Halloween Countdown (Week 10: I, Zombie)

Right, here's the part where I talk about my day.....well, nothing much has happened. Still not getting much sleep, and I've yet to start on my writing class excitement. But I hope to get a good bit of it done once I finish writing this blog entry. It helps that the movie I watched today was only 65 minutes long. As with Nosferatu, it's in the public domain, but at least there was sound, so I didn't need to add my own soundtrack. But I could have picked something suitable.

I may not recommend the film below, but I do recommend the album above.

Tonight's film (well, it is evening time as I write this) was the movie that inspired the bandname to one of my favourite rock bands, White Zombie. A few years ago, I found the entire film posted on YouTube, and I was introduced to the term "public domain". With that, I proceeded to watch it out of curiosity, given the name itself, and that it starred Bela Lugosi, who I only know through Martin Landau's performance of the actor in "Ed Wood", and his "last" feature film, "Plan 9 From Outer Space".

It's been about two years since I watched it, and while I don't remember much about the film itself, I do remember being very underwhelmed by it. But for the purpose of these blog entries, I'm willing to watch it again. Like I said, it's a short movie. Oh yes, there will be spoilers.....so if you've got an hour or so to spare, check out the video below:

65 mins later.....

Again, I am underwhelmed by the film, but I have found some parts where I can laugh at how odd, strange, or bad it can get, in terms of acting and plot, just like any other horror movie. According to the film's Wikipedia entry, the film was criticized by its plot and poor acting anyway, so at least I know it has nothing to do with how old the film is. There are parts where it may drag, but I think that's more to do with the changeover from silent film to the "talkies" at the time, where Hollywood is trying to work around with the fledgling technology at the time. So at least it's watchable, whereas the likes of "Nosferatu" takes a lot more effort to sit through.

While I do admit it's at least watchable, it does have its faults. First of all, I have only seen this movie on YouTube, but for all I know, what's onscreen is probably the best its going to be, quality wise, as I doubt the film has been remastered since its release, with this being the only working copy (I could be wrong about that though). The film reel is badly distorted, the sound at times inaudible, and the film does tend to jump from time to time, due to missing reels.

But at the same time, that's what made the film fun for me. What with remastered prints and digital restoration, it's very rare to watch a copy of a movie, where the reel is damaged to the point where all these things occur. It's the same type of feel that the "Grindhouse" movies were going for, so not only do I see the charm that it may have, it can also be unintentionally funny at times.

Like I mentioned earlier, this film came out at a time when sound was being implemented, so there are scenes where music is playing while the actors move about with no dialogue, and the camera focuses on their facial expressions. In both these cases, the film tends to show not only how dated their techniques were, but even how awkward they come across onscreen, especially with the dead eyed stares of the "zombies" and strange choices in sound effects.

I will admit, the close ups on Bela Lugosi in parts of the movie do have their charm, whether it be comedic or nostalgic. After all, he does have a very distinct image, and you can't help but chuckle when he comes off as a French vampire, even though he's supposed to be a voodoo priest. Even in the third act of the movie, he's dressed up in a tuxedo that makes him look like Dracula, which could have been the intention, considering who the actor was best known for, but here it just looks odd. At least his hammy acting is enjoyable, more so than the rest of the rubbish cast.

As for the sound editing, the choice of background noise is just bizarre. The opening of the movie has this weird chanting that goes on a loop. In the sugar mill scene where the "zombies" are working throughout the night, the factory sounded like a cross between a door creaking, a moose dying, and flatulence. The swamp sounds featuring frogs are also on a loop during the mausoleum scene, which seems like overkill by today's standards. Another odd feature of the third act was the inclusion of background music, which I actually noticed was absent throughout the film until then.

Note: the film is not as pervy as the poster makes it out to be.

But if there's one thing that actually scared the crap out of me, believe it or not, was the sound of the vulture. At first, I thought it was the "White Zombie" (ie. the female love interest) making that noise, even though she wasn't onscreen at the time. I could have sworn it was the sound of a woman screaming, with its high pitched squeal making me shudder at the sound. Even when the vulture was revealed as the source of the scream, I couldn't believe that was where the noise came from. Hell, I still don't believe that piercing sound came from that bird.

Overall, "White Zombie" is just your typical B-Movie, complete with bad acting, tacky plot (which I didn't go into, but like I said before, that's what the likes of Wikipedia and IMDb are for), and cheap production values. Although I doubt it would have been remembered today had it not been for the inclusion of Bela Lugosi. And I would be inclined to watch another film starring him. Even if it is "Glen Or Glenda".

Come to Butthead. Uh-huh-huh-huh-huh.

And on a final note.....

This is a cover version by Sepultura of the Bauhaus song "Bela Lugosi's Dead". Maybe it's because I heard this version before the original, but I prefer Sepultura's interpretation of the track. Sacrilege you say? Meh, direct your complaints to the comments section below.