White Zombie is a pioneer of movies. I believe it was the first to ever introduce the concept of zombies, a concept more like the true voodoo legends than the Resident Evil types. It’s dark and creepy though sometimes slow. This was a movie made on the heels of the silent film era so it can sometimes feel like one of them itself especially towards the end. I thought it was interesting to see a movie that relied on pure visuals to tell the story even when not forced to do so.

A young couple is to be married in Haiti. A wealthy man they meet there wants the woman for himself and is ready to turn to the dark arts to get her. It will cost her life, but in zombie form she will be his love slave, or so he thinks. However, the voodoo master, “Murder” Legendre, has dark plans beyond the shallow lusts of an obsessed would-be lover, and he’ll use one man’s misguided evil to perpetrate an even more sinister one.

Of course, the big draw of the film is Bela Lugosi as the villain. He turns in a commanding performance though most of the other actors can’t match it. A few of them do alright, but some boarder on unintentionally comical. Madge Bellamy, the “white zombie” (as in “zombie bride”) is very stiff which makes the distinction between her regular self and her zombie self harder to differentiate. This weakens the dramatic impact of her character though it doesn’t go so far as to spoil the movie.

What really damages my enjoyment of the movie is that I found it hard to follow. Some of the dialogue is difficult to make out, and there are segments missing – as in suddenly being in the middle of the next scene on a few occasions. (I guess this is the result of the movie being lost for so long and the reluctance of the copyright holder to allow the movie to be restored for some reason). Because of this I had to piece together the concepts and work on assumptions after the fact.

Another thing I really dislike is the opening song. It’s a chorus of voices singing kind of a voodoo chant or something. It’s annoying made worse by its length and poor audio quality.

The story is good as a whole but drags often. The atmosphere is very dark. I'd have to say this is one of the most disturbing old horror movies I've ever seen which is probably why it has such a cult following despite its inadequacies in other areas.


CONTENT:
This movie has some dark concepts – I mean killing someone to bring them back from the dead to make them a love slave may not be something you want in you want in your 9 year old’s head. In other ways it’s a clean movie. There’s no language, sex, nudity, or graphic violence.


DVD:
I’ve heard of a version out there that includes a commentary by a film historian and some Bela Lugosi interviews. If you’re actually tracking this movie down that would be the one to shoot for. I got mine in a collection of 50 “Horror Classics” which is great as far as a cheap way to own a bunch of movies but doesn't include anything in the way of extra features. I’m sure there are multiple other releases out there, and though I don’t know if all of them have the scene jumping issue mine does or if there is one with better audio quality, I wouldn’t expect much out of any copy you may find. Even without the scene jumps the video quality is terrible and the audio quality not much better. On those fronts White Zombie is notably below average even compared to other old movies.


FINAL THOUGHTS:
White Zombie is certainly worth seeing for fans of really old horror movies. If nothing else it’s interesting to see such an early movie, one that had no previous zombie movies from which to pull. It’s enjoyable to watch to some degree, but the problems I’ve mentioned - poor audio/video quality, dragging story, weak acting - lessen the impact of the work as a whole. That’s also going to drag the rating down. So even though I recommend seeing it I’m only giving it a 2*.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older