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King of Zombies (1941)


Cast:

Dick Purcell is James 'Mac' McCarthy
Joan Woodbury is Barbara Winslow
Mantan Moreland is Jefferson 'Jeff' Jackson
Henry Victor is Dr. Mikhail Sangre
John Archer is Bill Summers


What the box says:

King of the Zombies, 1941, is a low-budget Monogram film. Part horror and part comedy, Mantan Moreland steals the show with his one-liners and facial expressions. Having Lugosi in the role of Dr. Sangre would have made it almost perfect!


Plot:

After the credits, we get the typical stock plane footage. McCarthy, the pilot, is lost. Jeff, Bill�s valet is terrified. Suddenly, they pick up a radio broadcast and try to land nearby. The model plane lands. You can even see the wires of the model plane as it crashes.

McCarthy, Bill, and Jeff crawl out of the plane wreckage into the cemetery they landed beside. Hearing drums, they approach a mansion. Jeff wants to stay behind at first but always runs to catch up with the others to not be alone.

The creepy Dr. Sangre greets. Of course, Jeff�s Spider Sense is tingling�As the Dr fixes them some drinks, he reveals there is no radio on the island. They�ll stay a couple of weeks until the next delivery boat arrives as his guests.

McCarthy and Bill are shown to their room. Jeff will have to stay with the servants. The creepy Dr. is quite adamant about that fact. The uber-creepy butler, Mumba, takes Jeff with him.

McCarthy is sure there was some radio broadcast from the island.

Jeff starts bugging out more than what he has been until trying to lay the charm on Samantha, the cook. She tells him about the zombies. That, of course spokes, Jeff so he runs back to Bill and McCarthy. They go and search and don�t find anything. Samantha denies the zombies to the heroes. They leave thinking Jeff is out of his gourd. Afterwards, Samantha admits that Dr. Sangre is behind the zombies.

Dr. Sangre introduces his mute seeming brain dead wife. She has a terrible disease, Sangre is trying to cure. Barbara, he niece of the wife, wants to get off the island.

Apparently, the creepy Dr. Sangre is from Austria and can�t return home. Bill mentions that a Navy plane crashed in the vicinity of these islands and an Admiral is missing.

In the kitchen, Jeff is washing dishes. Apparently, at midnight, the servants go to bed because the zombies come out. Mumba advises him not to pay attention to anything that happens. Jeff tries to get several candles for nightlights. Some zombies chase after him.

Jeff is spooked and runs to McCarthy and Bill�s room again. Dr. Sangre continually ridicules Jeff. Bill finally lets Jeff stay in the room. McCarthy thinks getting off this island fast is a good idea. Somewhere on the island is a power generator which means a radio must be hidden.

Later that night, a ghostly pale woman walks into the room. Jeff is freaked by this. However, he is freaked by everything. She leaves by walking through a wall. Jeff wakes up Bill and McCarthy again. They find an earring which proves that Jeff wasn�t hallucinating. Suddenly, our heroes start to think something funny is happening on this island.

The search is on with our great white heroes and Jeff, the comic relief. They split up. Jeff in all his eye bugging glory goes with McCarthy to search for zombies. The stealthy Mumba sneaks behind them.

Scientist Bill goes alone and discovers Barbara wandering nearby. He discovers she is studying hypnotism. Bill lays on his rugged manly charms on her and learns that she is convinced her aunt, Dr. Sangre�s wife, has been hypnotized. They will help each other. Barbara is supposed to find where the radio transmitter is hidden.

Jeff and McCarthy are still searching and split up. More bug eye fu ensues. The zombie punches out McCarthy before Bill arrives. Dr. Sangre claims his servants also guard the premise and get out of hand sometimes.

The next day, Bill and McCarthy learn the earring belongs to Dr. Sangre�s wife. Our heroes go to check out the wreckage of their plane.

Bill mocks McCarthy�s mentioning zombies. Arriving at the plane, they discover the plane�s radio is missing. McCarthy is sure that Sangre is behind it somehow. He�ll search for the hidden generator while Bill pumps Sangre for information. Although, Bill would rather do that with Barbara.

March of the zombies ensues.

Sangre goes to his hidden lab. Voodoo is being performed on the missing Admiral. The creepy Dr. needs results. The Admiral must talk soon. Sangre uses the radio to contact his superiors, his foreign superiors�

Samantha is feeding the bottomless pit attached to Jeff commonly referred to as his stomach. Odious comedic relationship fu is discussed. Bill pops up and can�t find McCarthy.

Jeff is sent to retrieve Bill�s gun. Dr. Sangre is in the room and opens the secret passage. Jeff mentions the woman he saw the night before. Sangre takes the bug-eyed Jeff with him.

Bill finds that Mumba is looking for Jeff, too.

Dr. Sangre hypnotizes Jeff into forgetting he knows anything, is dead, and is a zombie.

Searching Bill ensues.

Barbara is still trying to free her aunt from Sangre�s hypnotism. Bill walks in and believes she is behind everything. Suddenly, McCarthy staggers in the room. Sangre claims the pilot has jungle fever and only a native doctor can save him.

