I Walked with a Zombie / The Body Snatcher (1943)

Literary classics become screen horror classics when given the Lewton touch. Take the gothic romance of Jane Eyre reset it in the West Indies add the direction of Jacques Tourneur (Cat People) and the overriding terror of the living dead and you have I Walked with a Zombie. Frances Dee plays the nurse who witnesses the strange power of voodoo. Boris Karloff plays the title role in the Lewton adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Body Snatcher directed with subtle calculation by versatile Robert Wise. A doctor (Henry Daniell) needs cadavers for medical studies and Karloff is willing to provide them one way or another. Don't miss his scene with fellow horror icon Bela Lugosi.Running Time: 147 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR UPC: 053939724325 Product Description

Two good movies, one better than the other

This disk includes two feature films, both produced by Val Lewton in the mid 1940's. In that time period Lewton produced a handful of horror movies for RKO Studios, of which these are two. Lewton used several directors and writers for these movies, but they all share a similar literary quality and eschew the shock and scare of other horror movies of the time for a more creepy and atmospheric experience.

"I walked With a Zombie" is not nearly as lurid as the title would suggest, it is a well done melodrama with an exotic locale and voodoo. It is very loosely based on the novel "Jane Eyre".

"The Body Snatcher" is based on a Robt. L. Stevenson story and is the better of the two movies. Like "Zombie", it is not a true horror picture, except in the psychological sense. "Body Snatcher" packs a real wallop, Boris Karloff and Henry Daniell are excellent, and Bela Lugosi is wasted in a minor role.

A fine disk and two good movies. The other Val Lewton pics in this series are also good. "The Cat People", "Curse of the Cat People", and "Isle of the Dead" are the others I remember. I think there are several others.

Bottom line: These movies melded horror and melodrama and are very nicely written, produced and directed. They also have a certain literary quality about them that gives them an appeal outside of the horror genre.



August 2, 2008

Two fantastic movie together

"I Walked with a Zombie" (1943) is the latest film I've seen in my attempt to review every zombie movie ever made. I am not reviewing this through the eyes of a film enthusiast trying to understand the brilliance of one of Val Lewton's masterpieces. Rather, I'm going to attempt to review the film more through the eyes of a person fanatically obsessed with all things "zombie" (though, that is not to imply that I am a merely a philistine). The story is of nurse, Betsy Connell, who was sent to a Caribbean island to help a plantation owner care for his catatonic wife. Add a couple of love triangles and some voodoo into the mix, and those are the ingredients for a great picture.

"I Walked with a Zombie" is an interesting conundrum for zombie fans. It is a more traditional zombie story, which ends up making it an unconventional zombie movie by modern standards. In the pre-Romero and pre-Ossorio era of zombie movies such as this one, the zombies usually stick close to their Haitian voodoo roots. They are either a loved one or brought back from the dead or a slave used to carry out mischievous deeds, as opposed to the infectious creatures out to eat brains. The zombies in this movie carry a double meaning. They are both the traditional Haitian "risen from the dead" zombies, but they also refer to people who are mentally comatose. Though I have a love for the modern zombie films, I have a deep appreciation for this older and more traditional version of the zombie story.

For a film made in the 1940's, there is not going to be a lot of the stereotypical things people look for in zombie movies. There is no bloody gore, and there is no blatant sexism of 70's nudity. At the same time, considering it was made in the 40's. the film is very risqué. Though "I Walked with a Zombie" is lacking in what many are used to in modern zombie movies, the film more than makes up for it by having something that many modern zombie films lack: great dialog, a compelling plot, and amazing direction. The conversation at the opening of the film between nurse Betsy and the plantation owner is probably some of the most brilliant dialog ever put in a film with "zombie" in a title. "Everything seems beautiful because you don't understand. Those flying fish, they're not leaping for joy, they're jumping in terror. Bigger fish want to eat them. That luminous water, it takes its gleam from millions of tiny dead bodies. The glitter of putrescence. There is no beauty here, only death and decay [...] Everything good dies here. Even the stars." A phenomenal speech that really sets the somber tone of the film.

Jacques Tourneur's direction was amazing. The scene when Betsy first encounters her patient is frightening. The scene when Betsy brings her patient to the voodoo ceremony is dreamy and memorable.

I believe there are two drawbacks to the movie. First is that the romance between the nurse and the plantation owner seems entirely tacked on. It really comes out of nowhere, and isn't supported by any of the scenes in the movie. At the same time, in the 40's they had to be very careful about the Production Code, and showing a married man romantically interested in another woman while he had a sick wife would have been difficult.

