Revenge Of The Zombies
The Zombies . . . The Living Dead . . . That bizarre, mysterious & ghastly breed of men who
are not dead and yet not alive. They are men with- out soul or will, miserable creatures of the occult world of Voodoo and the Supernatural. Fate has denied them the natural right of eternal rest after death; they roam the earth guided by an irresistible force, blindly obeying the commandments of their evil masters. What you are about to see is the foto-story of a film which was based on the legend of the Zombies. The film was made in 1944, the twilight year
of the horror classics, but for all the shock, suspense & pure horror it contained it might well have been made in the early 30s and conceived in the mind of Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, prior to surgery. Mary Shelly or any of the other authors of true Gothic horror whose works were at that time being transformed into films which have since become classics of carnage.
With the exception of John Carradine, the film had an unlikely cast for a horror movie. Gale Storm, a comedian, and Bob Steele, a Western star, had prominent roles. Mantan Moreland & Robert Lowery are generally associated with Charlie Chan type mysteries but still far removed
from anything of this nature. But in this case the transformation from Comedy, Western & Detective to master monster stars was a complete success.
A special tribute is also due to those unknown, uncredited men who portrayed the Zombies. The stiff movements, the blind gaze & the rigid steps made by these men created a truly shocking back- ground for this monster melodrama. The role of the mad scientist was just one of the many masterful performances which John Carradine was enacted in horror movies. It was not a new part for him as he has frequently been cast as some sort of evil experimenter throughout his long & brilliant career. CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE and FACE OP MARBLE all featured Carradine in the role of the mad doctor. In RETURN OF THE APE
MAN, Carradine was seen as a sane scientist for a change but in this film he eventually lost his mind, his entire brain as a matter of fact, at the hands of Bela Lugosi, who transplanted the brain into the body of a Stone Age monster! The realm of the Undead was also quite familiar to Carradine, having portrayed the evil impaler, Count Dracula, in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and again in HOUSE OF DRACULA. All of these performances supplied Carradine with a substantial background for this film which he handled with the excellence of a long experienced veteran. The Zombie theme, the idea of the Living Dead, has been used in at least half a dozen films as
as well as several comedies & juvenile grade “Z” type films.. Among the Zombie films in the classic tradition were Bela
Lugosi’s WHITE ZOMBIE, KING OF THE ZOMBIES, I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE and ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU. Other Zombie films have been TEENAGE ZOMBIES, ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY and ZOMBIES OF THE STRATO- SPHERE.
Monogram Pictures Corporation, the company which made REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIES,
was responsible for well over a score of horror
hits. Bela Lugosi. John Carradine, George Zucco & Lionel Atwill have all appeared in Monogram’s monster movies. Like Universal, Monogram turned
out many of the macabre films which delighted horror fans during the Fearsome 40s.
Among their many achievements in the fantasy field were VOODOO MAN, which featured Lugosi, Zucco & Carradine; Lugosi’s BLACK DRAGONS; Zucco & Lugosi in THE BLACK RAVEN; FOG ISLAND starring Atwili. Zucco & Lugosi; THE APE MAN
with Lugosi and RETURN OF THE APE MAN featuring Lugosi & Carradine. A few of these films are significant only because they featured a big name horror star and were merely run-of-the-mill monster movies. Most of Monogram’s films, how-
ever, have withstood the test of time and earned the right to be classified as truly great horror movies.
Veda Ann Borg, who in the film portrays John Carradine’s Zombified bride, was a relatively unknown actress. Little is known of her other film ape-fearances but in the all-time Rogues Gallery of Girl Ghouls she certainly deserves at least an honorable mention for this endeavor. Not since Elsa Lanchester’s immortal portrayal of the Monster’s Mate in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, 9 years before, had a woman so effectively frightened audiences by portraying a female fiend. No make-up, no special effects, no greasepaint was necessary for Miss Borg to enact her undead role brilliantly. Her spectre-like appearance, her Zombie walk and her strange otherworldly voice call- ing in the darkness were wonderfully weird & beautifully bizarre! To her goes a great deal of the credit for making this film the creepy classic it has become.
In a stark departure from her usual roles in comedies, Gale Storm was much more than the stock terrified heroine. She made several significant contributions to this film and before the end of the first reel her comic image was all but forgotten as the audience was virtually hypnotized by the awe & mystery of the entire performance. Of course the transition from comedy to melodrama is not such a difficult one for a person with great acting ability. There is at best a thin line between the two. What seems most frighten- ing to us at one moment can in the next be easily laughed at. Notwithstanding, a great amount of credit should be given to Gale Storm for the professional way in which she made her debut
in monsterdom.
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