Dr. Cree, a native doctor, brought by Sangre to help McCarthy. He claims it is too late and that the pilot has been dead for hours�

Later, Sangre apologizes that McCarthy had to be buried so soon. The island laws are very specific on burial regulations.

Mumba reports to Sangre the Admiral�s information is required immediately or else. They will have to perform the ritual.

Mumma-Ra, the head Voodoo priestess and creepy old woman, has Samantha feed the zombies. March of the zombies resumes. Jeff is a zombie but can talk. They want to know about McCarthy, the White Zombie? Samantha is able to prove to Jeff he isn�t a zombie. Freaked out odious hilarious sidekick ensues.

Bill runs right into the dezombiefied Jeff. Our hero learns his hetero-life partner may be a zombie when hearing a scream.

Searching the secret passage, they find the Sangre�s wife. Hear drumming.

Voodoo ritual ensues. Barbara and the Admiral are facing each other as a masked Dr. Sangre presides over the ritual. McCarthy stands among the rest of the zombies.

Bill and Jeff sneak into the shindig. Mumma-Ra dances around Barbara and the Admiral. Somehow, the Admiral�s mind has been transferred into Barbara. Sangre questions his niece about naval orders.

Suddenly, Bill and Jeff are spotted. The zombies head towards Bill. McCarthy turns on his master and goes after Sangre. Filling McCarthy with lead doesn�t stop him, Sangre falls into a fire pit.

Later, the Admiral uses the radio to contactthe coast guard. McCarthy is wounded but will make it. Sangre used the radio broadcast to trick the Admiral�s plane into crashing. The creepy Dr. Sangre wanted to get Panama Canal fortification plans. Apparently, the rites of transmigration were used to transfer the data to Barbara who would reveal it far easier than having to rely on the Admiral.


What I say:

Not another Poverty Row movie, you will be saying: Ape, Apeman, Corpse Vanishes, Dead Men Walk, and Devil Bat. Relax my ten of fans, I stagger them apart far more than the way they're posted. Still have several more Poverty Row movies on the infamous review pile that all movie reviewers have.

It is strange to think in the 30s and 40s, the zombie subgenre was the traditional Voodoo definition like White Zombie. The late 60s, George Romero changed the rules of zombie game with Night of the Living Dead. Just a few zombie movies over the past couple of decades have any Voodoo connection anymore like Serpent and the Rainbow and a couple of voodoo in college and frat movies.

Coming from the early 1940s, we are going to have to deal with some pretty bad stereotypes from that era. Not that the 50s were any better. Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla had quite a number of the tropical islanders stereotypes thrown in with the witch doctor in a mask. The question is if a white guy replaced Mantan Moreland would it be as funny. Could anyone picture Rob Schneider or Chris Kattan in this role today? I apologize for that last sentence. I'm sure that Mantan Moreland would spin in his grave to be insulted in such a manner.

Mantan Moreland sees something scary he runs around and screaming. By the time anyone gets there, it is gone. Practically every horror movie that has someone running after finding a body and returns finds it gone. What would happen if they screamed bloody murder until came and saw the body? Whoever did the screaming would have been accused of murdering whoever they found. Read review where they compared Mantan to Shaggy from Scooby Doo. That seems to pretty fairly hit the nail on the head with his attitude.

The thing that seems strange to me is how Dr. Sangre orders Mantan around so much and his employer doesn't say a word about it. If you had any employee with you and some guy started treating him like an overseer wiuld a slave, you'd be telling him where to cram it sideways. Granted, mad scientists always have a patented distaste for anyone they feel who is beneath them. There is difference between the smug condescending attitude and the typical arrogant and "superior" scientist attitude It still comes across as fairly bad light to anyone watching it today. That scientist attitudedoes seem more racist than what would normally be considered the typical "superior" scientist attitude.

We have a mad scientist from an obvious evil foreigh power who is using Voodoo to break the will of a missing Admiral to learn military secrets. When that doesn't work, he plans on transferring the information from the Admiral's mind to the mind of his niece. One of the main selling points of a mad scientist is him performing science that has absolutely no logical or practical application. They are trying to do the Vulcan mind meld before Leonard Nimoy.

I mentioned before about what really makes a movie bad. Special effects, acting, and gore may be laughed at their inadequacy. However, if a movie is boring, that is the kiss of death. King of the Zombies seems to have quite a number of scenes unneccesary to the movie and are just there to pad the rnning time to get it on the second of a double feature.

Point to ponder

Doesn't it seem strange for a 2 guys to share a bed on a small creepy island?



2 NINJAS

Quotable Dialogue

"lookout, Admiral, here we come."
"What'sa zombie?"
"He won't hurt you if he likes you."
"It's feeding time, and they likes dark meat."
"I am Mumma-Ra, high Voodoo Priestess."


Morals of the Story

Airplanes always crash near cemeteries.
Human skulls liven up libaries.
Tippy-toeing is very stealthy.
Zombies are invisible 5 feet away from you.
Zombies need to stay on a no-sodium diet.
Being shot with bullets reverts a zombie to a normal human.




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