Retro Review: Plague of the Zombies
Plague of the Zombies (1966)
Studio: Anchor Bay
Release Date: November 2, 1999
Directed By: John Gilling
Cast: Andre Morell, Diane Clare, John Carson, Brook Williams, Jacqueline Pearce
Review By: Benjamin Bussey
A remote village in Cornwall is in the grip of a bizarre, unknown power. Left and right, local people are falling into depression, sickness, and untimely death. The local doctor (Williams), impeded in his efforts by the ‘superstitious’ bereaved who refuse to let him perform any autopsies, turns in desperation to the man that taught him all he knows, Sir James Forbes (Morell). At the behest of his daughter (Clare), Forbes journeys to Cornwall, his daughter in tow, to get to the bottom of this nasty business. Much to their horror, they find a village not only held under the boot heel of corrupt and belligerent aristocrats, but also the power of voodoo. (Who do? You do. Etc.) And wouldn’t you know it – the two evils look to be one and the same.
Given how the George A Romero model has long since dominated the genre, it’s easy to forget that zombies ever existed before Night of the Living Dead, let alone how different their MO was back then. Produced at a time when Hammer Films had tapped into pretty much every other key area of classic horror – Frankenstein, vampires, werewolves et al – zombies were one of the few monsters that the legendary production house had not yet tried their hand at. Given the American roots of voodoo (originating in ‘Hai-yee-tee!’ as Morell amusingly mispronounces), bringing it to a British setting was always going to be at least a little bit odd. But for the most part, The Plague of the Zombies is a good kind of odd. From its peculiar premise and atmosphere, and the absence of any of the great Hammer stars like Lee or Cushing (though aficionados will note the presence of regular supporting player Michael Ripper), this is a film that stands apart in the Hammer oeuvre, a rare case of the company producing something truly different.
One thing it really isn’t, though, is a zombie movie, or at least not immediately recognisable as such. The walking dead only make a few fleeting appearances, and frankly those are the weaker moments of the film, even to make this writer ponder whether Mild Rash of Ineffectual Frankenstein-type Things might have been a more appropriate title. More heavily emphasised, and far more compelling, are the heavy overtones of class war on show. The real monsters here are not the zombies, but the upper classes. The movie is at pains to show us just what contemptible bastards the lords of the manor are, from their desecration of a funeral for the sake of a foxhunt, to an attempted gang rape that’s surprisingly blunt considering the time the film was made. As such it’s of course no surprise to learn that they are responsible for the deaths in the village – all commoners, of course – and that they are supernaturally enslaving the local people for their own diabolical ends. It all harks back to the key theme in the voodoo-oriented films of old, like Lugosi’s White Zombie: exploitation and control. This is certainly not the only time Hammer played on the class divide in this fashion – check out Frankenstein Created Woman or Twins of Evil, for example – but rarely was it played this seriously. Indeed, with its distinct lack of overflowing corsets and rubber bats on strings, this is easily one of the least camp films Hammer ever produced. Perhaps it was ahead of its time, as, like many contemporary British horror movies such as The Children and Tormented, it’s actually more effective as a socially conscious drama than a supernatural horror. (Having said that, let’s not overlook how it’s still left to the wealthy and educated doctors to come to the rescue of the simple-minded commoners, not to mention the overtones of racism in the portrayal of voodoo practices.)
Devotees of gut-munching action might want to stick with Romero and Fulci, but if you’re up for a more old-fashioned, unusual and considerably more British take on the subgenre, The Plague of the Zombies is well worth a look.
Brutal As Hell Rating:
3 out of 5
