White Zombie (1932)

WHITE ZOMBIE

(1932)


All notes and summary below by Sopang Men (2006).


Notes:
Legendre: Bela Lugosi
Madeleine Short Parker: Madge Bellamy
Neil Parker: John Harron
Charles Beaumont: Robert Frazer

Directed: Victor Halperin


Type of Zombies: The Haitian voodoo kind. They are drugged and put under a spell by a witch-doctor to become his slaves.


Summary:
Neil and his fiancée Madeleine are traveling back to New York when they are coerced by Charles Beaumont, an acquaintance, into getting married on his Haitian plantation. Beaumont’s ulterior motive is to convince Madeleine to love him before she is to be wed, but his advances are rebuffed. Still smitten, Beaumont appeals to the local witch-doctor, “Murder” Legendre, to cast a spell on Madeleine. She “dies” but comes back an emotionless zombie under the control of Legendre. In the end, it becomes a three-way fight for Madeleine between Neil, Beaumont, and Lugosi’s creepy Legendre (who looks like a more dapper Dracula).


Gore Factor:
No gore at all since it is a 1930s black-and-white film.


No Brains…No Brains…:
When their master is bonked on the head, the zombies walk off a cliff, one by one.


Undead Quotable:
“I thought that beauty alone would satisfy. But the soul is gone. I can’t bear those empty, staring eyes.” — Charles Beaumont


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