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Dead Men Walk More at IMDbPro »

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33 reviews in total

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24 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
"You'll pray for death long before you die"., 23 July 2005

Author: classicsoncall from United States

Following the death of his brother, Dr. Lloyd Clayton (George Zucco) methodically destroys all of his books and papers dealing in Satanism, sorcery and demonology. The good doctor is not above a little malevolence of his own though, as Elwyn Clayton's (also Zucco in a dual role) death was at the hands of Lloyd, a fact known by Elwyn's assistant Zolarr (Dwight Frye). In death as in life, Zolarr remains loyal to his master, and wages revenge against Dr. Clayton for his demise.

Elwyn's earthly studies turned him into a vampire after death, and with Zolarr's help in playing musical caskets, he whiles away the daylight hours sleeping in different locations, while Dr. Clayton's niece Gayle (Mary Carlisle) does the same after being bitten by Elwyn. Gayle's fiancé David (Nedrick Young) is convinced that Dr. Lloyd is somehow responsible for her infirmity and that he wants to kill her.

Meanwhile the town busybody Kate (Fern Emmett) seems to have the scoop on what's going on, though everyone thinks she's a bit loony. She's up on her vampire lore, and gives Gayle a silver cross to wear around her neck to thwart Elwyn's advances. She's also got the gumption to follow Zolarr and discover Elwyn's resting place. When Zolarr knocks her off to protect Elwyn, the town is up in arms and becomes a mob, believing that Dr. Lloyd is responsible for the murders.

Elwyn is rather unique in vampire cinema, as he not only conducts nightly sojourns in his physical body, but is also able to maintain a ghostly presence when it suits him. Note in Elwyn's first appearance to his brother after his death, that Lloyd pulls a gun out of his desk and fires point blank at Elwyn, standing directly in front of glass paneled doors. With nothing to stop the bullets, the glass remains intact!

For me, the shocker of the movie turned out to be the brief appearance of Fuzzy St. John, a perennial sidekick to screen cowboy Lash Larue. His goofy demeanor seems out of place, and if intended for comic relief, it didn't work.

For a poverty row effort from Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC), I found the film's atmospherics and low budget production values to be dead on entertaining for it's subject matter. George Zucco's portrayal of both the good and evil twins was effective, pulling off the effort the way George Reeves managed the Superman/Clark Kent routine. He looked similar enough to be brothers, but unlike enough to make it seem like two different people. With the fiery finale taking place at dawn, the good doctor sacrifices himself to insure that his demonic brother meets his doom as well.

Before concluding however, mention must be made of the opening scene with a great intro by uncredited Forrest Taylor. The ghostly face challenges the viewer's perception of satanic forces and the existence of witches, warlocks, and vampires. It's done with just the right touch of malice to propel the story forward. In it's way, it just may be the best part of the movie.

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16 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
Low Budget Variation of the Dracula Theme!, 23 October 2003

Author: (bsmith5552@rogers.com) from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

You'll have to look long and hard to find a favorable review of PRC's "Dead Men Walk". However, I think the film has long been condemned unfairly. Granted, its not a classic, but some obvious continuity gaffes aside, it compares favorably I think, with many such similar vehicles turned out by the bigger studios.

The story is a low budget variation of the Dracula theme with the good twin/evil twin plot thrown in. It begins with the funeral of evil twin Elwyn Clayton (George Zucco) who is interred in the family crypt. Good twin Dr. Lloyd Clayton (Zucco again) was apparently responsible for his brother's death. Hunchback Zolarr (Dwight Frye) rescues Elwyn's coffin from its tomb and moves it to an old graveyard where Elywn emerges as a vampire. The vampire then reveals himself to his brother and swears his revenge by slowly draining the life from Lloyd's young ward Gayle (Mary Carlisle). With the help of Mary's beau Dr. David Bentley (Nedrick Young), Lloyd battles his evil twin to their final showdown.

Director Sam Newfield does what he can with a small budget. The misty graveyard and shadowy nights are done as well as could be expected. The film is also aided by the casting of George Zucco in the lead. Zucco was always better than his material and deserved a better fate. As an added touch there is Dwight Frye in one of his last roles as the hunchback, a role patterned after his "Renfield" in 1931's "Dracula". Also. look for PRC's resident comic sidekick Al "Fuzzy" St. John as the citizen who finds one of the vampire's victims and Forrest Taylor who does the prologue.