My second issue with the movie is debatable, as to whether it is a drawback. This is difficult to gage by a person watching a movie 65 years past it's time, but it seems like there is a certain level of (unintentional?) racism in the movie. This first hit me when an old islander is bringing Betsy to the plantation and is telling her about, "The enormous boat brought the long-ago fathers and the long-ago mothers of us all...chained to the bottom of the boat," to which Betsy replies, ""They brought you to a beautiful place, didn't they?" I cringed at that. It's like saying, "Sure, your ancestors were slaves taken from their homes, and most probably died on the boat over, but at least they were taken to a place with a beach and palm trees." It struck me as rather callous. Also, all of the island people seem to be stereotypically superstitious and "simple folks". On the other side of the argument I've read articles, and even seen a documentary by Martin Scorsese, that discuss how if "I Walked With A Zombie" is considered in the context of the early 1940's, that it is actually an anti-racist movie. Those articles talk about how even the mention of slave ships was a bold move in the 40's, and how Betsy's callous response would have been accurate for the character. The articles also have a very different take on the portrayal of island people than I did. They describe the movie's portrayal of the Caribbean people and their religious practice as "extraordinarily accurate" and "respectful", and "free of the racial stereotypes". It's is a complex issue of the film, and each viewer will have to form their own opinion. I know I change my opinion from day to day. If it means anything, the film was purportedly immensely popular with African American audiences when it was released.

Those issues aside, I find this to be a thoroughly enjoyable movie and give "I Walked with a Zombie" a 8/10 on my zombie movie rating scale. Though many zombie fanatics may be put-off by the more traditional take on the genre, I can't imagine anyone not being able to appreciate this movie. As a sign of a truly good zombie film, it is a movie that has appeal for everyone, and not simply those who are zombie fanatics.

"The Body Snatcher" (1945): as a bonus, the movie is on the same DVD as Val Lewton and Robert Wise's adaptation of Robert Lewis Stevenson's "The Body Snatcher". "The Body Snatcher" is the story of a medical professor who hires a grave robber to keep supplying him with fresh corpses. The professor wants to get out of it, but the grave robber starts to black mail him, and carries things too far. It's a great film, and chance to see actor Boris Karloff do some fantastic work as the grave robber. Also, there's a rare scene of Karloff and Bela Lugosi going head to head. A movie definitely worth the time: 8/10.
March 19, 2008

Karloff creates another human monster

These are two of the finest films of the very fine Val Lewton Collection. I walked with a Zombie is, oddly enough, a very elegant treatment of the walking dead. Lewton's favorite director, Jacques Tourneur, was at the helm, giving the subject the correct weight and just enough darkness. No one in the history of film could have made this movie but Val Lewton.

Think of it: RKO studios came to Lewton and gave him a title - I Walked With A Zombie - with directions to make a quick, effective zombie flick to cash in on the horror craze (the studio was still getting over the money pit Orson Wells had dug for them with his Citizen Kane, which was very poorly attended). Val Lewton took the title and produced a quick, effective (and money-making) retelling of Bronte's Jane Eyre set in Haiti with zombies. To call Lewton "imaginative" doesn't quite cover it. As was always the case with Lewton, whose involvement in a picture was often greater than the typical "producer", this film is very unsettling and truly scary with only minimal special effects. The Body Snatcher is my favorite Lewton film, and it contains my very favorite Boris Karloff performance of a long and glorious career full of great performances. Karloff plays the grave robber, Cabman Gray. As was always the case with Karloff, his subtle performance gave his villainous character a human side. Karloff always took the time as an actor to bring dimensions to his character, as in this film when he apologizes to his horse for having to take her out again on an unsavory mission - "bad news ." says Karloff, who seems truly sad, as he strokes the horse's head and describes the night's work ahead of them; or when he stands over a freshly killed body and gently - absentmindedly - strokes his nearby pet cat.

Karloff was always the master of the lethal, burning stare behind the silky voice that suggested terrible things. Yet, all of Karloff's "monsters" were always very, very human - particularly Frankenstein December 31, 2007

Great film

The Body Snatcher pretty much takes the cake with this 2 movies on one disc collection. I Walked with a Zombie is an "ok" film, but, its Karloff's greatness that overshadows everything. Get if it your a huge Karloff fan and get it, because it rarely gets played on TCM and AMC. Highly Rcommended!!! December 15, 2007

Classic horror film

"I Walked with a Zombie" is a black and white classic horror film set in the West Indies. Rather than being filmed on a set this one was filmed on location and used locals in the cast. This created a very authentic atmosphere for the tale to unfold. The tale itself, that of a wife of a wealthy plantation owner who has become a zombie, is told in a manner that us both suspenseful and tasteful. A MUST SEE for horror movie buffs. November 21, 2007

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