White Zombie (1932)

Cast:

Bela "Dracula, himself!!!" Lugosi is Murder Legendre
Robert Frazer is Charles Beaumont
John Harron is Neil Parker
Madge Bellamy is Madeleine Short Parker
Joseph Cawthorn is Dr. Bruner (missionary)

What the box says:

After arriving in Haitii on their honeymoon, a young couple witness a zombie parade near a burial. Soon the young bride turns into a pallid, soulless by a myserious zombie master and becomes the object of desire for a creepy landowner.

Plot:

In the middle of a voodoo ceremony, a horse and carriage drives past it. They learn the ceremony is actually a funeral. Bodies are buried in the road to keep them from being stolen. The grave digging continues. The carriage driver is going to ask directions from Bela Lugosi who is staring at Madeline.

Good Evening The driver gallops away when he sees zombies approaching. Bela has caught Madeline�s scarf.

The carriage finally arrives at the mansion Neil and Madeline are staying. The driver tells them about zombies and drives away as they approach. Madeline spots a piper, the missionary Dr. Brueller. They all go inside the mansion. The plantation owner, Charles Beaumont, has offered to let the couple get married at his mansion. Dr. Brueller is suspicious of this knowing Beaumont isn�t so charitable. He advises the couple to get married fast and get out of Haiti.

Silver, the butler, reports to Beaumont that his guests have arrived. We can tell Beaumont is plotting something nefarious. He is smitten with Adeline. He finally meets the guests.

Neil is jealous the way Beaumont is fawning over Madeline. They will spend the night. Later, Neil sees Beaumont ride off into the night.

At Bela�s sugar mill, a zombie brings Beaumont inside. We see various zombies at work and one fall into and ground into death falling in the grinder. Beaumont meets Bela.

You better be scared. He again admits he is crazy for Madeline. His plan is to kidnap her to make her love him. Bela can help and has a better idea. He whispers the plan to the horrified Beaumont: a little powder and contact Beal afterwards.

Madeline is getting ready for her wedding. The ceremony starts. Beaumont escorts Madeline down the aisle asking her to run off with him. She isn�t interested. Beaumont gives her a flower that she smells. At the altar, Dr. Brueller begins the ceremony.

Bela is outside the mansion, waiting. He takes her scarf and wraps it around a candle.

At the reception, Madeline zones out before fainting. Bela takes the doll over a flame. Neil is distraught over Madeline�s death.

I can't swim in soup, help me...

Madeline is buried.

Neil has fallen into a bottle. But, he keeps seeing her.

Beaumont and Bela are at the cemetery with a gaggle of zombies.

ZOMBIE GLEE CLUB They retrieve her body. Neil runs to the cemetery. Bela and his posse take off with Madeline in her coffin. Neil finds her tomb open.

Dr. Brueller explains to Neil that Madeline has been stolen by a death cult or is still alive. Neil is pretty skeptical about everything. Brueller tries to explain fact from superstition. If some people can be revived, why not Madeline? Brueller has researched for years drugs which simulate death. Neil suspects Beaumont is behind it. Brueller tells Neil they can�t rely on the authorities. They�ll have to do this on their own.

At the castle, Madeline is playing the piano as Beaumont watches her. She has a vacant look on her face, no soul. Beaumont realizes Madeline will never be able to love him. He wants to take her back. He wants Bela to restore her. She leaves the room. Bela and Beaumont have a toast in which Beaumont has taken Bela�s zombie formula. Bela has plans for Madeline.

The zombies march in the room to grab Silver. They carry him off and drop him down into a pit. Beaumont finally realizes how evil Bela is.

Brueller and Neil are searching for a guide. They are warned not to go any farther, to stay away from the mountain. Later, they are near the castle. Brueller and the sick Neil make camp. Brueller heads to search the castle.

Madeline is on a balcony, watched by maids.

The fever-ridden Neil slowly staggers to the castle.

The maids are distraught over something.

Neil is inside the castle while Madeline is still at the balcony.