Better than its reputation.

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16 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
Are They Mad?, 26 November 2001

Author: BaronBl00d (baronbl00d@aol.com) from NC

This is a neat little picture. Period. Sure it has an incredibly low budget. Yep, it is dark and grainy. It sure does creak in some places too. But it has a couple of fine performances by George Zucco as twin brothers. One brother has killed his evil twin to rid the town of his malevolence. The dead brother returns, with the aid of a much older and very tired looking Dwight Frye, as a vampire out to avenge his death and destroy anything that matters to his brother. Zucco does fine in both roles. He makes probably the most urbane vampire in film. The budget really hurts as the vampire just fades out and in, but it also adds to the charm of this little studio film. Frye also does a decent job returning to a much more subdued Renfield-type role. The other actors are not that bad, and the story actually had me interested till the end. Fern Kemmett in particular gave a nice performance as a superstitious woman. Some shots in the film are very atmospheric. There is a great scene in a cemetery, and the finale was orchestrated quite well. The two Zuccos fight in flames as Dwight cries from under a very heavy marble altar. Great Stuff!

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13 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Guess who says "I don't blame you for thinking that I'm a homicidal maniac..."?, 20 November 2005

Author: Gary170459 from Derby, UK

Fairly typical PRC stuff, but imho any film with 2 Zucco's has to be worth a look in. And most of the time he does alright talking to thin air, with just a couple of dud repeat shots occasionally cheapening things (even more!)

It's an interesting low budget take on vampirism, with Good Dr. Zucco finding it very hard to believe that his dead identical twin Bad Count Zucco is actually undead and on the prowl for revenge against him. Even harder for him to swallow is the remedy which to him resembles hocus-pocus - apparently like he does to the hillbilly townsfolk. Didn't they have any streets in that town, they all seemed to spend a lot of time crashing through thick forest - which had presumably just used on another film? Dwight Frye was on target as usual, but looked very chunky and unwell, perhaps not surprising that he only had a year to live.

All in all very entertaining and surprisingly well acted and atmospheric nonsense.

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12 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
A little slow, but great if you are a fan of the genre, 27 June 2005

Author: Gregory Goldsmith from Preston, England

I am a big fan of movies made in the 30's and 40's and as such I didn't find this film too bad.

This film cash's in on a very popular theme of the time, Zucco plays both the Vampire (Elwyn) and the likable Doctor (his brother). The contrast between Zucco's portrayal of the two characters is pretty good and is not really worthy of the bad acting classification given by the previous commentary.

Granted, it's slow and we have seen the plot a thousand times but if you are a fan you won't be too judgemental. You could see a lot worse. Give it a try.

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9 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Creepy Vampire Movie, 14 March 2008

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

During the funeral mass of Elwyn (George Zucco), the local Kate (Fern Emmett) accuses him of evilness. Later, his brother Dr. Lloyd Clayton (George Zucco) and tutor of his niece Gayle Clayton (Mary Carlisle) tells her and her fiancé Dr. David Bently (Nedrick Young) that his brother has become obsessed by mysticism and black magic since he traveled to India. During the night, Elwyn comes to Dr. Lloyd Clayton's house and accuses Dr. Clayton of pushing him in a cliff to die. Further, he tells Dr. Clayton that he will revenge, slowly killing Gayle and transforming her in a vampire. Dr. Clayton does not believe in what he has seen and heard, but when Gayle gets mysteriously sick and Dr. Clayton becomes the prime suspect of David and the locals, he finally accepts that his brother is a vampire and tries to find his coffin to destroy him.

"Dead Man Walk" is a creepy low-budget vampire movie visibly inspired in "Dracula", with a good story and acting. The cinematography of the DVD that I watched is a kind of blurred in the scenes in the cemetery, maybe because of a lighting problem in the shot, but the story is told in a dark atmosphere and I liked this underrated film. George Zucco has great performance in his double role. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Mortos Que Andam" ("Dead That Walk")

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10 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Not your typical PRC product., 19 November 2006

Author: LarrupinLou from Raleigh, NC

Put me down in agreement with the reviewers here who enjoyed this film. No, it's certainly not remotely great and I have seen much better vampire flicks, but the terrific Zucco, decent writing, and competent acting from the rest of the cast make it slightly better than average.

