Review of The Plague of the Zombies (1966) by Kurt B — 09 Jun 2010

This hammer horror production doesn't feature the classic line up of Christopher Lee or Peter Cushin but stands just as high as any other hammer film to feature them. The film is about a small town in Cornwall that has been infected by some strange disease but locals won't let the doctor conduct any examinations on the body because they believe it's disrespectful.

Andre Morell makes a brilliant and convincing role as the hero in this hammer flick and John Carson is an outstanding villain, the rest of the acting is pretty standard. The atmosphere the film has is fantastic; the idea of the town basically being isolated from the world and just the way it was set out makes it very creepy.

One noteworthy thing about the film was that not only was it a zombie film but it was set in perhaps the late stages of the 19th century and I haven't seen any zombie films set in any other period than the 20th and 21st century. The actual effects on the Zombies were perfect for me, there seemed to be more effort going into making them seem authentic that most recent zombie films.

The best moment in the film was a classic scene when Andre Morell decapitates a zombie with a shovel; I found this particularly brilliant considering Evil Dead 2 didn't do this for another 21 years. Amazing scenes like this coupled with the films great eerie score make this one of my favourites.