The Plague of the Zombies (1966)

Alongside 'The Reptile', a film made back-to-back with this, 'Plague of the Zombies' is widely considered something of a diamond in Hammer's crown. And it is. Whereas 'Reptile' was infused with a rich Cornish atmosphere on which to base its tale of terror, only the realisation of the titular creature let things down. No such trouble here - in fact, the appearance of the zombies depicted in this John Gilling directed production went on, coincidentally or not, to influence many of the living dead productions to this day. Milky eyed, rotting, stumbling creatures, they are truly a sight to behold, especially in their first appearance: Diane Clare's Sylvia Forbes stumbles through the night after her fragile friend Alice (the mighty Jacqueline Pearce) only to find her presumably dead, and in the arms of a shockingly revealed, grinning dead man. It is sterling stuff.Peter Bryan's screenplay sets the ball rolling immediately with a fox-hunt being carried out across countryside and village by a handsome troupe of violently arrogant upper-class young bloods. We immediately despise these cowards, and therefore hold Squire Clive Hamilton in both fear and high regard, as he appears to be their master. Hamilton is played by one of my favourite actors, John Carson, a superbly spoken gentleman who seemed to specialise in well-bred rotters. Had Christopher Lee not been available, I am convinced Carson would have made an equally well-received Dracula.Andre Morell, another Hammer stalwart, is also a great presence here, as he is in all of his appearances. He plays Hamilton's nemesis Sir James Forbes, a stuffy but very appealing professor. Brook Williams is also very good as the harassed young Peter Thompson. A word too, for the formidable Denver, Hamilton's lackey and first class bully - Alexander Davion plays him wonderfully.Apart from some unfortunate day-for-night sequences not quite convincing (a common problem from filmic productions of this time), the Cornish location is magnificently used. Superstitious villagers, scared locals, a charmingly manipulative and evil aristocrat, Michael Ripper, something strange going on in the mines - all terrific horror staples. And that dream sequence celebrated by Hammer fans, deserves all the accolades it gets.

***SPOILERS**** After it's huge success with former 1930's horror films about Frankenstein & Dracula Hammer Films took a crack at Zombie movies with "Plague of the Zombies" that predated the far more popular "Night of the Living Dead" by some two years. The movie takes place in a Cornish village circa 1860 where a number of villagers died of a mysterious illness and were buried without even having been examined-autopsy-to find out what killed them. With the village boss or Squire Clive Hamilton, John Carson, refusing to have Dr. Peter Thompson,Brook Williams, check out what was the cause of the villagers strange deaths he gets in touch with his former medical teacher Sir James Forbes, Andre Morell, to help him out in finding what killed the villagers. Only to have the local police, on orders From Clive Hamilton, to have them both arrested for body snatching.With the graves of those who died opened and finding them empty it becomes apparent even to the police that something fishy is going on and that Clive Hamilton is behind it. It's when Hamilton overreaches himself in trying to make or turn Thompson's wife, whom he seems to have the hots for, Sylvia, Diane Clare, into a member of his Zombie slave work force. That's working around the clock in 24 hour shifts-at minimum wage-at his deserted salt mine outside of town that things really start to heat up.***SPOILERS*** The end for Clive Hamilton couldn't have come soon enough when the zombies under his control started getting hot in the pants as well as their entire bodies. Learning about the black arts as well as voodoo while on a trip to the Caribbean island of Hyatiee, or Haite, Hamilton became obsessed with the thought of creating a Zombie workforce as well as army to do his evil bidding. That with the help of a number Haitians that he brought back to England as well as local villagers to fill its ranks. With Sir James Forbes uncovering William's sinister plan he had Williams' entire Zonmbie army let loose on him. That only to have them together with Williams go up in flames when the salt mine was set on fire during a life and death struggle between Forbes & Williams. That put an end to Williams plans that went up in flames as well as Williams and his entire Zombie workforce .