In regard to Zucco, I have seen him in many films and he never fails to do a good job, regardless of what he has to work with. In this movie, he's the glue that holds this plot together from beginning to end. The way he makes the two brothers distinctive is to be lauded. Privately, he might have hated this genre of movie, but you wouldn't have known it from the gusto that he gives his dual role.

It's always good to see Dwight Frye, even though this wasn't his best performance. He played countless crazy or weird characters throughout his career, yet they usually differed due to his unique characterization he gave to each role.

Some here have complained about the sound and other defects in the quality of the film, which isn't fair since the vast majority of us have seen this film only from public domain copies. For example, the copies of "It's a Wonderful Life" that I saw as a kid weren't half the quality of the actual master that we now see around the holidays. Until a worthy copy shows up, I'll refrain making a judgment on that aspect of "Dead Men Walk."

All in all, the movie is entertaining. If you like horror movies from that era, you probably wont be disappointed.

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8 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Dark thriller is a bit creaky but the perfect thing for a dark and stormy night, 16 January 2006

Author: dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York

George Zucco plays two brothers, one good, one evil. One is dead and one is undead. Good brother George killed bad brother George because he was in league with the devil. The problem is that evil henchman Dwight Frye knows what happens and he resurrected the evil brother in the form of a vampire to take revenge.

I really like this movie. Sure the pacing can be slow but any film with George Zucco in it can't be all bad (actually it can but its usually fun bad). This is the creaky old creepy mystery thrillers that they don't make any more with graveyards full of mist, dark shadows and vampires with fake teeth. Its a great deal of fun.

Granted if you're not an old movie fan, and need your horror in color and rapidly paced this movie probably isn't for you, but if you're in the mood for a good old horror movie and you're done with the Universal classics you really should give this a try.

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Typical Programmer, 11 January 2004
Author: sbibb1 (sbibb1@aol.com) from New York, NY

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

An evil twin brother comes back to life to seek revenge on the good brother by turning his niece into a vampire.

Dwight Frye stars as the Vampires assistant. This film was made a short time before his death and Frye looks heavy and somewhat haggard here. George Zucco just does not make a convincing, or scary vampire, despite the fact that he is his creepy self. Keep your eyes open for a toothless hillbilly villager for an example of overacting. Despite it not being a great film, the climax of the film, where the two brothers duke it out in a raging fire is very well done.

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7 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Twice the Zucco doesn't equate a good film, in this case., 31 August 2004

Author: Mike-764 (michaelnella@yahoo.com) from Flushing, NY

Dr. Elwyn Clayton dies at the hands of his brother, Lloyd, in act of self defense, and Lloyd finds that the world is a better place without his brother, primarily the fact that Elwyn dabbled in black magic. A string of murders occurs in the village, that Dr. Clayton can find no explanation for, not knowing that Elwyn has become one of the unliving, thanks to the assistance of his aide Zolarr. Elwyn encounters his brother and tells Lloyd that he will make his life an uncomfortable one. He starts by turning Lloyd's niece, Gayle, into a vampire. When Gayle's fiance, David, debukes Lloyd's suspicions that his brother has some influence over his niece, David believes that Lloyd is the one responsible for Gayle's condition and asks the sheriff to arrest him before Gayle dies. This fact also riles the townspeople who are out to lynch Lloyd, feeling he is responsible for the murders. This one should have been better, and it wastes an excellent performance by Zucco in the dual role. Frye, in one of his last roles, is good, but you could see he wasn't at the same caliber 10 years ago. The two romantic leads, Young and Carlisle, really put you to sleep here (coincidence that Gayle is sleeping a lot?). Fern Emmett is good as the God fearing, but crazed Kate. Much of the movie does seem padded, and rarely gets the chance to get going, with an ending that didn't seem well thought out. Rating, 4.

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