The screenplay is based on an article of the same name by Inez Wallace, and also partly reinterprets the narrative of the 1847 novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. While he drinks himself into a stupor, a calypso singer (Sir Lancelot) sings about how Jessica was going to run away with Wesley, but Paul would not let them go. [7] Wray described the film as being shot on a "shoestring budget. He asks Betsy if she would consider euthanasia, but she refuses. Using an effigy of Jessica, the Sabreur draws her to him from afar. I Walked with a Zombie is a 1943 horror movie directed by Jacques Tourneur.It was the second horror movie from producer Val Lewton for RKO Pictures.The movie stars Frances Dee as Betsy Connell, Christine Gordon as Jessica Holland, and Tom Conway as Paul Holland.. [14][15], The film was released on DVD in 2005 by Warner Home Video as a double-feature disc with The Body Snatcher (1945). A ruthless doctor and his young prize student find themselves continually harassed by their murderous supplier of illegal cadavers. A woman in search of her missing sister uncovers a Satanic cult in New York's Greenwich Village, and finds that they may have something to do with her sibling's random disappearance. There, they watch a man (the Sabreur) wield a saber during a ritual. He then carries her body into the sea, pursued slowly by Carre-Four. Its plot follows a nurse who travels to care for the ailing wife of a sugar plantation owner in the Caribbean, where she encounters supernatural phenomena such as voodoo and the walking dead. I Walked With a Zombie (1943 USA 69 mins). Mrs. Rand explains that she uses voodoo to convince the natives to accept conventional medical practices and tells Betsy that Jessica is incurable. Betsy meets Mrs. Rand (Edith Barrett), Paul and Wesley's doctor mother. Unlike some of the horror product of the time, it actually treats its black characters with a great deal of dignity and respect, and also gives the actors a chance to shine, such as Theresa Harris as Alma the maid.As was always the case with these Lewton productions, the story (based to some degree on Jane Eyre, with factual articles on voodoo in the West Endies also used as a basis) is pretty tight, and the running time is typically short. It was the second horror … The Knickerbocker News (Albany, NY), 15 May 1943. "[6] Screenwriters Curt Siodmak and Ardel Wray were appointed to write the script; Siodmak's original draft revolved around the wife of a plantation owner who is made into a zombie to prevent her from leaving to Paris, but the screenplay underwent significant revisions by Wray and Lewton. Seeking shelter from a storm, five travelers are in for a bizarre and terrifying night when they stumble upon the Femm family estate. A young man turns to a witch doctor to lure the woman he loves away from her fiancé, but instead turns her into a zombie slave. I. Walked.with.a. While getting ready for bed, Betsy hears crying. "[19] A reviewer in Albany, New York thought it well-suited for its likely viewers: "rigs up a great atmosphere for the haunt and holler audience and, compared with 'Cat People,' the movie with which it is mentioned most often in publicity, it is a success. A nurse in the Caribbean turns to voodoo in hopes of curing her patient, an unusual woman whose husband she's fallen in love with. Betsy gets Paul to agree to try a potentially fatal insulin shock treatment on Jessica, but it has no effect. Saint Sebastian is home to a small white community and descendants of African slaves. American professor John Holden arrives in London for a parapsychology conference, only to find himself investigating the mysterious actions of Devil-worshiper Julian Karswell. [17] Wanda Hale of the New York Daily News praised it as a "spine-chilling horror film," awarding it two-and-a-half out of three stars. The New York Times was critical of the film, calling it " a dull, disgusting exaggeration of an unhealthy, abnormal concept of life". Paul and Betsy stop her, but they are not around when he tries again. Though “I Walked With a Zombie” is technically a horror film, the horror itself derives from the film’s lighting and atmospherics rather than traditional scares or vibrant gore. Start Your Free Trial Member Reviews. Betsy becomes determined to do the right thing by Paul by trying to cure her, if she can. I came into this expecting very little and was pleasantly surprised. He apologizes for bringing her to the island and admits that he may have been the cause of his wife's condition. [13] It continued to screen throughout the country during the fall of 1956, into late December. Get a