This was the one and only zombie movie that the British horror kings Hammer Films ever put out. It might seem quite odd to some modern viewers in that there are no flesh-eating ghouls to be found here at all. The reason for this is quite simple, this movie came out two years before George A. Romero's legendary classic Night of the Living Dead (1968) which effectively was a year zero moment for the modern, more grotesque zombie. In this one the undead are almost tragic beings who are slaves to an evil human. This isn't so strange, as Hammer had made a habit of going back to the 30's and making modern versions of the horror classics of that decade. To this end Plague of the Zombies could be considered a new version of the zombie films of those earlier years when the conception of the undead was wrapped up in Haitian voodoo, with the zombies themselves slaves to occult masters. A film that looks to have been particularly influential here is the Bela Lugosi poverty row cult item White Zombie (1932), which featured all those things plus the idea of the undead being used to work tirelessly in a mill, an idea revisited here also. What was also noticeable to me was that this one looked like a second-tier Hammer film financially, with none of their big stars in it. In fact, it seems to have been made as a support feature for Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), with the funny trailer for this double-bill saying that boys will be handed out Dracula fangs and girls will be given zombie eyes! It also seems to clearly have been made back-to-back with The Reptile (1966) which also shares the same filming location as well as some acting personnel. But the interesting thing is, that despite the lower profile that Hammer gave it, this remains one of their strongest 60's movies.A couple of physicians investigate a series of unexplained deaths and vanishing corpses in a small Cornish village. The local squire appears to be involved in some way. One chief strength is the atmosphere which is helped quite a bit by the great locations. The slightly odd looking antiquated village is very distinctive, while the old mill is quite haunting. The zombies themselves make only selective appearances but they make for interesting shambling creatures, dressed in sack cloths. One of the highlights of the movie as a whole has them rise from the earth in a graveyard and attack one of the central characters in a sinister dream sequence. Even better is a scene just prior to it where the doctor's dead wife comes out of her grave and advances directly towards him with an intense relentless look on her face. This scene was the highlight of the film for me. It was shot very well and acted perfectly by Jacqueline Pearce who also put in a very memorable performance in The Reptile. On the whole, this has to go down as one of the best Hammer films from its period on account of its more original material and well-crafted moments. It was maybe also the very last of the old-school zombie movies too before Romero changed the sub-genre forever more, and for this reason too it is worth seeing.

Being left with my nerves torn to ribbons by 2012's ultra-creepy The Woman in Black,I felt that for October,I would take at one or two of Hammer Horror original titles.Searching round on Amazon,I was thrilled to discover that my interest in Hammer had hit at the perfect time,thanks to Studio canal bringing out new editions of the films,existentially remastered from the original negatives.Carefully judging the prices,I decided that Plague of the Zombies would be my intro to the world of Hammer Horror.The plot:Reciving a letter from his former top pupil, (whose also married his daughter's best friend) about a mysterious illness that is leading to people dying in a very strange way,Sir James Forbes and his daughter Sylvia decided to go and pay Dr. Peter Tompson a visit,in the hope of helping him to stop the continuous spreading of the illness.Arriving to the village in Cornwall,James and Sylivia are horrified to discover that the town is controlled by upper-class gangs,who rule the area with an iron fist.Attempting to make the gangs see reason,the Forbes and Tompson tell them that an autopsy has to be performed on one of the victims,so that the cause of death can officially be confirmed.Angered by their demands,the controllers of the village tell the Forbes and Tompson that it is simply "marsh fever" and is something which does not need any investigating at all.Seeing signs of this being a cover up,James and Peter begin to relies,that they only have one,illegal option left,to find out what disease is really killing the poor people of the town:dig up a body.Prepairing to carefully open the coffin,James and Peter are interrupted,when two police officers spot them,and get set to arrest them both on "grave robbery".Relising that this could possible be their only chance to see-what after effects the illness has had on the decease body,Forbes and Tompson quickly open the coffin,only to discover,that despite a person being buried in it,the coffin is now completely empty….View on the film:Feeling unsure about what I was about to witness,in my first ever,"classic era" Hammer Horror,I was relived to find Studio Canal giving the film a tremendous red carpet treatment,with the bonus making of on the DVD showing the painstaking work that the company had put in,to bring this terrific movie,truly back from the dead.Opaing with a lively,proto-Jaws like score from the great James Bernard,director John Gilling shows the events at the start of the movie to be "just another,typical day in Cornwall" as a West Indies Voodoo/Zombie ritual takes place deep within a tin mine.Despite being restrained by the studio to only use sets that would be used for the filming of another movie, (The Reptile) Gilling shows tremendous skills in not allowing the "boxed-in" restrictions from stopping him creating a wonderful,mysterious atmosphere.Although the film does feature a number of good,surprisingly dream-logic style Zombie scenes,Gilling unexpectedly makes the most chilling moments in the film,ones which involve psychological fear rather than gore,with one of the most terrifying scenes in the film,being a character fearing that they may be about to get gang Raped.Showing a strong influence of Arthur Conan Doyle,screenwriter Peter Bryan, (who,in 1959 wrote the screenplay for Hammer's version of Doyle's The Hound of the Baskerville) combines Tompson and the Forbes increasingly dangerous, amateur sleuthing with a wonderful,cleverly handled underlying subtext,which shows,that even after becoming dead & buried,the working class,is here literally used as slaves by the upper-class of the village,to do all of the "dirty work for them,even after death!Despite great performances from the whole cast,with the charming Diane Clare, (whose other credits include Ice Cold In Alex,Whistle Down the Wind and 1963's The Haunting) as Sylvia Forbes,and the wickedly good,James Mason-sound-alike John Carson as the boo-hiss Squire Clive Hamilton being two of the main highlights,Bryan sadly struggles to give the film the knock-out punch that it feels to be building towards in the first hour,as the ending leaves behind any sense of atmospheric, mystery horror behind,to instead end on a poorly done, Disaster movie-like note .