Reviews (4)

Carole Lombard in a strange little supernatural thriller
"Supernatural" is still available as a videotape because it stars Carole Lombard, but you will appreciate it more if you focus more on director Victor Halperin, whose previous film had been "White Zombie." We begin with the slimy Paul Bavian (Alan Dinehart), a fake spirtualist who wants to get his hands on the Courtney family fortune. Towards that end he tells young Roma Courtney (Lombard) that he is in communication with her dead brother, John (Lyman Williams). Bavian arranges a seance using his landlay, Madame Gourjan (Beryle Mercer) and uses a mask of John's face to convince Roma that her brother, reaching out from beyond the grave and tries to convince her that John was murdered by Robert Hammond (William Farnum), Roma's legal guardian. Of course, Roma is upset by this news and does not know what to do.

Meanwhile, in another part of town, we meet Dr. Houston (H. B. Warner), a psychologist who believes that the spirits of dead criminals can enter the bodies of the living and continue to commit crimes. To prove his theory, the doctor has made arrangements with Ruth Rogen, the "Greenwich Village love-murderess" who is about to be executed for the murder of three of her lovers, to perform experiments on her body when she is dead. Ruth has agreed because she wants to take revenge from beyond the grave on Bavian, who is the one who betrayed her to the police.

Now, if you understand the first part of the plot and accept the second part, then you can get a good idea of how this one is going to end. The biggest problem with "Supernatural" is achieveing a willing suspension of disbelief, but if you can get past that this is a nice little thriller in the tradition most of us would recognize as being akin to the "Inner Sactum" radio show or E.C. Comic's "Tales from the Crypt." If you were never in to such nonsense I can see where this one will strike you as stupid, and fans of Lombard the comedien will find nothing here of value, but in the context of 1930s horror movies, "Supernatural" is not that bad. This 1933 film is only a bit over an hour long, so it moves pretty quickly all things considered. The special effects are hokey, but, again, by the standard of the time it is still above average.

Early Lombard in a eerie little tale
It's wonderful that MCA Universal have released this rare and little seen film onto video. Without the benefit of this I feel this film would be completely forgotten. It comes over as a strange and rather haunting tale that is all wrapped up in roughly 65 minutes but never fails to leave a lingering feeling in you due to its rather different subject matter.

"Supernatural" is a unique and quite disturbing film that deals with certain issues, like using corpses for research , that would not have been filmed a few years later. It also is a great opportunity to see the great Carole Lombard in a very early film role prior to her becoming the screwball queen of comedy in such classics as "Twentieth Century" , "Hands Across the Table", "My Man Godfrey, and "The Princess Comes Across". Her's is a masterful portrayal of a girl, Roma Courtney who, in trying to contact her recently deceased brother at a seance becomes possessed by the evil spirit of a recently executed murderess. She begins to take on her characteristics and liking for murder. It is Lombard in a very different light and reveals her great talents for drama as well as comedy.

In this production Carole Lombard shares the limelight with Alan Dinehart in the showy role of Paul Bavian who plays the phoney spiritualist who tries to lure Roma into a rigged contact with her deceased brother via some tricks with lighting and strings. He portays a quite chilling character and his scene where he ruthlessly murders his prying landlady Beryl Mercer is very frightening and adds to the distubing feel that this film projects. Perhaps most memorable of all is actress Vivienne Osborne in the brief but memorable role of Ruth Rogen the executed murderess. Her few scenes are excellent and her chilling character with the sickening laugh awaiting execution on death row will stick in your mind for a long time. Leading man Randolph Scott lends his usual capable support to Lombard in the role of Grant, Roma's boyfriend.

"Supernatural" has a very polished look about it no doubt backed up by all the expertise at Paramount at the time. The visual effects and superimposing of images is very well done or the time and the fake seance scenes are quite riveting in the mood they create.

While not as famous as Carole Lombard's other memorable roles, I feel it is an interesting work and an important film in her career development. If like me you are a fan of Carole's make sure you include this in your video collection of her work to show the variety of roles she was capable of performing. In short enjoy the eerie story that "Supernarural" has to tell, you wont be disappointed.

An Underrated Chiller
Independent producers Victor and Edward Halperin are best known for "White Zombie," the 1932 horror classic that features one of Bela Lugosi's finest performances. However, the Halperins' 1933 follow-up, "Supernatural," is a must-see. Running only 64 minutes, this imaginative thriller boasts a memorable cast and some stunning visual touches. From a stylistic and thematic standpoint, "Supernatural" is quite similar to "White Zombie" -- right down to the memorable close-ups of Carole Lombard's eyes and the inventive use of superimpositions. Since the Halperins received backing from Paramount, "Supernatural" is a more polished production than "White Zombie," though it lacks the stature of the Lugosi film. Thanks to MCA Home Video, this underrated chiller has been rescued from obscurity. "Supernatural" is a minor classic of the genre.

Hidden gem.
This is an excellent film, however it was released by Paramount and not Universal. ... Read more

Reviews (39)

One of Lugosi's better films as another master of the undead
In many ways "White Zombie" is not only the first zombie movie it is also the last film in the baroque horror tradition of the silent films. This 1932 film directed by Victor Halperin was made for practically nothing even though is starred Bela Lugosi as "Murder" Legendre, in his first big role after the gigantic success of "Dracula," as the master of a different type of undead down in Haiti (Note: Lugosi apparently directed some of the retakes as well).

In "White Zombie," Monsieur Beaumont (Robert Frazer) convinces a young couple, Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) and Neil Parker (John Harron) to get married on his Haitian plantation. Amazingly enough, he does this so that he can convince Madeline to run away with him. Needing help, Beaumont turns to Legendre, who runs his mill with zombie workers. Legendre carves a voodoo doll and with Madeline's scarf turn her into a zombie as well. Neil thinks that his wife is dead and gets depressed, sinking into a world of hallucinations and fevered dreams, while Beaumont quickly discovers that he is dissatisfied with Madeline's soulless husk and wants her turned back (even though this will undoubtedly do nothing to improve their relationship). Instead, the fiendish Legendre turns Beaumont into a zombie as well, which actually makes the couple compatible for the first time in the film. Meanwhile, Neil is convinced by a local priest that maybe he is not a widow after all and he goes off to play the hero.

