Night Of The Living Dead
Eight years before the legendary George Romero (the man behind Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead, and so on, generally recognized as the king of cinema zombies) was even born, the zombie genre had its true genesis in the form of 1932’s White Zombie. Perhaps because it did not have the Universal Studios machine behind it, the film is not nearly as well known as its contemporary classic horror cousins such as Dracula, The Mummy, or Frankenstein; however, that is simply a matter of marketing, and has nothing to do with the film’s quality. Indeed, in terms of pure artistic merit and over quality of filmmaking, White Zombie can be looked upon as the best of the old horror classics. White Zombie is a classic horror film like no other, one that does not follow the standard forms adopted by all of the Universal releases in either scripting or presentation. This is apparent from the very beginning, where the viewer is presented not with drawn title cards placed behind brash violin tones, but rather a filmed shot of a group of Haitian locals gathered together reciting a voodoo chant, a chant that is almost instantly hypnotic and draws the audience straight into the film, creating what
Along the same lines, there is a strong attention to detail apparent in the production of White Zombie. As mentioned, though the cane mill set is large, it is really in terms of story just a detail; however, its inclusion adds that much more richness to the film. Along the same lines, the shots that show the hand carving of the voodoo dolls, the well-placed insert shots, the fabulous apparition effect when Neil goes on his bender of despair (for 1932, this shot is simply wonderful as a special effect), and so on serve to further enhance this already richly made feature. As for Legendre himself, he proves to be one of Bela Lugosi’s most interesting characters, as well as one of the great actor’s best performances. Legendre comes across as a darkly creepy bon vivant, an interesting mix of personalities that Lugosi carries off easily. This character allows the actor to be more relaxed than his usual aristocrats and power brokers demand, and it can be seen that Lugosi is having a truly good time in the role. In terms of scripting, one of the most striking differences that classic horror fans are likely no notice immediately between White Zombie and any Universal film from the era is the absence of a “slapstick” element. This is a welcome omission, as it allows the film to maintain its dark atmosphere throughout, making it all that much more effective. The picture is not completely humorless, of course; however, there is no buffoonery to di
Some topics in this essay:
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Zombie Universal,
Bela Lugosi’s,
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Mummy Frankenstein,
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Victor Halperin,
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cinematography unmatched,
attention detail,
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Approximate Word count = 983
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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