White Zombie (1932)

(On Cable TV, August 2019) There’s an undeniable first-mover advantage to White Zombie in that it was, at least to my knowledge, the first feature-length horror film to head to the Caribbean for its zombie thrills. Obligatory precision: These are old-school voodoo zombies and not the Romero flesh-eating ones—meaning that mysterious plants and hypnotic suggestions lead to an undead-like state. In this context walks in a loving couple about to get married, and a local count who covets the woman. It escalates as it should, with none other than Bela Lugosi as the voodoo master doing his lord’s bidding. The atmosphere approaches Caribbean Gothic at times, although that really oversells it: as times, it feels as if they simply transposed some vampire story to Haiti and didn’t file off the serial numbers. Coming barely five years in the sound film era, White Zombie still feels like a silent film in many aspects, and most specifically in the melodramatic acting carried wholesale from silent movies. While the film was modestly influential in its own way (this is where Rob Zombie got his band’s name from), it feels bland compared to other horror movies of the era, or even other takes on similar material. For instance, I can’t say enough good things about I Walked with a Zombie (1943) when I compare it with White Zombie. It’s worth a look for horror historians, but I’d be hard-pressed to suggest it as decent entertainment when there are better options out there.