Official Score = 2 1/2 Devils[/caption]I've been a fan of Zombies movies for a long time (as a matter of fact, as goes for supernatural monster movies, Zombie movies are probably my favorite), and I have seen a fair amount of them.
Some good, some bad, I have to say that I have rather enjoyed seeing the evolution of Zombies from White Zombie (1932) all the way to the present Zombie features such as, 'The Walking Dead', Land Of The Dead (2005) to even Dead Season (2012)...
I rather enjoyed the progression, because it showed how Zombies were more docile, almost undead servants of their voodoo preaching masters in such movies as White Zombie, all the way up to the remorseless killing machines that would destroy civilization as we know it in more modern Zombie movies!
And speaking of the older Zombie movies, if you are fan of the classic Black & White movie, then you might find the concepts of these movies in particular of interest, because more so then just horror movies (at least with the few that I have seen so far), they also seem to at least to some degree be sort of mysteries as well, that the main hero and or heroine has to solve to save their lives and any other lives that they can...
And that is part of the reason why I really enjoyed the movie, King Of The Zombies (1941)!
Written by: Edmond Kelso (Private Buckaroo), Directed by: Jean Yarbrough (Flight). Starring: Dick Purcell (Captain America), Joan Woodbury (Paper Bullets), Mantan Moreland (Black Magic), Henry Victor (The Mummy), John Archer (Destination Moon), Patricia Stacey, Marguerite Whitten (Mr. Washington Goes To Town), Leigh Whipper (Robin Hood Of The Pecos), & Madame Sul-Te-Wan (Revenge Of The Zombies).
King Of The Zombies, is an interesting tale that tells the story of how in the 1940s, there are 3 people who are flying down to the South Pacific on business for the U.S. Navy... These people are Bill Summers (Archer), James McCarthy (Purcell), and Bill Summers valet, Jeff Jackson (Moreland)...
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480"]
James McArthur (Dick Purcell), Jefferson Jackson (Mantan Moreland) & Bill Summers (John Archer) during the flight of their lives![/caption]During this flight though, they end up veering way off course and while desperately looking for some place to set down they find a radio signal that ultimately leads them to crash land on to a small island.
Once they get out after the crash though, things take a decidely weird turn, you see, after crash landing in a cemetery they come up to a large home that is the house of Dr. Miklos Sangre (Victor), Alyce Sangre (Stacey), their niece, 'Barbara Winslow', (Woodbury) and the increasingly weird servants that they have in the main house...
And once Summers, McCarthy, Bill Summers & Jackson introduce themselves to the Sangre clan, immediately weird things up and start occuring... First off Dr. Sangre puts Jackson (rather he liked it or not) in with the servants who start talking about Zombies and potions and to the point of actually seeing them!
Of course this makes Jackson panic and he tries to go back up stairs to be with his friends... But once he gets up there Jackson is sent back down by Dr. Sangre.
Now as everyone is about to settle in for the evening, Jackson is forced by the rest of the house staff to stay in the Kitchen to sleep. But before he can get to sleep though a couple of the Zombies come after him.
After this though, Summer and McCarthy allow him to sleep in there room...
Later on that evening though Jackson is awoken again by a woman that he called, 'a ghost woman' who drops something on the bed and wakes Summers and McCarthy up... Now at first (like the other 2 times, the two men don't believe what Jackson is saying about the supernatural... That is until they find the earring that the ghost woman had left!)
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500"]
The 3 Amigos as they try to figure out what is going on![/caption]As more and more strange and bizarre things happen to these guys, it will be up to them to uncover the secrets behind this little island before the Island is able to destroy them!
In the end, this movie is an awful good time that I really enjoyed, but the only problem that I had was the jerky way in which the Zombies would go from being uncharacteristically docile, to going after people for no reason... (I suspect it was because they were under the control of Doctor Sangre, but it still got annoying and some what pointless.)
Despite that though, this movie is a fun one, and if you get a chance, you might enjoy it as well!
http://youtu.be/LaDH7c8oJvY