Bela is watching Beaumont zombiefy. He starts carving the doll of Beaumont.

I'm not playing Dracula in this movie?

Neil is searching the castle for Madeline before passing out. Bela finds him and summons Madeline.

Bela checks on Beaumont again. Madeline is sent to be watched as Beaumont completes his zombiefication.

Madeline grabs a knife, heads to Neil. She is about to stab him. Bela can�t force her to kill Neil. Neil awakens. Madeline rushes to the balcony to throw herself into the sea. Neil keeps her from going through with it.

Bela summons his other zombies to kill Neil. They surround the defenseless Neil. Brueller punches Bela which distracts the zombies. The zombies jump off into the sea except for Madeline.

She awakens for a moment. Bela gets up and tries to make his escape. The zombie Beaumont grabs Bela and jumps into the sea.

Madeline awakens and embraces Neil as the movie ends.

What I say:

White Zombie is more than just a band that has disbanded. It is also the first zombie movie. Yes, this is the ancestor of the Night of the Living Dead. This is the movie that gave us the background on zombies controlled by a voodoo master in the Caribbean. And, they lolled around in the islands until George Romero annexed them into flesh-eating zombies. And from then on, zombies have been driven by a need to consume human flesh. The last more native zombie movies had to be The Serpent and the Rainbow and Live and Let Die. I can't think of any other native voodoo zombie movies. The zombie has been almost changed from being a slave obeying the whims of his master to the flesh-eating ghoul.

Of the traditional movie monsters, there are only a handful of definitive ones. The vampire, werewolf, Frankenstein's monster(the scientifically created), the zombie, mummy (could be excluded), and giant monster (King Kong or Godzilla). I've neglected to mention outer space aliens which in most of the movies fall into sci-fi rather than horror. Most of the vampire legends are from Europe to even China. Frankenstein was a European horror novel. Mummies are almost always from Egypt excluding some of the other countries that seemed to have similar funeral practices. I guess the werewolf was more based on the Indian legends of the manitou or wendigo. However, the zombie was even a Western hemisphere monster.

There are some actors whose mere appearances can elevate their movies. Bela Lugosi, one of the most widely known horror stars. And, unfortunately more known for his Ed Wood movies in B-movies than or a man who wanted to be buried in his Dracula cape. It is a shame that with as well known as he is for Dracula. A movie like White Zombie is as unknown as it is. A lot of the great horror stars ended their careers on movies that are embarrassing to think how the mighty have fallen. The 3 or 4 last movies of Boris Karloff for instance. It is hard to think of Plan 9 from Outer Space as the last movie of Bela Lugosi when he only appears in it for at most 5 minutes.

The best way to really explain Lugosi�s performance is not playing this DVD on your computer for his performance being so magnetic as to destroy the hard drive. Of course, that is an over-the-top description. But, when Lugosi was on the top of his game as he was here, it is hard not to think of him as a brilliant villain. Bela is at the top of his game in this movie. With his mesmerizing stare, you could see him controlling zombies or anything. Though not having the charm of his high vampire, he is as sinister as the Dracula. Karloff seems to have played more sympathetic villains. But, Bela seemed to relish these evil roles.

We never get a real good reason for why Bela to be evil. I guess he was born bad to the bone like George Thorogood might sing. Bela, sorry Murder (is a far more appropriate name) uses zombies to work his sugar mills. Cheap labor. It is so cheap Murder isn't bothered by the lost performance if a zombie accidentally gets ground up into the sugar. This zombie master is the personification of evil.

I didn't pay hardly any attention to the cast except for Bela Lugosi. This movie is decades before all actors wanted to play a vampire with a terrible Eastern European accent. "I vant to vackkkkkk yahr blawddddddd....." These actors may not realize how they are insulting Lugosi's memory. He made horror movies that had none of the baggage of later movies like the spring-loaded cat, the various slashers rules, the gore. Bela Lugosi was able to convey evil with his eyes and voice far better than wearing a hideously scarred mask.

