4
(voodoo magic)
7
(dark concepts)
4
(see it only if you have an interest in old horror)
White Zombie is a pioneer of horror movies. I believe it was the first to ever introduce the concept of zombies, a concept more like the true voodoo legends than the George Romero types. It’s dark and creepy though often slow. This was a movie made on the heels of the silent film era so it can sometimes feel like one of them itself especially towards the end. I thought it was interesting to see a movie that relied on pure visuals to tell the story even when not forced to do so.
A young couple is to be married in Haiti. A wealthy man they meet there wants the woman for himself and is ready to turn to the dark arts to get her. It will cost her life, but in zombie form she will be his love slave, or so he thinks. However, the voodoo master, “Murder” Legendre, has dark plans beyond the shallow lusts of an obsessed would-be lover, and he’ll use one man’s misguided evil to perpetrate an even more sinister one.
Of course, the big draw of the film is Bela Lugosi as the villain. He turns in a commanding performance though most of the other actors can’t match it. A few of them do fairly well, but some boarder on unintentionally comical. Madge Bellamy, the “white zombie” (as in “zombie bride”) is very stiff which makes the distinction between her regular self and her zombie self harder to differentiate. This weakens the dramatic impact of her character though it doesn’t go so far as to spoil the movie.
What really damages my enjoyment of the movie is that I found it hard to follow. Some of the dialogue is difficult to make out, and there are segments missing – as in suddenly being in the middle of the next scene on a few occasions. (A lot of this may have more to do with an inferior print of the film rather than failings of the director). Because of this I had to piece together the concepts and work on assumptions after the fact.
Another thing I really dislike is the opening song. It’s a chorus of voices singing kind of a voodoo chant or something. Its annoyance is made worse by its length.
The story is interesting overall but drags often. The atmosphere is very dark. I'd have to say this is one of the most disturbing old horror movies I've ever seen which is probably why it has such a cult following despite its inadequacies in other areas.
Morality
This movie has some dark concepts – I mean killing someone to bring them back from the dead to make them a love slave may not be something you want in you want in your 9 year old’s head. In other ways it’s a tame movie. There’s no strong language, sex, nudity, or graphic violence.
Spirituality
This is a story that revolves around voodoo practices and using them for evil deeds. It's somewhat more realistic than zombie movies that focus on them as undead monsters which makes it dark especially considering that it comes from a time when even “dark” movies were often just this side of campy. The voodoo master uses his knowledge to kill and resurrect a woman, and the guy he's pretending to serve is on board with this if it means he gets this pretty girl with whom to have his way. That's pretty grim subject matter if you ask me.
Final Thoughts
White Zombie is certainly worth seeing for fans of really old horror movies. If nothing else it’s interesting to see such an early movie, one that had no previous zombie movies from which to pull. It’s enjoyable to watch to some degree, but the problems I’ve mentioned - poor audio/video quality, dragging story, weak acting - lessen the impact of the work as a whole. It may be influential, but I have a hard time not viewing it as overrated.
Buying Guide
"White Zombie" is a public domain classic and has a number of releases that vary greatly in what they offer.
This is one of the few really old movies that I've seen get a Blu-ray treatment. There is a DVD of that same release both billed as a Kino Classic's Remastered Edition. There's also a ROAN edition, an “enhanced” release, a package with a shirt, and various other stand-alone releases. If that weren't enough there are a number of combo packages one of which I'll talk more about below. There is a new Roan Blu rumored to be in the works. It's very likely to be released by the time you read this so you might want to look it up. And lastly is a Blu miuti-pack called Ultimate Horror Classics.
None of the combo packages I saw offered anything special aside from offering multiple movies for the asking price. The specs (when they are listed at all) are all the same as what I've already covered, but it wouldn't take much to improve on the horrible quality I've seen.
The same applies to most of the stand alone versions. Even the “enhanced” release gives so few details that I question whether it would be worth getting.
The DVDTee shirt package deal doesn't appear to offer anything special aside from the shirt.
The ROAN DVD is one of the few that lists any extras: “Intimate Interviews,” a trailer, and a segment from “Ship's Reporter” featuring Lugosi. While it doesn't specifically mention being restored, it does include a comment on the cover saying that the movie hasn't looked this good since it was released suggesting that this might indeed be an improved presentation. One review also praised the quality of this specific release. It lists a run time of 69 minutes which is about 4 minutes longer than the one I saw though I haven't seen any mention of this being an “uncut” version.
The Kino Classic's version (on Blu and DVD) boasts having the first HD remastering of the movie. I have read that the release offers two different prints of the film both with their positives and negatives. One softens the image to remove the trash but also kills the visual details while the other showcases the details as well as all the trash. It reportedly looks significantly better than previous DVD versions. The audio appears to be a 2.0 mono with all the white noise issues of any other release though perhaps lessened slightly. Extras include a commentary that is full of history and interesting stories, an interview with Lugosi, and a theatrical trailer. This one also offers the 69 minute run time.
The Roan Blu (unreleased as of this writing though it's probably out by the time you read it) does not have enough detail for me to accurately report on currently. It will supposedly be at the original ratio of 1.37 or 1.33 (depending on whose listing is correct) at 1080p. Audio specs are not listed (I'm betting on 2.0 mono at best), and no extras are announced at this point.
The Ultimate Horror Classics Blu collection seems to be part of a slowly growing trend (or perhaps attempt at a trend) of using Blu's storage capacity to fit a lot of movies on a single disc. 18 public domain films (some very common, some fairly rare) reside on a single disc in standard 480i definition (no HD here). The best I can say for these is that they seem to occasionally present the original image ratios and may be very slightly improved quality over some of the cheaper DVD budget packs. Otherwise they offer nothing special aside from being exceptionally self-space friendly. They offer no extras and can be somewhat hard to find.
Final Recommendation:
I often recommend the 50 Horror Classics versions of its movies as acceptable, cheap copies of the film in question but not this time; this one is hardly worth seeing. You have at least 2 clearly superior options: the ROAN and Kino Classics DVD's. While I wouldn't drop any extra cash to own it on Blu instead of DVD if you are looking for the best possible quality those are your best bets. If you chose to go with a cheaper stand-alone DVD option, at least try make sure the run time is listed as 69 minutes before you buy. Anything less than that and you run the risk of getting a severely flawed transfer like mine.
I got mine in a collection of 50 “Horror Classics.”
Video
1.33:
This is the TV standard “full-screen” ratio. Even by old movie standards the video quality of this transfer is terrible. It's extremely washed out at times with a lot of trash and flickering. To make matters worse there are jumps in scenes that result in omissions of portions of the film.
Audio
2.0 mono:
The audio quality isn't much better than the video. It can be difficult to make out some of the dialogue.
Packaging
This particular disc is housed in a cardboard sleeve contained in a Velcro-fastened box. You can read about the set as a whole in great detail in the Horror Classics (50 pack) guide.
The two most notable releases I found have a posted run time of 69 minutes. The Horror Classics run time in only 65 minutes. This could be because there is a superior cut, and it could be because of the scene skips I mentioned (in other words it may be due to technical issues rather than an actual alternate cut of the movie).
Extras
There are none.