"White Zombie" never really frightens its audience, but instead sustains a high level of downright eeriness throughout, achieving its effect by taking such simple objects as the scarf used to wrap a voodoo doll or a rose containing poison and making them important elements in Lugosi's evil machinations. This film might be a talkie, but its sensibilities are those of the silent era, which actually works in its favor, even with Lugosi's distinctive accented voice. The result is a rather creepy film that ends up being an above average effort in Lugosi's career that I would put in his top five films.

Bela Lugosi in the world's first zombie horror movie
In many ways this first zombie movie is the last film in the baroque horror tradition of the silent films. This 1932 film directed by Victor Halperin was made for practically nothing even though is starred Bela Lugosi as "Murder" Legendre, in his first big role after "Dracula," as the master of a different type of undead down in Haiti (Lugosi apparently directed some of the retakes as well). In "White Zombie," Monsieur Beaumont (Robert Frazer) convinces a young couple, Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) and Neil Parker (John Harron) to get married on his Haitian plantation. Amazingly enough, he does this so that he can convince Madeline to run away with him. Needing help, Beaumont turns to Legendre, who runs his mill with zombie workers. Legendre carves a voodoo doll and with Madeline's scarf turn her into a zombie as well. Neil thinks that his wife is dead and gets depressed, sinking into a world of hallucinations and fevered dreams, while Beaumont quickly discovers that he is dissatisfied with Madeline's soulless husk and wants her turned back (even though this will undoubtedly do nothing to improve their relationship). Instead, the fiendish Legendre turns Beaumont into a zombie as well, which actually makes the couple compatible for the first time in the film. Meanwhile, Neil is convinced by a local priest that maybe he is not a widow after all and he goes off to play the hero. "White Zombie" never really frightens its audience, but instead sustains a high level of downright eeriness throughout, achieving its effect by taking such simple objects as the scarf used to wrap a voodoo doll or a rose containing poison and making them important elements in Lugosi's evil machinations. This film might be a talkie, but its sensibilities are those of the silent era, which actually works in its favor, even with Lugosi's distinctive accented voice. The result is a rather creepy film that ends up being an above average effort in Lugosi's career.

". . . we may uncover sins the devil would be ashamed of."
So warns the Christian missionary to Haiti who helps a young banker save his bride from voodoo-induced thralldom to a plantation owner who has kidnapped her.

In White Zombie the sins were brought to Haiti by European colonizers.

White Zombie (1932) is Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) transposed from an industrial society to the third world. The Haitian zombies slaving in Legendre's sugar mill are waiting for a Che Guevara, not a Lenin.

In Metropolis a worker in the underground factory below the city continually moves the hands on a giant round clock, a task that doesn't seem to have any purpose.

In White Zombie the undead go round and round in a circle, turning a mill to grind up sugar cane for Legendre, the mill owner who has simplified his labor relations by transforming his workforce into zombies. One zombie falls from his spot into a vat where he is ground up with the cane. None of his fellow workers notice; he doesn't even try to save himself as he falls.

Legendre has taken economic and political control of the island by enslaving its elite (the head of the gendarmerie and politicians), in addition to the unskilled peasants who make his sugar.

Legendre gets the living betray their own kind. Once Madeleine has become a zombie she is tended by maids who obey their master rather than be turned into undead creatures themselves.

Unfortunately for the Haitians, while Madeleine is saved from an eternity of playing Chopin on the piano with a glazed expression, the natives grinding the sugar cane are forgotten at the end.

But once Legendre is out of the way, who will take care of the zombie mill workers and export the sugar?

Maybe Madeleine's husband, the banker, can take over the mill. Everything will work out.

Voodoo spell
The reviewers who refer to the surreal poetry of this movie are (forgive me) dead on. This movie is creepy. It's not scary, but it captures the essense of Caribbean creepiness well. You can almost smell the decay of the rotting vegetation and flesh.
Lugosi plays the villain well and gives a performance that makes necromancy seem believable (coffee works a similar magic for me in the mornings. Come to think of it, the zombies' undead shuffle is strangely familiar as well.) This movie is not for the average film viewer, but should be in every horror fans collection for its own merits and for its historic perspective as the first zombie movie.

Kindly necromancer gives relationship advice
Hardworking, professional necromancer employs hundreds of economically disadvantaged zombies in small business startup. He helps three young people caught in a love triangle sort out their feelings through dynamic tension exercises. Naive man comes to Bela for help to win girl's heart, but as wise Bela points out... "She can love, but that doesn't mean she can love you." Later when the rejected man reaches out to grasp Bela's hand, Bela smiles and says, "Now we understand each other a little better."

Kenneth Web, author of a play similar to this movie, sued the movie makers and lost. Movie was plagued by many other legal disputes which resulted in loss of original footage. Loss of original footage makes full restoration difficult. This DVD is probably the best attempt we will ever have. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

awesome
Very thrilling and breath taking ... Read more

Reviews (39)

One of Lugosi's better films as another master of the undead
In many ways "White Zombie" is not only the first zombie movie it is also the last film in the baroque horror tradition of the silent films. This 1932 film directed by Victor Halperin was made for practically nothing even though is starred Bela Lugosi as "Murder" Legendre, in his first big role after the gigantic success of "Dracula," as the master of a different type of undead down in Haiti (Note: Lugosi apparently directed some of the retakes as well).

