White Zombie (1932)

Copyright 1 August 1932 by United Artists Corp. New York opening at the Rivoli: 28 July 1932. U.S. release: July 1932. Original running time: 73 minutes. Present 1998 TV prints run only 68 minutes and are missing "the one scene which seemed most gripping to Rivoli audiences, wherein zombies carry a body out of its burial grounds and return the corpse to life at the will of hypnotist Murder Legendre." (New York Daily News). SYNOPSIS: An evil hypnotist who staffs his sugar mill with zombies is contracted to exert his influence over a young married girl whom a local plantation owner covets. NOTES: Shot in only two weeks at Universal studios (though of course the many elaborate glass shots and other laboratory work, plus the dubbing of dialogue, music and sound effects, extended the film's production time considerably), White Zombie became one of the most successful independent horror films ever made. It turned its backer, Phil Goldstone, into a multi-millionaire, and won for the Halperin Brothers a contract at Paramount where they made Supernatural which was equally weird, far more polished, but less financially successful. Technically, there's quite a lot wrong with White Zombie. For modern audiences the two most important are the extremely noisy soundtrack (presumably the Halperins could only afford the outmoded sound-on-disc system which was then going cheap for independent producers) and the old-fashioned acting (particularly by once super-popular silent star Madge Bellamy, here attempting a comeback after her 100% talkie debut in the 1929 Tonight at Twelve was indifferently received. Mind you, the other players are not much better. Miss Bellamy seems so bad mainly because the script requires her to mime most of her role. Even Lugosi hams it up, but then that is what we expect of the master. Harron is as unbelievable as Bellamy, but his part is so small it doesn't really matter. Frazer is hammy too, but manages to impress nonetheless. Cawthorn is the most assured of the lot, but he is saddled with an irritating line of comedy relief). Other technical problems include jerky cutting (partly caused by hasty shooting, partly by the need to clip either picture or track when the voices get out of sync); abrupt continuity (partly disguised in TV transmission by the insertion of commercial breaks); and the use of old, full-frame cameras, which means that the image is awkwardly truncated unless printed between bars (which fortunately the 1998 TV prints are). On the positive side, the film is such a genuine weirdie, most audiences will overlook most of the shortcomings. Superlatively atmospheric photography, imaginative direction, staggeringly impressive sets (achieved by almost faultless glass shots), and above all, some of the most bizarre sound effects (including music - note the credit to Xavier Cugat, of all people) ever assembled for a motion picture combine with Lugosi, Frazer and the zombies (brilliantly made up by Universal's legendary master, Jack Pierce) to create a movie experience of absolutely chilling intensity.

If you're looking for a movie about undead cannibals that walk around with their rotting flesh falling off or want to see intestines get ripped out of people while they're still alive, you're going to be very disappointed.White Zombie is one of the first zombie movies ever made, and it's still one of the scariest. It's a creepy and atmospheric movie from the time when filmmakers made true horror movies that didn't rely on cheap jump scares or guts and gore.Bela Lugosi's character is probably one of the most evil villains in a horror movie. In some ways, he's worse than Dracula. Dracula could always blame it on the curse...what's this guy's excuse? He's just a sadist.The zombies are frightening to look at, especially the "chief executioner". He's comparable to Count Orlok from Nosferatu or Erik in Phantom of the Opera from 1925 (in fact, the whole movie feels like a silent movie). I bet the actors cracked up a lot during the making of the movie, though.Everything in White Zombie looks creepy, from start to finish. It's like a very bad dream. The graveyard, the house, the castle...and then there's the darn vulture. Stop making those awful noises! But fortunately, since this is an old movie, it has a happy ending where the villain is defeated, and our heroes (hopefully) live happily ever after.Forget overrated zombie movies like Dawn of the Dead and garbage like Fulci's "Zombi", and watch a true zombie movie instead.

White Zombie is an old time horror movie. This movie is found to be just like every other horror movie from this time period. Most old horror movies aren't found to have a lot of action or be very gory like horror movies are today. Just like other old movies, it is recorded in the studio. All the sets are made specifically for each scene. The sets are easily noticeable and corny but if the viewer can get past the corniness, the movie and story is pretty good. I find lighting to have a positive impact on many older movies. This movie also benefits from lighting. Lighting is very important to horror movies, it inputs a certain feeling and mood for the viewer just like music does. The acting in this movie was very poor. This definitely was not my favorite horror movie and I would not recommend someone to watch it.

This film was introduced to me as being low-budget, and while it made sense upon watching it, the White Zombie certainly exceeded my expectations. To begin with, the light/"color" effects were aesthetically pleasing. I say "color" because of how hard they drove it home that Madge Bellamy's Madeline would indeed be the "white zombie" the title referred to. This could be considered a cheesy or ham-fisted entity, but Bellamy was truly an entity with power on screen, though only in appearance.The acting itself (and often the writing) is actually quite bad pretty consistently. That can have its merits though, especially in this genre. For instance, much of that acting contributes well to the horror/zombie aspect of the film; what would be considered a "classic" element of it today. Bela Lugosi takes it over the top, with his signature presence. While I have trouble getting genuinely invested in films of this nature, Lugosi is truly some sort of force of amusement. The cast is thoroughly entertaining, if nothing else.On top of being a good "classic" horror/zombie movie, White Zombie had several independent merits, both creative and social. For instance, one scene when Neil (played by John Harron) is having something of an emotional breakdown after losing Madeline, and the use of shadows on the wall and noise itself are excellent. It's a visually engaging scene, and one that stuck with me, though White Zombie uses light and shadow extremely well throughout. Sound is a great tool in the film as well, such as the too-quiet scene in the sugar mill when Charles Beaumont, something of an antagonist, pays a visit to Lugosi's Murder Legendre. The grinding noise is striking, and builds to the tone of at least Lugosi's sinister character quite well.Socially, White Zombie implies a lot about the colonialism that affected at the time through its treatment of setting, lore, and the actual people by Beaumont at his manor/plantation. This, however, has far more relevance than being simply a setting today than it would have when it was released, as nothing is explicitly said about these things in the film. But with a modern view, there's certainly something to be seen there.All in all, White Zombie is simply enjoyable and at several points, artful. This is more than can be said for what we would generally think of as a "low-budget" horror movie.