sneak peek of the new version of this page. Zombi 2 is a 1979 Italian zombie film directed by Lucio Fulci.It was adapted from an original screenplay by Dardano Sacchetti to serve as a sequel to George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978), which was released in Italy with the title Zombi.It stars Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch, and Richard Johnson, and features a score by frequent Fulci collaborator Fabio Frizzi. [23] TV Guide awarded the film their highest rating of 5/5 stars, calling it "an unqualified horror masterpiece". It starts to go for more of a traditional creep factor in its second half, using the imposing Darby Jones as the mysterious, zombified Carrefour to great effect. [20], On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, I Walked with a Zombie holds an approval rating of 85%, based on 33 reviews, and an average rating of 8.1/10. There she will attend to the needs of the mute, unresponsive, yet seemingly alive Jessica Holland (Christine Gordon). Ken Yousten
. Outside, the locals stab Jessica in the arm with the sword as a test. The Val Lewton RKO shocker, I Walked with a Zombie, was released on the 30th of April, 1943.Directed by Jacques Tourneur, it was Lewton’s second horror film for the studio, and followed his usual ambiguity between whether the explanation for events is mundane or supernatural. Showing all 5 items Jump to: Summaries (4) Synopsis (1) Summaries. We take a look at how Oscar front-runner Chloé Zhao will change Marvel forever. "[21], Author and film critic Leonard Maltin rated the film three and a half out of four stars, praising the film's atmosphere and story, calling it "[an] Exceptional Val Lewton chiller". Search for "I Walked with a Zombie" on Amazon.com, Title: Betsy screams, waking everyone. Join free to stream I Walked With A Zombie. The actors each do a solid job: Dee as the heroine, Conway as the husband, James Ellison as his half brother, Edith Barrett (in old age make-up) as their mother, James Bell as the doctor, and Sir Lancelot as the calypso singer. On her day off, Betsy encounters Wesley in town. Although he went on to make much better films, Jacques Tourner's I Walked With a Zombie is not anywhere near a waste of time. On the way to the plantation, the black driver tells Betsy that the Hollands brought slaves to the island, and that the statue of "Ti-Misery" (Saint Sebastian pierced by arrows) in the courtyard is the figurehead from a slave ship. [22] Dennis Schwartz of Ozus' World Movie Reviews awarded the film a grade A, praising the film's atmosphere, Tourneur's direction, and story. Certificate: Passed I Walked with a Zombie is a 1943 American horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur, and starring James Ellison, Frances Dee, and Tom Conway. D5 | B5 | I walked with a zombie. The story is about a nurse named Betsy who is hired to care for Jessica, the wife of plantation manager Paul Holland. I've had some very good experience with Japanese Blu ray releases of rare films - and some very bad. Was this review helpful to you? Mrs. Rand shocks everyone by claiming that Jessica is a zombie. Wesley opens the gate, letting Jessica out. [9], I Walked with a Zombie had its theatrical premiere in Cleveland, Ohio in April 1943, the hometown of the source material's author, Inez Wallace. The next morning, Dr. Maxwell tells Betsy that Jessica's spinal cord was irreparably damaged by a serious illness, leaving her totally without the willpower to do anything for herself. Betsy is shocked to find that the priest is Mrs. Rand. That night at dinner, Paul tries to persuade Wesley to reduce his drinking (at Betsy's suggestion), but he accuses Paul of trying to impress Betsy and of driving Jessica insane in the first place. Betsy takes her home. Its consensus reads, "Evocative direction by Jacques Tourneur collides with the low-rent production values of exploitateer Val Lewton in I Walked with a Zombie, a sultry sleeper that's simultaneously smarmy, eloquent and fascinating. and thousands of hours of killer content. Dr. Maxwell (James Bell) explains to the mother-in-law (Edith Barrett) that Jessica (Christine Gordon) can't be a zombie, as nurse Betsy (Frances Dee), husband Paul (Tom Conway) and brother-in-law Wesley (James Ellison) face voodoo evidence to the contrary, in Val Letwon's I Walked With A Zombie, 1943. Betsy Connell (Frances Dee), a white Canadian nurse, relates in a voiceover how she once "walked with a zombie.". Later, Betsy is drawn to the sound of Paul playing the piano. Young Canadian nurse Betsy comes to the West Indies to care for Jessica, the wife of a plantation manager