In "White Zombie," Monsieur Beaumont (Robert Frazer) convinces a young couple, Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) and Neil Parker (John Harron) to get married on his Haitian plantation. Amazingly enough, he does this so that he can convince Madeline to run away with him. Needing help, Beaumont turns to Legendre, who runs his mill with zombie workers. Legendre carves a voodoo doll and with Madeline's scarf turn her into a zombie as well. Neil thinks that his wife is dead and gets depressed, sinking into a world of hallucinations and fevered dreams, while Beaumont quickly discovers that he is dissatisfied with Madeline's soulless husk and wants her turned back (even though this will undoubtedly do nothing to improve their relationship). Instead, the fiendish Legendre turns Beaumont into a zombie as well, which actually makes the couple compatible for the first time in the film. Meanwhile, Neil is convinced by a local priest that maybe he is not a widow after all and he goes off to play the hero.

"White Zombie" never really frightens its audience, but instead sustains a high level of downright eeriness throughout, achieving its effect by taking such simple objects as the scarf used to wrap a voodoo doll or a rose containing poison and making them important elements in Lugosi's evil machinations. This film might be a talkie, but its sensibilities are those of the silent era, which actually works in its favor, even with Lugosi's distinctive accented voice. The result is a rather creepy film that ends up being an above average effort in Lugosi's career that I would put in his top five films.

Bela Lugosi in the world's first zombie horror movie
In many ways this first zombie movie is the last film in the baroque horror tradition of the silent films. This 1932 film directed by Victor Halperin was made for practically nothing even though is starred Bela Lugosi as "Murder" Legendre, in his first big role after "Dracula," as the master of a different type of undead down in Haiti (Lugosi apparently directed some of the retakes as well). In "White Zombie," Monsieur Beaumont (Robert Frazer) convinces a young couple, Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) and Neil Parker (John Harron) to get married on his Haitian plantation. Amazingly enough, he does this so that he can convince Madeline to run away with him. Needing help, Beaumont turns to Legendre, who runs his mill with zombie workers. Legendre carves a voodoo doll and with Madeline's scarf turn her into a zombie as well. Neil thinks that his wife is dead and gets depressed, sinking into a world of hallucinations and fevered dreams, while Beaumont quickly discovers that he is dissatisfied with Madeline's soulless husk and wants her turned back (even though this will undoubtedly do nothing to improve their relationship). Instead, the fiendish Legendre turns Beaumont into a zombie as well, which actually makes the couple compatible for the first time in the film. Meanwhile, Neil is convinced by a local priest that maybe he is not a widow after all and he goes off to play the hero. "White Zombie" never really frightens its audience, but instead sustains a high level of downright eeriness throughout, achieving its effect by taking such simple objects as the scarf used to wrap a voodoo doll or a rose containing poison and making them important elements in Lugosi's evil machinations. This film might be a talkie, but its sensibilities are those of the silent era, which actually works in its favor, even with Lugosi's distinctive accented voice. The result is a rather creepy film that ends up being an above average effort in Lugosi's career.

". . . we may uncover sins the devil would be ashamed of."
So warns the Christian missionary to Haiti who helps a young banker save his bride from voodoo-induced thralldom to a plantation owner who has kidnapped her.

In White Zombie the sins were brought to Haiti by European colonizers.

White Zombie (1932) is Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) transposed from an industrial society to the third world. The Haitian zombies slaving in Legendre's sugar mill are waiting for a Che Guevara, not a Lenin.

In Metropolis a worker in the underground factory below the city continually moves the hands on a giant round clock, a task that doesn't seem to have any purpose.

In White Zombie the undead go round and round in a circle, turning a mill to grind up sugar cane for Legendre, the mill owner who has simplified his labor relations by transforming his workforce into zombies. One zombie falls from his spot into a vat where he is ground up with the cane. None of his fellow workers notice; he doesn't even try to save himself as he falls.

Legendre has taken economic and political control of the island by enslaving its elite (the head of the gendarmerie and politicians), in addition to the unskilled peasants who make his sugar.

Legendre gets the living betray their own kind. Once Madeleine has become a zombie she is tended by maids who obey their master rather than be turned into undead creatures themselves.

Unfortunately for the Haitians, while Madeleine is saved from an eternity of playing Chopin on the piano with a glazed expression, the natives grinding the sugar cane are forgotten at the end.

But once Legendre is out of the way, who will take care of the zombie mill workers and export the sugar?

Maybe Madeleine's husband, the banker, can take over the mill. Everything will work out.

Voodoo spell
The reviewers who refer to the surreal poetry of this movie are (forgive me) dead on. This movie is creepy. It's not scary, but it captures the essense of Caribbean creepiness well. You can almost smell the decay of the rotting vegetation and flesh.
Lugosi plays the villain well and gives a performance that makes necromancy seem believable (coffee works a similar magic for me in the mornings. Come to think of it, the zombies' undead shuffle is strangely familiar as well.) This movie is not for the average film viewer, but should be in every horror fans collection for its own merits and for its historic perspective as the first zombie movie.

Kindly necromancer gives relationship advice
Hardworking, professional necromancer employs hundreds of economically disadvantaged zombies in small business startup. He helps three young people caught in a love triangle sort out their feelings through dynamic tension exercises. Naive man comes to Bela for help to win girl's heart, but as wise Bela points out... "She can love, but that doesn't mean she can love you." Later when the rejected man reaches out to grasp Bela's hand, Bela smiles and says, "Now we understand each other a little better."

Kenneth Web, author of a play similar to this movie, sued the movie makers and lost. Movie was plagued by many other legal disputes which resulted in loss of original footage. Loss of original footage makes full restoration difficult. This DVD is probably the best attempt we will ever have. ... Read more

Reviews (39)

One of Lugosi's better films as another master of the undead
In many ways "White Zombie" is not only the first zombie movie it is also the last film in the baroque horror tradition of the silent films. This 1932 film directed by Victor Halperin was made for practically nothing even though is starred Bela Lugosi as "Murder" Legendre, in his first big role after the gigantic success of "Dracula," as the master of a different type of undead down in Haiti (Note: Lugosi apparently directed some of the retakes as well).

