comes with him because she is anxious to see her good friend Alice. Anyway, when they get there they soon discover that this plague is unlike anything they have ever come across and they cannot seem to isolate the cause. Now rather than disclose any more and risk ruining the film for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this movie was certainly quite watchable. At least for me. I say this because I typically like most zombie movies. Not only that but I especially like movies bearing the "Hammer" trademark. So this film definitely had my interest and I was not disappointed. Having said that however, I think it's only fair to point out a couple of minor deficiencies. First, the zombies looked a bit goofy. But considering that this movie was made in the mid-60's I suppose one has to make some allowances. The other thing I noticed was that some of the acting was a bit mediocre at times. Not bad necessarily but a bit mediocre all the same. Be that as it may, I liked the performance of Diane Clare and I also thought the story flowed very smoothly from one scene to the next. In short, this was a fine "pre-Romero" zombie movie and I rate it as slightly above average.

Young workers are dying because of a mysterious epidemic in a little village in Cornwall. Doctor Thompson is helpless and asks professor James Forbes for help. The professor and his daughter Sylvia travel to Thomson. Terrible things happen soon, beyond imagination or reality. Dead people are seen near an old, unused mine. Late people seem to live suddenly. Professor Forbes presumes that black magic is involved and someone has extraordinary power. He doesn't know how close he is: the dead become alive because of a magic voodoo-ritual, and so they must serve their master as mindless zombies. A cool zombie flick, with a decent cast, gruesome special effects, good atmosphere...worth watching! Not in the same league as, say, "The beyond" or "zombies", but it's decent entertainment anyways!

One of the numerous 'period' horror movies to come out of Hammer Film Productions in the late '50s and '60s, "Plague of the Zombies" is pretty typical of the genre (excepting the absence of perennials Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee). Unwelcome newcomers arrive in a rural village that clearly has some dark secret, get warned away, refuse to leave, and ultimately get sucked into the evil goings-on. While the zombie make-up leaves something to be desired (by current standards), the script and story is quite good as is the acting. The film was shot concurrently with "The Reptile", sharing sets, cast members (including the lovely Jacqueline Pearce, perhaps best known as the slinkily evil Servalan in "Blake's Seven") and to some extent, plot*. While far from being the first Zombie film, "Plague of the Zombies" was highly influential: much of the current zombie aesthetic is a mashup of this film and the following year's "Night of the Living Dead". Recommended for aficionados of vintage horror films; however, modern fans, used to the gore and graphic decomposition in, for example, "The Walking Dead", may find the zombies a bit silly, which will pretty much kill the mood. (*also shared are comments in my reviews)