My take: Classic zombie tale from the time when zombies were the result of evil voodoo sorcerers (and before zombies ate brains).
Rating: 3 out of 4 stars
This is yet another example of how Hammer Films stands out from their contemporaries. The sets are lush, the colors bright and the characters fully formed. It’s period horror at its finest, and you can see how Hammer became famous for this type of horror.
The Plague of the Zombies is set in Cornwall, where a small village has been beset be a series of mysterious deaths. The local doctor requests the help of his former professor, whose daughter comes along for the trip. They discover that a dozen people have died with strange symptoms: sluggishness, pasty appearance, slow reflexes. There is no known cause as the superstitious townsfolk have been keeping the doctor from performing autopsies.
The professor suggests that they simply go dig a body up. They discover, however, that the graves are empty. Where are the bodies? And what is going on a the old, abandoned tin mine? Spoiler: it’s zombies.
It’s a zombie!
This is a solid zombie film, that is likely overlooked in its timing. Just a few years from when this film was released, Night of the Living Dead came out. That film would change the face of zombie films, and films like The Plague of the Zombies have been forgotten in the aftermath.
This is a film rich with voodoo myth and legends. It also has the trademark atmosphere of lust and violence that make Hammer films so compelling.
I would recommend this to fans of Hammer horror, classic zombie films, and classic horror in general.
I found the movie on Daily Motion. Here’s the trailer:
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