In "White Zombie," Monsieur Beaumont (Robert Frazer) convinces a young couple, Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) and Neil Parker (John Harron) to get married on his Haitian plantation. Amazingly enough, he does this so that he can convince Madeline to run away with him. Needing help, Beaumont turns to Legendre, who runs his mill with zombie workers. Legendre carves a voodoo doll and with Madeline's scarf turn her into a zombie as well. Neil thinks that his wife is dead and gets depressed, sinking into a world of hallucinations and fevered dreams, while Beaumont quickly discovers that he is dissatisfied with Madeline's soulless husk and wants her turned back (even though this will undoubtedly do nothing to improve their relationship). Instead, the fiendish Legendre turns Beaumont into a zombie as well, which actually makes the couple compatible for the first time in the film. Meanwhile, Neil is convinced by a local priest that maybe he is not a widow after all and he goes off to play the hero.

"White Zombie" never really frightens its audience, but instead sustains a high level of downright eeriness throughout, achieving its effect by taking such simple objects as the scarf used to wrap a voodoo doll or a rose containing poison and making them important elements in Lugosi's evil machinations. This film might be a talkie, but its sensibilities are those of the silent era, which actually works in its favor, even with Lugosi's distinctive accented voice. The result is a rather creepy film that ends up being an above average effort in Lugosi's career that I would put in his top five films.

Bela Lugosi in the world's first zombie horror movie
In many ways this first zombie movie is the last film in the baroque horror tradition of the silent films. This 1932 film directed by Victor Halperin was made for practically nothing even though is starred Bela Lugosi as "Murder" Legendre, in his first big role after "Dracula," as the master of a different type of undead down in Haiti (Lugosi apparently directed some of the retakes as well). In "White Zombie," Monsieur Beaumont (Robert Frazer) convinces a young couple, Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) and Neil Parker (John Harron) to get married on his Haitian plantation. Amazingly enough, he does this so that he can convince Madeline to run away with him. Needing help, Beaumont turns to Legendre, who runs his mill with zombie workers. Legendre carves a voodoo doll and with Madeline's scarf turn her into a zombie as well. Neil thinks that his wife is dead and gets depressed, sinking into a world of hallucinations and fevered dreams, while Beaumont quickly discovers that he is dissatisfied with Madeline's soulless husk and wants her turned back (even though this will undoubtedly do nothing to improve their relationship). Instead, the fiendish Legendre turns Beaumont into a zombie as well, which actually makes the couple compatible for the first time in the film. Meanwhile, Neil is convinced by a local priest that maybe he is not a widow after all and he goes off to play the hero. "White Zombie" never really frightens its audience, but instead sustains a high level of downright eeriness throughout, achieving its effect by taking such simple objects as the scarf used to wrap a voodoo doll or a rose containing poison and making them important elements in Lugosi's evil machinations. This film might be a talkie, but its sensibilities are those of the silent era, which actually works in its favor, even with Lugosi's distinctive accented voice. The result is a rather creepy film that ends up being an above average effort in Lugosi's career.

". . . we may uncover sins the devil would be ashamed of."
So warns the Christian missionary to Haiti who helps a young banker save his bride from voodoo-induced thralldom to a plantation owner who has kidnapped her.

In White Zombie the sins were brought to Haiti by European colonizers.

White Zombie (1932) is Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) transposed from an industrial society to the third world. The Haitian zombies slaving in Legendre's sugar mill are waiting for a Che Guevara, not a Lenin.

In Metropolis a worker in the underground factory below the city continually moves the hands on a giant round clock, a task that doesn't seem to have any purpose.

In White Zombie the undead go round and round in a circle, turning a mill to grind up sugar cane for Legendre, the mill owner who has simplified his labor relations by transforming his workforce into zombies. One zombie falls from his spot into a vat where he is ground up with the cane. None of his fellow workers notice; he doesn't even try to save himself as he falls.

Legendre has taken economic and political control of the island by enslaving its elite (the head of the gendarmerie and politicians), in addition to the unskilled peasants who make his sugar.

Legendre gets the living betray their own kind. Once Madeleine has become a zombie she is tended by maids who obey their master rather than be turned into undead creatures themselves.

Unfortunately for the Haitians, while Madeleine is saved from an eternity of playing Chopin on the piano with a glazed expression, the natives grinding the sugar cane are forgotten at the end.

But once Legendre is out of the way, who will take care of the zombie mill workers and export the sugar?

Maybe Madeleine's husband, the banker, can take over the mill. Everything will work out.

Voodoo spell
The reviewers who refer to the surreal poetry of this movie are (forgive me) dead on. This movie is creepy. It's not scary, but it captures the essense of Caribbean creepiness well. You can almost smell the decay of the rotting vegetation and flesh.
Lugosi plays the villain well and gives a performance that makes necromancy seem believable (coffee works a similar magic for me in the mornings. Come to think of it, the zombies' undead shuffle is strangely familiar as well.) This movie is not for the average film viewer, but should be in every horror fans collection for its own merits and for its historic perspective as the first zombie movie.

Kindly necromancer gives relationship advice
Hardworking, professional necromancer employs hundreds of economically disadvantaged zombies in small business startup. He helps three young people caught in a love triangle sort out their feelings through dynamic tension exercises. Naive man comes to Bela for help to win girl's heart, but as wise Bela points out... "She can love, but that doesn't mean she can love you." Later when the rejected man reaches out to grasp Bela's hand, Bela smiles and says, "Now we understand each other a little better."

Kenneth Web, author of a play similar to this movie, sued the movie makers and lost. Movie was plagued by many other legal disputes which resulted in loss of original footage. Loss of original footage makes full restoration difficult. This DVD is probably the best attempt we will ever have. ... Read more

Reviews (39)

One of Lugosi's better films as another master of the undead
In many ways "White Zombie" is not only the first zombie movie it is also the last film in the baroque horror tradition of the silent films. This 1932 film directed by Victor Halperin was made for practically nothing even though is starred Bela Lugosi as "Murder" Legendre, in his first big role after the gigantic success of "Dracula," as the master of a different type of undead down in Haiti (Note: Lugosi apparently directed some of the retakes as well).