Paul Holland. [12], The film was re-released in the United States through RKO in 1956, opening in Los Angeles in July of that year. Then he pulls an arrow out of the statue of Ti-Misery and follows. Producer Val Lewton was obligated to use the film's title by RKO executives,[2] which they had culled from an article of the same name written by Inez Wallace for American Weekly Magazine. Then she was struck down by the fever. Kisses! "I Walked with a Zombie" is a movie of such voluptuous atmosphere that if you surrender yourself to it, it almost seems as if you've been transported to another world. The lighting, shadows, exotic setting and music all contribute to the immensely disturbing atmosphere, making this stunning piece of poetic horror a classic of the genre. Betsy has been falling in love with her moody employer. I Walked with a Zombie is a 1943 American horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur, and starring James Ellison, Frances Dee, and Tom Conway. I Walked with a Zombie (89) IMDb 7.1 1 h 8 min 1943 NR Betsy Connell believed she had seen strange behavior from her patients, but nothing in her training and experience has prepared her for the voodoo, horror and walking undead of a Caribbean island. From Wings to Parasite, here's a look back at all of the Best Picture Oscar winners in the history of the ceremony. On a Greek island during the 1912 war, several people are trapped by quarantine for the plague. Nell Bowen, the protégé of Lord Mortimer, wants to help change the conditions of notorious St. Mary's of Bethlehem Asylum (Bedlam). Format: VHS Tape. Drama, Certificate: Passed [18] A critic of The Boston Globe felt the film "gets nowhere in the telling and finishes its overdone melodramatics with a most unconvincing climax. [1] It was the second horror film from producer Val Lewton for RKO Pictures. A nurse is hired to care for the wife of a sugar plantation owner, who has been acting strangely, on a Caribbean island. (1943). As one can see, some of the cast were regulars in these Lewton films.Overall, there's a real feeling of sadness to the atmosphere, helping to make this one of the best of Lewtons' filmography. Though she tries to reform Bedlam, but the cruel Master ... See full summary ». You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Avoid like the plague. svg-pencil Log in to write a review. [10] It opened in New York City on April 21, 1943, before expanding wide on April 30. A seemingly tame leopard used for a publicity stunt escapes and kills a young girl, spreading panic throughout a sleepy New Mexico town. Replete with creepy incidents and jolting surprises, Zombie's brief scenes quickly advance its "Jane Eyre in the West Indies" storyline while giving an impression of a leisurely pace. Paul suggests that Betsy return to Canada, regretting entangling her in his family problems and fearful of demeaning and abusing her as he did Jessica. (69 minutes all told.) [24] Alan Jones from Radio Times gave the film four out of five stars, writing, "Jacques Tourneur's direction creates palpable fear and tension in a typically low-key nightmare from the Lewton fright factory. Betsy is hired to care for the wife of Paul Holland (Tom Conway), a sugar plantation owner on the Caribbean island of Saint Sebastian. "New, Old Films Vie For Orlando Interest This Week", "DVD Savant Review: The Val Lewton Collection", "I Walked with a Zombie (1943) - Rotten Tomatoes", "I Walked With A Zombie - Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings", Stylus Magazine’s Top 10 Zombie Films of All Time - Movie Review - Stylus Magazine, Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=I_Walked_with_a_Zombie&oldid=1014639432, Films based on newspaper and magazine articles, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2011, Articles to be expanded from November 2018, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 28 March 2021, at 07:56. "Voodooland Featured in Film at Grand." The local authorities investigate the next day, and the natives demand that Jessica be returned to them for "ritual tests.” Later, Carre-Four approaches the residence, but Mrs. Rand orders him to leave. (If tho… 17 of 17 people found this review helpful. I Walked with a Zombie [11] It continued to screen in North American theaters throughout the year, with screenings beginning as late as December 19, 1943 in Casper, Wyoming. She determines to make him happy by curing Jessica. Jessica is wife to a plantation owner named Paul Holland (Tom Conway), with whom Betsy falls in love. The script is complex with crisp dialogue and a rich story. 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