Revenge of the Zombies (1943)

Scott Warrington and his hired detective, Larry Adams, arrive at an old mansion in the middle of a Louisiana swamp to meet his brother-in-law, Dr. Max von Altermann shortly after the death ... See full summary »

Director:

Steve Sekely

Writers:

Edmond Kelso (original screenplay), Van Norcross (original screenplay)

Stars:

John Carradine, Gale Storm, Robert Lowery

Cast

Complete credited cast:
John Carradine	...	Dr. Max Heinrich Von Altermann
Gale Storm	...	Jennifer Rand
Robert Lowery	...	Larry Adams
Bob Steele	...	Sheriff
Mantan Moreland	...	Jeff
Veda Ann Borg	...	Lila Von Altermann
Barry Macollum	...	Dr. Harvey Keating (as Barry McCollum)
Mauritz Hugo	...	Scott Warrington
Madame Sul-Te-Wan	...	Mammy Beulah
James Baskett	...	Lazarus
Sybil Lewis	...	Rosella

Storyline

Scott Warrington and his hired detective, Larry Adams, arrive at an old mansion in the middle of a Louisiana swamp to meet his brother-in-law, Dr. Max von Altermann shortly after the death of Scott's sister, Lila. Von Altermann, a Nazi who has been creating zombies for the armies of the Third Reich, has turned the deceased Lila into one of the undead as well, but is surprised when she shows signs of free will and challenges Max for control over his zombie thralls.

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Plot Keywords:

b movie | poverty row film | low budget film | double feature film | zombie army | 

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Taglines:

DEAD MEN CAN'T DIE... but live to follow a mad-man's will!

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 September 1943 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Vingança dos Zombies

Company Credits

Production Co:

Monogram Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

61 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was shown on "The Vampira Show" on 05/15/1954.

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Goofs

The scene where they brother of the deceased wife and the detective go to view the body, as they walk in to the room you can see the body purse her lips and breath.

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Quotes

Dr. Max Heinrich von Altermann: Against an army of zombies, no armies could stand. Why, even blown half to bits - undaunted by fire and gas - zombies would fight on so long as the brain cells which receive and execute commands still remain intact.

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Connections

Edited from White Zombie (1932)

User Reviews

well made low budget movie with weak script

This is surprisingly well made. The direction features quite a bit of camera movement for a quickie, the photography boasts some moody shadows and interesting wide angle lens effects, the swamp graveyard set is cool, and above all it's well acted--with Moreland doing his thing but the rest of the cast giving their all. And the music score is also well done not too much music either--not the wall to wall stock music approach in this film.

There is a lab/montage scene that is pretty elaborate and well done. There is another nice tidy montage to show time passing at a dinner party which has a funny pay off line and the last shot has an unusual pay off as well.

Carradine fans will enjoy his bug eyed entrance into the film but for the most part he plays it pretty straight/sober and he has a kind of memorable exit from the film--not to give it away.

The intentions I guess are mainly comic though it's not all that funny you almost wish they had just gone for serious horror yet it isn't campy for the most part and it's an all professional job.

The script holds it back from becoming above average though it is above average in all departments for this low budget genre of the era. Even the sets though not memorable don't look impoverished and the lab has quite a bit of gear in it.

The direction really impressed me with always making the most out of every situation--within the restricted scale of the movie.

One interesting thing, and you know this right away, is Nazi scientist Carradine kills and zombifies his wife, she does occasionally speak and they do a kind of interesting hollow sound to her voice. I think this film may be the first of the Nazi dead army plot movies tough it's certainly not the best one.

All said and done on a script level you pretty much get what you'd expect which isn't much but the movie almost won me over and fans of this era of genre films could do a lot better but you could do a lot worse as well.