In "White Zombie," Monsieur Beaumont (Robert Frazer) convinces a young couple, Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) and Neil Parker (John Harron) to get married on his Haitian plantation. Amazingly enough, he does this so that he can convince Madeline to run away with him. Needing help, Beaumont turns to Legendre, who runs his mill with zombie workers. Legendre carves a voodoo doll and with Madeline's scarf turn her into a zombie as well. Neil thinks that his wife is dead and gets depressed, sinking into a world of hallucinations and fevered dreams, while Beaumont quickly discovers that he is dissatisfied with Madeline's soulless husk and wants her turned back (even though this will undoubtedly do nothing to improve their relationship). Instead, the fiendish Legendre turns Beaumont into a zombie as well, which actually makes the couple compatible for the first time in the film. Meanwhile, Neil is convinced by a local priest that maybe he is not a widow after all and he goes off to play the hero.

"White Zombie" never really frightens its audience, but instead sustains a high level of downright eeriness throughout, achieving its effect by taking such simple objects as the scarf used to wrap a voodoo doll or a rose containing poison and making them important elements in Lugosi's evil machinations. This film might be a talkie, but its sensibilities are those of the silent era, which actually works in its favor, even with Lugosi's distinctive accented voice. The result is a rather creepy film that ends up being an above average effort in Lugosi's career that I would put in his top five films.

Bela Lugosi in the world's first zombie horror movie
In many ways this first zombie movie is the last film in the baroque horror tradition of the silent films. This 1932 film directed by Victor Halperin was made for practically nothing even though is starred Bela Lugosi as "Murder" Legendre, in his first big role after "Dracula," as the master of a different type of undead down in Haiti (Lugosi apparently directed some of the retakes as well). In "White Zombie," Monsieur Beaumont (Robert Frazer) convinces a young couple, Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) and Neil Parker (John Harron) to get married on his Haitian plantation. Amazingly enough, he does this so that he can convince Madeline to run away with him. Needing help, Beaumont turns to Legendre, who runs his mill with zombie workers. Legendre carves a voodoo doll and with Madeline's scarf turn her into a zombie as well. Neil thinks that his wife is dead and gets depressed, sinking into a world of hallucinations and fevered dreams, while Beaumont quickly discovers that he is dissatisfied with Madeline's soulless husk and wants her turned back (even though this will undoubtedly do nothing to improve their relationship). Instead, the fiendish Legendre turns Beaumont into a zombie as well, which actually makes the couple compatible for the first time in the film. Meanwhile, Neil is convinced by a local priest that maybe he is not a widow after all and he goes off to play the hero. "White Zombie" never really frightens its audience, but instead sustains a high level of downright eeriness throughout, achieving its effect by taking such simple objects as the scarf used to wrap a voodoo doll or a rose containing poison and making them important elements in Lugosi's evil machinations. This film might be a talkie, but its sensibilities are those of the silent era, which actually works in its favor, even with Lugosi's distinctive accented voice. The result is a rather creepy film that ends up being an above average effort in Lugosi's career.

". . . we may uncover sins the devil would be ashamed of."
So warns the Christian missionary to Haiti who helps a young banker save his bride from voodoo-induced thralldom to a plantation owner who has kidnapped her.

In White Zombie the sins were brought to Haiti by European colonizers.

White Zombie (1932) is Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) transposed from an industrial society to the third world. The Haitian zombies slaving in Legendre's sugar mill are waiting for a Che Guevara, not a Lenin.

In Metropolis a worker in the underground factory below the city continually moves the hands on a giant round clock, a task that doesn't seem to have any purpose.

In White Zombie the undead go round and round in a circle, turning a mill to grind up sugar cane for Legendre, the mill owner who has simplified his labor relations by transforming his workforce into zombies. One zombie falls from his spot into a vat where he is ground up with the cane. None of his fellow workers notice; he doesn't even try to save himself as he falls.

Legendre has taken economic and political control of the island by enslaving its elite (the head of the gendarmerie and politicians), in addition to the unskilled peasants who make his sugar.

Legendre gets the living betray their own kind. Once Madeleine has become a zombie she is tended by maids who obey their master rather than be turned into undead creatures themselves.

Unfortunately for the Haitians, while Madeleine is saved from an eternity of playing Chopin on the piano with a glazed expression, the natives grinding the sugar cane are forgotten at the end.

But once Legendre is out of the way, who will take care of the zombie mill workers and export the sugar?

Maybe Madeleine's husband, the banker, can take over the mill. Everything will work out.

Voodoo spell
The reviewers who refer to the surreal poetry of this movie are (forgive me) dead on. This movie is creepy. It's not scary, but it captures the essense of Caribbean creepiness well. You can almost smell the decay of the rotting vegetation and flesh.
Lugosi plays the villain well and gives a performance that makes necromancy seem believable (coffee works a similar magic for me in the mornings. Come to think of it, the zombies' undead shuffle is strangely familiar as well.) This movie is not for the average film viewer, but should be in every horror fans collection for its own merits and for its historic perspective as the first zombie movie.

Kindly necromancer gives relationship advice
Hardworking, professional necromancer employs hundreds of economically disadvantaged zombies in small business startup. He helps three young people caught in a love triangle sort out their feelings through dynamic tension exercises. Naive man comes to Bela for help to win girl's heart, but as wise Bela points out... "She can love, but that doesn't mean she can love you." Later when the rejected man reaches out to grasp Bela's hand, Bela smiles and says, "Now we understand each other a little better."

Kenneth Web, author of a play similar to this movie, sued the movie makers and lost. Movie was plagued by many other legal disputes which resulted in loss of original footage. Loss of original footage makes full restoration difficult. This DVD is probably the best attempt we will ever have. ... Read more

Reviews (39)

One of Lugosi's better films as another master of the undead
In many ways "White Zombie" is not only the first zombie movie it is also the last film in the baroque horror tradition of the silent films. This 1932 film directed by Victor Halperin was made for practically nothing even though is starred Bela Lugosi as "Murder" Legendre, in his first big role after the gigantic success of "Dracula," as the master of a different type of undead down in Haiti (Note: Lugosi apparently directed some of the retakes as well).

