Review of The Plague of the Zombies (1966) by L J — 26 Oct 2007

First-rate witchcraft chiller from Hammer, filmed back-to-back (on the same sets) with The Reptile.

Haitian voodoo is being practised in rural Cornwall ...and the dead won't stay dead! (In fact, they're put to work in the tin-mines. I hope they get paid for their efforts, otherwise the Union could be called in!).

Andre Morell does rather well in a very Cushing-esque role, and John Carson is equally effective as the village Squire, dabbling in the black arts (a role which could easily have been filled by Chris Lee). The GREAT Michael Ripper makes an impression as Sergeant Swift, the local copper.

A percussive score from James Bernard evokes voodoo rhythms and serves the film very well indeed.

The zombies themselves (this was a full two years before George Romero made the Living Dead a household name, but these are zombies in the Haitian sense, remember, not the cannibalistic, epidemic undead of Gory George's outings) - used sparingly, it must be said, and wisely so - are quite impressive for such an obviously-cheap production - all crusty-skinned & milky-eyed. A dream sequence (or is it?) has a whole horde of dead folks rising from graves; this is shortly following a shovel-decapitation of one of the pesky undead blighters (I'm sure Sam Raimi must've seen this one.).

Good solid stuff. And featuring another overlooked exponent of Hammer Glamour, the rather wonderful Jacqueline Pearce - who would have a much meatier (or scalier) role in the concurrent production.