The great horror actors like Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Vincent Price have a talent not seen in horror movies today. Class and a sinister charm are some requirements that very few of today's horror actors possess. Robert Englund is probably as close as we get to those great horror actors now. I don't mean this as an insult to Robert Englund. Think of some of the versatility of Cushing, Lee, and Price. Vincent Price seemed to love doing campy humor like Batman and the Doctor Goldfoot movies. Christopher Lee's career has skyrocketed over the past few years with appearing as Sauroman in the Lord of the Rings and appearing in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. A lot of people will badmouth the new Star Wars trilogy and a lot of reasons are valid. My only complaint is Chrisopher Lee is Count Dooku. Couldn't he have been given a cooler name?

The first talkie picture, The Jazz Singer only came out 5 years before this movie. So, many of the actors gesticulate and use more expressions than what an actual group with experience with talkies would. A lot of people will bring up German expressionism concerning White Zombie. I have no idea about expressionism and think most of my ten of fans aren't wanting to read my fumblings with European theatrical styles.

I've been talking a lot more about Bela Lugosi than the our intrepid heroes. After learning that his wife may not be dead, Neil Parker goes with Dr. Bruner to find Madeline. However, Neil is either drunk or catches Malaria. He isn't a man of action rather fallen apart distraught after learning his wife is probably a zombie sex slave. Dr Bruner disappears for a large part of the movie before returning in the climax. He punches Bela Lugosi at the critical moment so the zombies can reenact the best part of "Lemmings." Neither Neil nor Bruner are what you can really consider the heroic type. Bruner is a missionary that looks more like an insurance salesmen. Neil is as useful as an artifical appendix.

Madge Bellamy is Madeline. It is hard to see how anyone could fall hopelessly in love with Madeline. She has no real personality shown in the movie. It is stated from the very beginning that she came to marry Neil. That helped to eliminate having to set them up to meet and fall in love. Madge's vacant expression and inability to convey emotions does make her appear even more dead and zombie like which is probably an accident. She spends most of the movie staring vacantly into the camera or as a zombie. That was a cheap shot. Most zombies are moreknown like the guy with the limp that gets Barbara's brother. We've only had a few memorable zombies. "Send more paramedics" from Return of the Living Dead may be funny. However, acting wise zombies aren't going to be thought of like Frankenstein's monster.

The zombies slowly shuffle about. The slowly lumbering movements looks like something else George Romero used in Night of the Living Dead. People have gotten used to the zombies in the 28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead, and Resident Evil vein of the word. Flesh eating monsters with no will are like an uncontrollable force of nature. The traditional Haiti zombie had a master that controlled the mindless and souless beings for his own purposes. I don't think White Zombie has gotten the recognition it deserves for being as influential as it is. Gore isn't necessarily horror. And, we see that here with Bela Lugosi in a movie that is nowhere as recognized as much as it deserves to be.

White Zombie is a hard nut for modern audiences to swallow without any gore and the wild gesticulation. Most of the movie has a very dreamlike or nightmarish quality. The sets are most seen at night with a slight fog giving a somewhat ethereal feel. If you also add in the boogeyman in the person of Bela Lugosi, you get a man or a devil who offers someone their heart's desire. Unfortunately, the wealthy Charles Beaumont doesn't realize the dangers of dealing with the devil when he turns the tables. Beaumont learns too late to be careful what he wishes for, too. However, you pays your money and takes your chances when making such an evil deal with Bela Lugosi.

Quotable Dialogue
"They're afraid of the men who steal dead bodies."
"They are dead bodies."
"I see...I see death."
"High executioner almost executed me."
"Because, I'm a preacher, they think I'm a magician."
"For, you, my friend, they are angels of death."
Morals of the Story
Jophurs are styling.
Zombies don't mind being ground into paste.
Putting a person in a coma is attempted murder.
Zombies are controlled through telepathy or hand gestures.
Staring at a butler will incapacitate him.
Zombies must have their hair brushed.
Hung over guys with Malaria have an excellent sense of balance.
Zombies are bulletproof.