In "White Zombie," Monsieur Beaumont (Robert Frazer) convinces a young couple, Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) and Neil Parker (John Harron) to get married on his Haitian plantation. Amazingly enough, he does this so that he can convince Madeline to run away with him. Needing help, Beaumont turns to Legendre, who runs his mill with zombie workers. Legendre carves a voodoo doll and with Madeline's scarf turn her into a zombie as well. Neil thinks that his wife is dead and gets depressed, sinking into a world of hallucinations and fevered dreams, while Beaumont quickly discovers that he is dissatisfied with Madeline's soulless husk and wants her turned back (even though this will undoubtedly do nothing to improve their relationship). Instead, the fiendish Legendre turns Beaumont into a zombie as well, which actually makes the couple compatible for the first time in the film. Meanwhile, Neil is convinced by a local priest that maybe he is not a widow after all and he goes off to play the hero.

"White Zombie" never really frightens its audience, but instead sustains a high level of downright eeriness throughout, achieving its effect by taking such simple objects as the scarf used to wrap a voodoo doll or a rose containing poison and making them important elements in Lugosi's evil machinations. This film might be a talkie, but its sensibilities are those of the silent era, which actually works in its favor, even with Lugosi's distinctive accented voice. The result is a rather creepy film that ends up being an above average effort in Lugosi's career that I would put in his top five films.

Bela Lugosi in the world's first zombie horror movie
In many ways this first zombie movie is the last film in the baroque horror tradition of the silent films. This 1932 film directed by Victor Halperin was made for practically nothing even though is starred Bela Lugosi as "Murder" Legendre, in his first big role after "Dracula," as the master of a different type of undead down in Haiti (Lugosi apparently directed some of the retakes as well). In "White Zombie," Monsieur Beaumont (Robert Frazer) convinces a young couple, Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) and Neil Parker (John Harron) to get married on his Haitian plantation. Amazingly enough, he does this so that he can convince Madeline to run away with him. Needing help, Beaumont turns to Legendre, who runs his mill with zombie workers. Legendre carves a voodoo doll and with Madeline's scarf turn her into a zombie as well. Neil thinks that his wife is dead and gets depressed, sinking into a world of hallucinations and fevered dreams, while Beaumont quickly discovers that he is dissatisfied with Madeline's soulless husk and wants her turned back (even though this will undoubtedly do nothing to improve their relationship). Instead, the fiendish Legendre turns Beaumont into a zombie as well, which actually makes the couple compatible for the first time in the film. Meanwhile, Neil is convinced by a local priest that maybe he is not a widow after all and he goes off to play the hero. "White Zombie" never really frightens its audience, but instead sustains a high level of downright eeriness throughout, achieving its effect by taking such simple objects as the scarf used to wrap a voodoo doll or a rose containing poison and making them important elements in Lugosi's evil machinations. This film might be a talkie, but its sensibilities are those of the silent era, which actually works in its favor, even with Lugosi's distinctive accented voice. The result is a rather creepy film that ends up being an above average effort in Lugosi's career.

". . . we may uncover sins the devil would be ashamed of."
So warns the Christian missionary to Haiti who helps a young banker save his bride from voodoo-induced thralldom to a plantation owner who has kidnapped her.

In White Zombie the sins were brought to Haiti by European colonizers.

White Zombie (1932) is Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) transposed from an industrial society to the third world. The Haitian zombies slaving in Legendre's sugar mill are waiting for a Che Guevara, not a Lenin.

In Metropolis a worker in the underground factory below the city continually moves the hands on a giant round clock, a task that doesn't seem to have any purpose.

In White Zombie the undead go round and round in a circle, turning a mill to grind up sugar cane for Legendre, the mill owner who has simplified his labor relations by transforming his workforce into zombies. One zombie falls from his spot into a vat where he is ground up with the cane. None of his fellow workers notice; he doesn't even try to save himself as he falls.

Legendre has taken economic and political control of the island by enslaving its elite (the head of the gendarmerie and politicians), in addition to the unskilled peasants who make his sugar.

Legendre gets the living betray their own kind. Once Madeleine has become a zombie she is tended by maids who obey their master rather than be turned into undead creatures themselves.

Unfortunately for the Haitians, while Madeleine is saved from an eternity of playing Chopin on the piano with a glazed expression, the natives grinding the sugar cane are forgotten at the end.

But once Legendre is out of the way, who will take care of the zombie mill workers and export the sugar?

Maybe Madeleine's husband, the banker, can take over the mill. Everything will work out.

Voodoo spell
The reviewers who refer to the surreal poetry of this movie are (forgive me) dead on. This movie is creepy. It's not scary, but it captures the essense of Caribbean creepiness well. You can almost smell the decay of the rotting vegetation and flesh.
Lugosi plays the villain well and gives a performance that makes necromancy seem believable (coffee works a similar magic for me in the mornings. Come to think of it, the zombies' undead shuffle is strangely familiar as well.) This movie is not for the average film viewer, but should be in every horror fans collection for its own merits and for its historic perspective as the first zombie movie.

Kindly necromancer gives relationship advice
Hardworking, professional necromancer employs hundreds of economically disadvantaged zombies in small business startup. He helps three young people caught in a love triangle sort out their feelings through dynamic tension exercises. Naive man comes to Bela for help to win girl's heart, but as wise Bela points out... "She can love, but that doesn't mean she can love you." Later when the rejected man reaches out to grasp Bela's hand, Bela smiles and says, "Now we understand each other a little better."

Kenneth Web, author of a play similar to this movie, sued the movie makers and lost. Movie was plagued by many other legal disputes which resulted in loss of original footage. Loss of original footage makes full restoration difficult. This DVD is probably the best attempt we will ever have. ... Read more

Reviews (39)

One of Lugosi's better films as another master of the undead
In many ways "White Zombie" is not only the first zombie movie it is also the last film in the baroque horror tradition of the silent films. This 1932 film directed by Victor Halperin was made for practically nothing even though is starred Bela Lugosi as "Murder" Legendre, in his first big role after the gigantic success of "Dracula," as the master of a different type of undead down in Haiti (Note: Lugosi apparently directed some of the retakes as well).

