Movie, 1966

A rather odd film, predating Romero’s Night of the Living Dead by a couple of years. This is very much in the Hammer tradition with tropes from other films, particularly Dracula. The zombies, however, have none of the attraction or lush appeal of the Count, even though the film’s set in Hammer time (the nineteenth century). The mystery and motivation for evil comes through voodoo, but with the village full of reactionary inhabitants, the film feels a little disjointed – big, romantic mysticism meets impersonal, anonymous undead horror. Visually great, all the more to see all the joints and cracks.