Zombies of Mora Tau (1957)

Director:

Edward L. Cahn

Writers (WGA):

George H. Plympton (story)
Bernard Gordon (screenplay) (originally as Raymond T. Marcus)

Release Date:

March 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

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

Plot:

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?

Plot Keywords:

Treasure | Diamond | Legend | Sailor | Africa

Cast

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

Also Known As:

The Dead That Walk (UK)

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - 301 N. Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, California, USA

Company:

Clover Productions

Trivia:

Columbia Pictures released this film on a double bill with The Man Who Turned to Stone (1957) with the tag line: "Warning - This is the Most Shocking Horror Bill Ever Shown!"

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): 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".

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.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Middleman: The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation (#1.8)" (2008)

She's undead, you idiots!

One of the many plot implausibilities in this enjoyably awful Sam Katzman-produced dreck occurs when Allison Hayes, she of the killer figure, is murdered by diamond-loving zombies and becomes one of the walking dead. She's clearly a zombie; Marjorie Eaton, trying to preserve her dignity as the Maria Ouspenskaya-like hideous matron, tells everyone she's a zombie; she walks like a zombie, and her face is even blanker than when she was alive. But the rest of the avaricious crew treats her like a real live girl, vowing to get her to a doctor as soon as possible for a diagnosis. That leads to plot extensions that add on another 20 minutes or so, though the entire nonsense clocks in at a little over an hour. A pretty high body count for '50s horror, direction and production values not far above the Ed Wood level, and hilarious "underwater" photography round out this Grade Z programmer, which is inept but not dull.