100 Years of Horror: Zombies (1996)
*** (out of 4)
This episode of Ted Newsome's terrific series takes a look at the countless zombie films that started around the time sound came into play and continued throughout the decades with each new generation getting a different type of creature. We start off with the Bela Lugosi film WHITE ZOMBIE and then hit the voodoo stuff with Val Lewton's I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE. Other films looked at include THE MAD GHOUL, THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN, HORROR EXPRESS and of course NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.
The episode skips through the entire output from Italy during the 1970s and we don't even get to hear about DAWN or DAY OF THE DEAD but it's still worth watching for the nice interviews. With get a few funny clips with John Agar and Bernard Gordon talking about low-budget films and we also get an audio interview with Romero talking about NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and critics. Linnea Quigley discusses her work on THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD and tells of how she got over her shyness when it came time to do the nude scenes. Turhan Bey, Michael Gavin and Gordon Hessler are also interviewed as is Bela Lugosi, Jr. who shares a story his father told him about the making of WHITE ZOMBIE.