In "White Zombie," Monsieur Beaumont (Robert Frazer) convinces a young couple, Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) and Neil Parker (John Harron) to get married on his Haitian plantation. Amazingly enough, he does this so that he can convince Madeline to run away with him. Needing help, Beaumont turns to Legendre, who runs his mill with zombie workers. Legendre carves a voodoo doll and with Madeline's scarf turn her into a zombie as well. Neil thinks that his wife is dead and gets depressed, sinking into a world of hallucinations and fevered dreams, while Beaumont quickly discovers that he is dissatisfied with Madeline's soulless husk and wants her turned back (even though this will undoubtedly do nothing to improve their relationship). Instead, the fiendish Legendre turns Beaumont into a zombie as well, which actually makes the couple compatible for the first time in the film. Meanwhile, Neil is convinced by a local priest that maybe he is not a widow after all and he goes off to play the hero.

"White Zombie" never really frightens its audience, but instead sustains a high level of downright eeriness throughout, achieving its effect by taking such simple objects as the scarf used to wrap a voodoo doll or a rose containing poison and making them important elements in Lugosi's evil machinations. This film might be a talkie, but its sensibilities are those of the silent era, which actually works in its favor, even with Lugosi's distinctive accented voice. The result is a rather creepy film that ends up being an above average effort in Lugosi's career that I would put in his top five films.

Bela Lugosi in the world's first zombie horror movie
In many ways this first zombie movie is the last film in the baroque horror tradition of the silent films. This 1932 film directed by Victor Halperin was made for practically nothing even though is starred Bela Lugosi as "Murder" Legendre, in his first big role after "Dracula," as the master of a different type of undead down in Haiti (Lugosi apparently directed some of the retakes as well). In "White Zombie," Monsieur Beaumont (Robert Frazer) convinces a young couple, Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) and Neil Parker (John Harron) to get married on his Haitian plantation. Amazingly enough, he does this so that he can convince Madeline to run away with him. Needing help, Beaumont turns to Legendre, who runs his mill with zombie workers. Legendre carves a voodoo doll and with Madeline's scarf turn her into a zombie as well. Neil thinks that his wife is dead and gets depressed, sinking into a world of hallucinations and fevered dreams, while Beaumont quickly discovers that he is dissatisfied with Madeline's soulless husk and wants her turned back (even though this will undoubtedly do nothing to improve their relationship). Instead, the fiendish Legendre turns Beaumont into a zombie as well, which actually makes the couple compatible for the first time in the film. Meanwhile, Neil is convinced by a local priest that maybe he is not a widow after all and he goes off to play the hero. "White Zombie" never really frightens its audience, but instead sustains a high level of downright eeriness throughout, achieving its effect by taking such simple objects as the scarf used to wrap a voodoo doll or a rose containing poison and making them important elements in Lugosi's evil machinations. This film might be a talkie, but its sensibilities are those of the silent era, which actually works in its favor, even with Lugosi's distinctive accented voice. The result is a rather creepy film that ends up being an above average effort in Lugosi's career.

". . . we may uncover sins the devil would be ashamed of."
So warns the Christian missionary to Haiti who helps a young banker save his bride from voodoo-induced thralldom to a plantation owner who has kidnapped her.

In White Zombie the sins were brought to Haiti by European colonizers.

White Zombie (1932) is Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) transposed from an industrial society to the third world. The Haitian zombies slaving in Legendre's sugar mill are waiting for a Che Guevara, not a Lenin.

In Metropolis a worker in the underground factory below the city continually moves the hands on a giant round clock, a task that doesn't seem to have any purpose.

In White Zombie the undead go round and round in a circle, turning a mill to grind up sugar cane for Legendre, the mill owner who has simplified his labor relations by transforming his workforce into zombies. One zombie falls from his spot into a vat where he is ground up with the cane. None of his fellow workers notice; he doesn't even try to save himself as he falls.

Legendre has taken economic and political control of the island by enslaving its elite (the head of the gendarmerie and politicians), in addition to the unskilled peasants who make his sugar.

Legendre gets the living betray their own kind. Once Madeleine has become a zombie she is tended by maids who obey their master rather than be turned into undead creatures themselves.

Unfortunately for the Haitians, while Madeleine is saved from an eternity of playing Chopin on the piano with a glazed expression, the natives grinding the sugar cane are forgotten at the end.

But once Legendre is out of the way, who will take care of the zombie mill workers and export the sugar?

Maybe Madeleine's husband, the banker, can take over the mill. Everything will work out.

Voodoo spell
The reviewers who refer to the surreal poetry of this movie are (forgive me) dead on. This movie is creepy. It's not scary, but it captures the essense of Caribbean creepiness well. You can almost smell the decay of the rotting vegetation and flesh.
Lugosi plays the villain well and gives a performance that makes necromancy seem believable (coffee works a similar magic for me in the mornings. Come to think of it, the zombies' undead shuffle is strangely familiar as well.) This movie is not for the average film viewer, but should be in every horror fans collection for its own merits and for its historic perspective as the first zombie movie.

Kindly necromancer gives relationship advice
Hardworking, professional necromancer employs hundreds of economically disadvantaged zombies in small business startup. He helps three young people caught in a love triangle sort out their feelings through dynamic tension exercises. Naive man comes to Bela for help to win girl's heart, but as wise Bela points out... "She can love, but that doesn't mean she can love you." Later when the rejected man reaches out to grasp Bela's hand, Bela smiles and says, "Now we understand each other a little better."

Kenneth Web, author of a play similar to this movie, sued the movie makers and lost. Movie was plagued by many other legal disputes which resulted in loss of original footage. Loss of original footage makes full restoration difficult. This DVD is probably the best attempt we will ever have. ... Read more

Reviews (39)

One of Lugosi's better films as another master of the undead
In many ways "White Zombie" is not only the first zombie movie it is also the last film in the baroque horror tradition of the silent films. This 1932 film directed by Victor Halperin was made for practically nothing even though is starred Bela Lugosi as "Murder" Legendre, in his first big role after the gigantic success of "Dracula," as the master of a different type of undead down in Haiti (Note: Lugosi apparently directed some of the retakes as well).

