I Walked with a Zombie

I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE is a classic of atmospheric horror that comes courtesy of famed producer Val Lewton. Like the rest of Lewton's output in the 1940s, this is a mood piece all about the atmosphere; the story comes second to the visuals and the stylistics. The story is set in the Caribbean and features a plucky young nurse heroine who arrives at a plantation only to discover some weird goings-on involving her employer's somnambulist wife. Essentially it's Jane Eyre with zombies, and there's no harm in that. The voodoo material in this production is pretty effective, and the horror highlight is the sight of Darby Jones as the emaciated zombie with bulging eyeballs wandering through the cane fields; these scenes are quite exceptional and help to make the film. However, the dialogue scenes are also engaging and there's never a dull moment despite the slow pace. I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE is a classic for good reason.

"Jane Eyre" transferred to the West Indies with Voodoo, Witchcraft and the occasional Zombie thrown in. Jacques Tourneur's "I Walked with a Zombie" is considered one of the most poetic of all horror films and it's certainly that; it's a film full or beauty, (gorgeously shot in black and white by J. Roy Hunt), with its frights mostly understated. Like "Jane Eyre" it's more of a dark love story and it's beautifully done. Frances Dee is outstanding as the young nurse who comes to a West Indian island to care for the wife of Tom Conway in the Rochester role. The best sequences finds Dee taking her charge through a plantation at night to a voodoo ceremony followed by an even more frightening scene when the giant native Carrefour, (Darby Jones), comes to steal the wife. If this a B-Movie it is one of the best ever made.