Dreadfully Boring

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The first must-see film of the year.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Not a bad idea for a film,, but it didn't totally work out that way in the film.. A Cambodian Priest decides he's going to help the French during World War 1. He mission is to take men and make them into zombies. not a bad idea if you're going to fight a war, you would probably win with some cool zombies ,, army of the dead on you're side. Well things get out of hand and the secret is stolen, or lost, and now it has to be found before someone can use the secret for a much darker purpose. I thought that this picture had a real good chance of being very good,, but the love story in the middle,, kinda killed it for me,, the beginning was good,, ending was nice,, but the middle,, well I could have seriously done without it.

1st watched 8/21/2009 - 6 out of 10 (Dir- Victor Halperin): Well written early zombie movie that is more about a man's obsession for a woman and the extremes he goes for her than it is about zombies. Zombies in this early movie are just people who are hypnotized to follow a person's commands -- not the dead risen(how this trend started I'm not sure). Anyway, this movie is about a gift that the Cambodians have of making their soldiers follow commands to kill relentlessly and how an American attains that power and uses it for his own purposes. This past statement and a love triangle are the core of the movie. Two friends are investigating this power when a woman steps in the way and mesmerizes one of them first, then the other. The first man's jeolousy brings him to use the power he finds from the ruins to bring her back to him. The movie is slow at times, and sometimes not acted well, but it is captivating none-the-less because of it's story. I'm surprised the movie hasn't been remade because it would make the good basis for a modern redo. It's really a love story with kind of a monster movie side-story(similar to Frankenstein or Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde) except with a hypnotizing mad man. This old gem should be seen and possibly be restored so it can be viewed in a better way, if possible.

Wimpy stuffed shirt Armand Louque (blandly played by veteran character actor Dean Jagger in a rare lead role) joins a group of researchers who want to find and destroy the secret technique of creating zombies. Armand falls for the lovely Claire Duval (fetching blonde Dorothy Stone), who uses the meek sap to get Armand's colleague Clifford Grayson (the hopelessly wooden Robert Noland) to marry her. Furious over being used and spurned by Claire, Armand uses his knowledge of voodoo to get revenge. Sound exciting? Well, it sure ain't. For starters, Victor Halperin's static (non)direction lets the meandering and uneventful talk-ridden story plod along at an excruciatingly slow pace. Worse yet, Halperin crucially fails to bring any tension, atmosphere and momentum to the hideously tedious proceedings. The mostly blah acting from a largely insipid cast doesn't help matters any; only George Cleveland as the hearty General Duval and E. Alyn Warren as the irascible Dr. Trevissant manage to enliven things a bit with their welcome and refreshing hammy histrionics. The drippy stock film library score, the painfully obvious stagebound sets, and the crude cinematography are pretty lousy and unimpressive as well. In fact, this feeble excuse for a fright feature is so crummy that not even the uncredited starkly staring eyes of the great Bela Lugosi can alleviate the brain-numbing boredom. A dismally dull dud.

What? You were not aware that Scooby-Doo battled zombies? Well, you might also not be aware of this little film that was directed by Victor Halperin, who had also directed White Zombie four years earlier. That would probably make it the second zombie film made.No, don't go looking for Dorothy Stone to expose her breasts as you would expect in most zombie films, and don't even look for any brains being eaten. This is 1936, you know.So, what you will see is typical of the period - lots of talking.You do get to see Dean Jagger (Twelve O'Clock High ) and Bela Lugosi's eyes, but that is about it. Zombies in Cambodia, indeed!