In "White Zombie," Monsieur Beaumont (Robert Frazer) convinces a young couple, Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) and Neil Parker (John Harron) to get married on his Haitian plantation. Amazingly enough, he does this so that he can convince Madeline to run away with him. Needing help, Beaumont turns to Legendre, who runs his mill with zombie workers. Legendre carves a voodoo doll and with Madeline's scarf turn her into a zombie as well. Neil thinks that his wife is dead and gets depressed, sinking into a world of hallucinations and fevered dreams, while Beaumont quickly discovers that he is dissatisfied with Madeline's soulless husk and wants her turned back (even though this will undoubtedly do nothing to improve their relationship). Instead, the fiendish Legendre turns Beaumont into a zombie as well, which actually makes the couple compatible for the first time in the film. Meanwhile, Neil is convinced by a local priest that maybe he is not a widow after all and he goes off to play the hero.

"White Zombie" never really frightens its audience, but instead sustains a high level of downright eeriness throughout, achieving its effect by taking such simple objects as the scarf used to wrap a voodoo doll or a rose containing poison and making them important elements in Lugosi's evil machinations. This film might be a talkie, but its sensibilities are those of the silent era, which actually works in its favor, even with Lugosi's distinctive accented voice. The result is a rather creepy film that ends up being an above average effort in Lugosi's career that I would put in his top five films.

Bela Lugosi in the world's first zombie horror movie
In many ways this first zombie movie is the last film in the baroque horror tradition of the silent films. This 1932 film directed by Victor Halperin was made for practically nothing even though is starred Bela Lugosi as "Murder" Legendre, in his first big role after "Dracula," as the master of a different type of undead down in Haiti (Lugosi apparently directed some of the retakes as well). In "White Zombie," Monsieur Beaumont (Robert Frazer) convinces a young couple, Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) and Neil Parker (John Harron) to get married on his Haitian plantation. Amazingly enough, he does this so that he can convince Madeline to run away with him. Needing help, Beaumont turns to Legendre, who runs his mill with zombie workers. Legendre carves a voodoo doll and with Madeline's scarf turn her into a zombie as well. Neil thinks that his wife is dead and gets depressed, sinking into a world of hallucinations and fevered dreams, while Beaumont quickly discovers that he is dissatisfied with Madeline's soulless husk and wants her turned back (even though this will undoubtedly do nothing to improve their relationship). Instead, the fiendish Legendre turns Beaumont into a zombie as well, which actually makes the couple compatible for the first time in the film. Meanwhile, Neil is convinced by a local priest that maybe he is not a widow after all and he goes off to play the hero. "White Zombie" never really frightens its audience, but instead sustains a high level of downright eeriness throughout, achieving its effect by taking such simple objects as the scarf used to wrap a voodoo doll or a rose containing poison and making them important elements in Lugosi's evil machinations. This film might be a talkie, but its sensibilities are those of the silent era, which actually works in its favor, even with Lugosi's distinctive accented voice. The result is a rather creepy film that ends up being an above average effort in Lugosi's career.

". . . we may uncover sins the devil would be ashamed of."
So warns the Christian missionary to Haiti who helps a young banker save his bride from voodoo-induced thralldom to a plantation owner who has kidnapped her.

In White Zombie the sins were brought to Haiti by European colonizers.

White Zombie (1932) is Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) transposed from an industrial society to the third world. The Haitian zombies slaving in Legendre's sugar mill are waiting for a Che Guevara, not a Lenin.

In Metropolis a worker in the underground factory below the city continually moves the hands on a giant round clock, a task that doesn't seem to have any purpose.

In White Zombie the undead go round and round in a circle, turning a mill to grind up sugar cane for Legendre, the mill owner who has simplified his labor relations by transforming his workforce into zombies. One zombie falls from his spot into a vat where he is ground up with the cane. None of his fellow workers notice; he doesn't even try to save himself as he falls.

Legendre has taken economic and political control of the island by enslaving its elite (the head of the gendarmerie and politicians), in addition to the unskilled peasants who make his sugar.

Legendre gets the living betray their own kind. Once Madeleine has become a zombie she is tended by maids who obey their master rather than be turned into undead creatures themselves.

Unfortunately for the Haitians, while Madeleine is saved from an eternity of playing Chopin on the piano with a glazed expression, the natives grinding the sugar cane are forgotten at the end.

But once Legendre is out of the way, who will take care of the zombie mill workers and export the sugar?

Maybe Madeleine's husband, the banker, can take over the mill. Everything will work out.

Voodoo spell
The reviewers who refer to the surreal poetry of this movie are (forgive me) dead on. This movie is creepy. It's not scary, but it captures the essense of Caribbean creepiness well. You can almost smell the decay of the rotting vegetation and flesh.
Lugosi plays the villain well and gives a performance that makes necromancy seem believable (coffee works a similar magic for me in the mornings. Come to think of it, the zombies' undead shuffle is strangely familiar as well.) This movie is not for the average film viewer, but should be in every horror fans collection for its own merits and for its historic perspective as the first zombie movie.

Kindly necromancer gives relationship advice
Hardworking, professional necromancer employs hundreds of economically disadvantaged zombies in small business startup. He helps three young people caught in a love triangle sort out their feelings through dynamic tension exercises. Naive man comes to Bela for help to win girl's heart, but as wise Bela points out... "She can love, but that doesn't mean she can love you." Later when the rejected man reaches out to grasp Bela's hand, Bela smiles and says, "Now we understand each other a little better."

Kenneth Web, author of a play similar to this movie, sued the movie makers and lost. Movie was plagued by many other legal disputes which resulted in loss of original footage. Loss of original footage makes full restoration difficult. This DVD is probably the best attempt we will ever have. ... Read more