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Revolt of the Zombies
(1936) |
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In the early 30's Victor Halperin directed what is touted as being the first ever Zombie movie in Hollywood history. Halperin's White Zombie starring Bela Lugosi at his superlative best was a considerable success critically and at the Box Office in 1932 and the Halperin brothers attempted to repeat the formula with Revolt of the Zombies which followed in 1936. Sadly they didn't have any one of the calibre of Bela Lugosi this time around and the film was to fall flat on its face dying a dismal death at the box office as well as being butchered by the critics. The follow up to White Zombie is indeed startling for its ineptness especially when compared to its brilliant predecessor and comes across as a ponderous, talky, dull and totally non-frightening or even remotely interesting experience. Quite remarkable that someone who had so recently put together what is one of the truly great horror films was to fail so hideously at an attempt at something similar. The whacky plot revolves around a mysterious regiment of French Cambodian soldiers who are being used by the enemy as super effective weapons because they are not actually soldiers at all but have been turned into zombies by a high priest preaching his zombie voodoo mumbo jumbo. An Allied expedition is sent to the region to discover the source of this zombie factory and to destroy it for good but that is where the film soon turns into a love triangle gone hideously awry. A blonde beauty who is secretly worshipped by scientist explorer Louque shocks her admirer when her engagement is announced to his erstwhile friend and fellow explorer who had earlier goaded Louque about being wishy washy and not being ruthless and decisive in trying to attain that what he desired. Now the advice giving friend had pinched his blonde dreams and he is in a dreadful state about it…laughing, crying, screaming, shaking….the symptoms of being horribly jilted are all there and the only solace he can think of is revenge. And so Louque trudges off to the ancient tombs of Angkor where he is able to discover the secret of how to create a posse of zombies when he somehow manages to decipher what must be a hidden message hidden among the statuettes of the temple because the pictures in no way appear to suggest that they in any way include instructions on zombie making techniques. Anyway, cracking up mentally as he is because of his obsession with the rather dumb and haggard blonde, Louque experiments on his Cambodian servant on whom the trick doesn't appear to work at first……..then the superimposed eyes that appeared in White Zombie appear from nowhere and suddenly, lo and behold, poor Buna is zombiefied. Next Louque plots to destroy his rival and ex friend and use the posse of Cambodians he has turned into zombies to carry out his dirty deeds. Victor Halperin strives hard to recreate the magic that White Zombie contained but goes hideously wrong as none of the elements that made White Zombie such a resonant experience are in evidence this time around. Indeed the best thing about the movie is its very short running time of just over an hour. A good thing as any longer might have been impossibly to endure. The film drags to its less than thrilling climax and by the end one is relieved that the dross is finally over. What a dull and uninspired effort it is and how hideous and lamentable a retread of White Zombie this is an attempt at…..amazing that the Halperin's could have somehow failed to infuse even an iota of the brilliance of their earlier effort. Here they pathetically attempt to churn out a clone and fail miserably despite their every effort which includes dressing up a shady cast member to resemble the amazing Murder Legendre of White Zombie. Revolt of the Zombies is a dreary mess of an awful attempt at recreating White Zombie – even making comparisons is a travesty.
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