White Zombie

The Halperin brothers (producer Edward and director Victor) effectively re-create the gothic mood of the Universal horror classics of the day on a B-movie budget for this 1932 film, in which Bela Lugosi sinks his teeth into his best role since Dracula, playing languorous hypnotist and voodoo master “Murder” Legendre. The story begins with the nighttime arrival of Madeline Short (Madge Bellamy) and her fiancé, Neil (John Harron), to Haiti, where they witness a mysterious burial and come face to face with the searing-eyed and goateed Legendre, a menacing and ferociously vindictive figure who supplies the local mills with zombie laborers and turns his enemies into personal servants. Plantation owner Charles Beaumont (Robert Frazer) wants to marry the engaged Madeline himself, and her refusal leads him to enlist the services of Legendre, which brings unanticipated consequences. While the supporting players are a bit stiff, Lugosi is mesmerizing, and the oppressive atmosphere of fear and almost perpetual darkness inhabited by the hollow-eyed walking dead makes this an effectively chilling watch. An overlooked classic of early American horror and the first true zombie movie, White Zombie is presented here in both digitally remastered and unrestored versions, with extras including audio commentary by film historian Frank Thompson, an interview with Lugosi, and a stills gallery. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)