Zombies of Mora Tau (1957)

Redundant and unnecessary.

hyped garbage

best movie i've ever seen.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Much maligned but unjustly so, director Edward Cahn proves with ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU that, given the right tools to work with, he was as capable a director as anyone toiling in the Hollywood vineyards of the 1950s. Allison Hayes as "a feisty broad" shoulders (...) her share of the burden in aid of. The zombies of the title might well have shambled out of WHITE ZOMBIE or even I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE: they're of the laid back, unhurried variety often found in early Twentieth Century Fright Films (and even manage to "remind" one of the ghosts in John Carpenter's classic Fright Film, THE FOG). ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU is proof positive that Cahn was a very capable filmmaker in his own right and is worth a look by fans of the genre.

Arriving at a small African community, a group of diamond searchers find the area guarded by reanimated zombies raised by voodoo and try to enlist a local couple to combat the creatures and get away alive.This is a decidedly decent early effort in the zombie genre. One of the biggest issues here is the fact that this one is clearly still unsure of the traditional zombie format yet so this one is completely off-the-mark in terms of how they're portrayed. Still in league with the slave-like behavior back then, they're unblinking nature and invulnerability in fights or weaponry tactics to guns or weapons might be too much for those looking for more familiar surroundings in a zombie movie. As well, there's the low-budget nature of the film does have some getting over as the make-up work in non-existent on the zombies beyond contact lenses, the sets are minimal and repeatedly utilized while keeping the action relegated to a few small, short set-pieces that are found throughout here. These here hold this one down a little, but not completely to off- set the few good parts to this, mostly all of which is based on the attacks and interactions with the zombies. There's some pretty fun scenes here with this one dealing with the beings in their mausoleum hideout where the scenes of them emerging from their coffins en-mass while going for their victim in the room and a second scene to retrieve a fallen comrade, while there's other fin scenes here with them attacking in the house and the attempts to repel them gives this one some rather intriguing action. The showcase here, though, is undoubtedly the underwater retrieval sequences which features not only the underwater battle with the creatures as well as the centerpiece attack on the ship itself where the creatures come on-board to force battles and barricading tactics that are far more traditionally-inspired which allows for a lot of great fun in the film. This here is enough to make this one overcome the few films into a decent-enough effort.Today's Rating-Unrated/PG: Mild Violence.

Years ago, a ship sunk and it contained a chest filled with diamonds. However, each expedition that attempted to recover the treasure was eliminated by zombies who guard the wreck! can a new expedition manage to salvage the diamonds once and for all? Or, will they all soon become zombie chow?This is an odd film, as not only do the extras playing zombies act like the living dead but some of the actors playing non-zombies seemed to think they were zombies as well! The acting, in some cases, was simply horrible. My favorite was when one of the women was supposed to be afraid. My daughter and I couldn't tell if this was the case or if she was just having an asthma attack! It also didn't help that the dialog was simply horrible as well. While this could have been a fun little horror film, it's really just an un-fun little horrible film! Dull and rather stupid. So, despite this coming from a respectable studio (Columbia), it looks every bit as bad as a film from an earlier poverty row studio like PRC or Grand National.

For reasons I would prefer not to disclose at this stage, I am embarking on a zombie movie marathon for the coming two weeks. This is the only title I had not yet checked out from Columbia's ICONS OF HORROR: SAM KATZMAN Box Set. As expected, being a pre-Romero zombie flick, the monsters in this one are of the voodoo (rather than flesh-eating) variety; still, their being guardians of the deep was an interesting novelty, looking forward to both the "Blind Dead" entry THE GHOST GALLEON (1975; albeit the least in the series) and John Carpenter's underrated THE FOG (1980)! Incidentally, the film proved an unintentional laugh riot, beginning with the very opening sequence as the veteran chauffeur transporting the heroine back to her ancestral African(?!) home nonchalantly runs a man over with the car, brushing away the girl's protestations by claiming that he's only "one of them"! Halfway through the next scene, then, when she gets to re-join her great-grandmother(!), the film's camera operator suddenly realizes the characters' position was not occupying the center-space of the screen and he simply tilts it upwards to show them to better advantage…without the director or producer apparently finding the shot in any way jarring and asking for a re-take afterwards! Into the picture now step a handful of adventurers after buried treasure: as it happens, the captain of the zombie conglomerate (who sleep in hidden coffins like vampires?!) happens to be the old woman's deceased husband (at one point, she almost takes pride in the fact that, unlike her, he has retained his looks – she does not seem to mind the skin discoloration that goes with death, not to mention the extra decomposition that inevitably sets in through the effect of sea-water on his flesh?!). She knows the monsters will not harm her or her relative since they are not interested in the treasure – indeed, she takes the new clutch of desecrators on a cemetery tour of their unsuccessful predecessors, while displaying the freshly-dug graves they are bound to be buried in themselves! Anyway, these are the usual mixed bunch: a wealthy macho financing the expedition (called George Harrison!), his boozy nympho wife (Allison Hayes before she became the 50-Foot Woman!), a young man expected to do all the dirty work and get peanuts for his efforts (whom the latter fancies but he would rather take up with the heroine!) and, of course, the elderly expert (who occasionally engages in pseudo-philosophical conversation with the old woman of the manor!). Hayes obviously does not suffer her landlady gladly and, on one occasion, even tells her that she is already dead, only she does not have the sense to lie down (and, by intimation, let the rest of them alone)! As some of you may know, I am not much of a fan of zombie movies and never found them scary: this load of ghouls, then, barely have any make-up on to suggest they are indeed the living dead – the film-makers simply slapped some seaweed on them, believing it would do the trick! Incidentally, they are seen walking both the earth and the sea-bed (they simply turn up in the water, never seen going in, swimming or anything, though they make efficient pirates, assailing boats and getting rid of meddling crewmen with remarkable ease!). The monsters even attack the mansion, are fended off by fire but eventually manage to abduct both leading ladies (in separate incidents!): while they do not harm the heroine, somehow Hayes is made to join their ranks (just what was the point of adding a new recruit to the protectors of the treasure?). In any case, she is taken back to the house and, realizing what she is (Hayes even proves impervious to a direct hit from a candelabra being thrown at her forehead!), is enclosed inside a bedroom with her passage barred by a number of lit candlesticks: this scene could well have evoked the poetic atmosphere of the Val Lewton horrors, or even Jean Cocteau, but journeyman director Cahn lends it no particular attention! Perhaps in keeping with the shuffling creatures themselves (by the way, though I may dislike the slow-moving zombie kind, I positively abhor the energetic ones that have become the norm of late!), the film maintains a fairly lethargic pace throughout – thus making its trim 69-minute duration feel much longer (especially by way of the repetitive and uneventful diving antics). Much is made of the conflicting views between the old lady and the hero on whether the diamonds should be sold (thus ensuring the heroine's future) or thrown away (in order to give the captain and his cohorts peace) – the latter, of course, finally has her way, though rather than scatter them to the winds as she had promised to do all along, she just dumps the diamonds in one spot!: in the meantime, the zombified Hayes beats her hubby to death with the empty(?) chest! In the end, the film is tolerable enough for the subgenre but certainly no classic; by the way, the copy I landed was accompanied by unremovable English subtitles!