Sadly Over-hyped

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE is a classic of atmospheric horror that comes courtesy of famed producer Val Lewton. Like the rest of Lewton's output in the 1940s, this is a mood piece all about the atmosphere; the story comes second to the visuals and the stylistics. The story is set in the Caribbean and features a plucky young nurse heroine who arrives at a plantation only to discover some weird goings-on involving her employer's somnambulist wife.Essentially it's Jane Eyre with zombies, and there's no harm in that. The voodoo material in this production is pretty effective, and the horror highlight is the sight of Darby Jones as the emaciated zombie with bulging eyeballs wandering through the cane fields; these scenes are quite exceptional and help to make the film. However, the dialogue scenes are also engaging and there's never a dull moment despite the slow pace. I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE is a classic for good reason.

For a Quick and Crash Course in Horror Films, here is a Succinct and Workable Formula. For the 1930's, Universal...For the 1940's, Val Lewton...For the 1950's, Hammer. That's it. These were the Films that Defined the Genre Before the 1960's, where Starting with Psycho (1960), the Roger Corman Poe Films, and then Later, After the Code Breakdown, All Hell Broke Loose.This is One of those Val Lewton Movies. Along with Cat People (1942) and The Seventh Victim (1943), Often Sighted as the Best. A Dreamlike, Hypnotic, Melancholic Movie, it is Quite Different and Distinctive, and as a Side Note, the Black Cast is Given a Straightforward Respect that was Unheard of in the Forties.There are Many Scenes and Set-Pieces that Make this a Gem. The Relentless Downbeat Tone is Ominous and Oppressive. Things Move and Dialog is Spoken Almost at Half-Speed as the Film is Forever in a Nether World of Sleepwalking Superstition with Characters that All have a Dark Side.It is a Film Out of its Time. So Decidedly Different and Haunting that when Viewed Today, can be Unsettling Despite the Absence of Gore that has Become Synonymous with the Zombie Genre. This is Not Logical or Rational, in Fact just the Opposite and Therein Lies the Appeal.It is Interesting to Note an Outrage by the New York Times Critic of the Day...Released in the Middle of WWII it Made the Reviewer Lose All Sense of Proportion and in the Paper's Coverage of the Movie when it was Released Said This…Quoting the The New York Times…1943"But to this spectator, at least, it proved to be a dull, disgusting exaggeration of an unhealthy, abnormal concept of life. If the Hays office feels it has a duty to protect the morals of movie-goers by protesting the use of such expressions as "hell" and "damn" in purposeful dramas like "In Which We Serve" and "We Are the Marines," then how much more important is its duty to safeguard the youth of the land from the sort of stuff and nonsense that their minds will absorb from viewing "I Walked With a Zombie"? ? ?"

The Canadian nurse Betsy Connell (Frances Dee) is hired to travel to St. Sebastian, in West Indies, to work at Fort Holland nursing Jessica Holland (Christine Gordon), the wife of the sugar plantation owner Paul Holland (Tom Conway). Betsy meets Paul in the ship and is welcomed by Paul's estranged half-brother Wesley "Wes" Rand (James Ellison) in the farmhouse. During the night, she overhears a woman crying and she believes that might be Jessica and goes to her room. She finds a creepy mute woman and she learns that Jessica had a mental paralysis after a severe tropical fever and is a hopeless case, unable to speak or have power. Soon Betsy falls in love with Paul and she decides to help Jessica to be cured to make Paul happier. She suggests an experimental treatment with shock to Dr. Maxwell (James Bell) but it fails. While talking to the maid Alma (Theresa Harris), she discovers that another woman was cured in a voodoo ceremony by a voodoo priest and she decides to use witchcraft to cure Jessica. However the natives believe that Jessica is a zombie that cannot be cured. When Betsy meets Paul and Wesley's mother Mrs. Rand (Edith Barrett), she finds that Jessica was the pivot of a fight between Paul and Wes and she believes that her daughter-in-law is a zombie."I Walked with a Zombie" is an ambiguous zombie movie directed by Jacques Tourneur. The plot is a family drama and the zombies in this movie are not like in George Romero's trilogy or "The Walking Dead", but related to voodoo in a Caribbean Island. There is a creepy atmosphere with a beautiful cinematography, the non-stop voodoo drums and the native Carrefour, but no gore, violent death or scream. The conclusion is ambiguous after the revelation of Mrs. Rand. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "A Morta-Viva" ("The Living Dead")

"Betsy Connell" (Frances Dee) is a nurse living in Canada who accepts a job taking care of the wife of a sugar plantation owner named "Paul Holland" (Tom Conway). The fact that it takes her to the tropical island of Saint Sebastion in the Caribbean is an added incentive. On the way there she meets Paul and he acts quite cold and distant to her. Subsequent meetings only reinforce this impression. However, his brother "Wesley Rand" (James Ellison) seems much more friendly. But her impression of him changes when she realizes that he has a drinking problem. She also learns that Paul Holland's wife is a sleepwalker. At least, that's what it looks like. Now, rather than reveal any more of the film and risk ruining it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that for a movie made during World War 2 this particular zombie film wasn't too bad. Naturally, like most movies of this type made prior to 1968 the catalyst for creating a zombie centers on voodoo rather than a virus or chemical agent. Additionally, the zombies of today are nothing like those back then. In any case, I enjoyed this movie for the most part with my biggest criticism being that it lacked the necessary time (only 69 minutes) to establish any real depth. Accordingly, I rate this movie as slightly above average.