The Dead That Walk (1957)
"Zombies of Mora Tau" (original title)

Zombie-like, dead crewmen of a sunken ship have always prevented salvagers from claiming the wreck's legendary box of diamonds, but will a new group of treasure hunters succeed?

Director:

Edward L. Cahn

Writers:

George H. Plympton (story), Bernard Gordon (screenplay)

Stars:

Gregg Palmer, Allison Hayes, Autumn Russell

Cast

Cast overview:
Gregg Palmer	...	Jeff Clark
Allison Hayes	...	Mona Harrison
Autumn Russell	...	Jan Peters
Joel Ashley	...	George Harrison
Morris Ankrum	...	Dr. Jonathan Eggert
Marjorie Eaton	...	Grandmother Peters
Gene Roth	...	Sam, the chauffeur
Leonard P. Geer	...	Johnny - a Crewman (as Leonard Geer)
Karl 'Killer' Davis	...	First Zombie - in Roadway (as Karl Davis)
William Baskin	...	Zombie
Ray Corrigan	...	Sailor
Mel Curtis	...	Johnson - Crewman in Launch
Frank Hagney	...	Capt. Jeremy Peters - a Zombie

Storyline

Zombiefied sailors guard the treasure of a ship they went down with 60 years earlier. A group of sailors scoff at the legend, and decide to retrieve the diamonds from the ocean floor only to discover the hard way that there is some truth to legends.

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Plot Keywords:

treasure | diamond | legend | sailor | tycoon | 

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Taglines:

ZOMBIES OF THE AFRICAN VOODOO COAST! (original poster - all caps)

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

March 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

El fantasma de Mora-Tau

Filming Locations:

Baldwin Estate, Santa Anita, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Clover Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Columbia Pictures released this film on a double bill with The Man Who Turned to Stone with the tag line: "Warning - This is the Most Shocking Horror Bill Ever Shown!"

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Goofs

Throughout the film Jan and the other characters, including Grandmother Peters, repeatedly refer to Mrs. Peters as Jan's grandmother and Jan as her granddaughter; but when Grandmother Peters greets the members of the expedition upon their arrival by boat, she introduces Jan as her "great-granddaughter".

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Quotes

Sam, the chauffeur: [after hitting a particularly deep pothole] Sorry, Miss Jan.
Jan Peters: Sam, I think by now you'd know every hole in this road.
Sam, the chauffeur: I know all the holes, Miss Jan, but on this road there's no place to go but in them.

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Connections

Referenced in The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964)

User Reviews

B-grade monster fun

Zombies are guarding a sunken ship full of treasures in a lagoon on the outskirts of a sleepy, nearly-deserted Southern town. Cardboard screamer shenanigans; sure, some of it is fun, and the sequence where the zombies walk out of the water is skillfully done, but Allison Hayes (as the sexy bad girl) still can't act! It's reassuring to see her cast as yet another femme fatale, but her line readings are robotic--she's zombie-fied. The underwater sequences are a joke, yet the picture provides a definite nostalgia for the days when monster movies were bereft of commercial pandering and noisy, humongous special effects. It's not in the same league as, say, "Creature From the Black Lagoon", but it does have some atmosphere. Whether it was intentional or not, some minor art comes through, along with a whole lotta bad acting. ** from ****