Dead Men Walk (1943)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Thanks for the memories!

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

"Dead Men Walk" would not qualify as a great film in any universe, but with a bigger budget it might have been worth seeing more than once. George Zucco plays twin brothers, one a straight arrow and the other a black sheep who tinkers with the occult; the straight arrow kills his evil twin, who is resurrected as a vampire with the help of his bug-eyed servant (Dwight Frye). Predictable horror shenanigans ensue. If you've seen the dour, dignified Zucco in any of his more lavishly-budgeted pictures, like "Dr. Renault's Secret" or "The Mad Ghoul", then you know that he was perfectly capable of carrying a film...but "Dead Men Walk" refuses to be carried. It's shabby-looking, packed with the kind of tight shots favored by Poverty Row studios and which made their films look as if they'd been lensed in a single corner of someone's tiny house. The dialogue is conspicuously purple, even for a horror flick, and occasionally almost schizophrenic: in one breath a character solemnly reflects on "vampires lying in unholy repose, their teeth stained with the blood of the living", but drawls, "Shucks! I'm scared as the dickens!" in the next. (I'm not quoting directly from the film, but I'm not far off, either.) The acting is competent but utterly lacks conviction; even Dwight Frye is phoning it in. These folks were making a stinker and they knew it.

This one has an odd title, since it is more appropriate for a zombie flick rather than a vampire picture. In any case, it reunites director Newfield with star George Zucco (I have another collaboration of theirs to go through during this "Halloween Challenge", THE FLYING SERPENT {1946}, apart from having just acquired one more i.e. the non-horror outing THE BLACK RAVEN {1943}).Zucco plays dual roles here: an eminent small-town doctor and his disreputable twin (whose burial actually opens the film), with an avid interest in the occult extending to his having joined the ranks of the undead (complete with unhinged acolyte – who else but Dwight Frye? – to protect him when powerless i.e. during the day and generally do his evil bidding). By the way, this also features an intrepid old lady (eventually gotten out of the way by Frye, then on his last legs himself!) – an unlikely and annoying device adopted in a handful of vintage horrors. Typically, the good Zucco is charged with caring for the leading lady (invariably engaged to a young man – played by subsequently blacklisted actor-turned-Oscar-winning-writer Nedrick Young! – who admires him, though he has no qualms about threatening the old man for his helplessness when the girl is on the point of dying!). In fact, apart from one isolated attack early on, the vampire concentrates his blood-drinking activities upon her, intending to turn the girl into his disciple (bride?): however, since she calls his brother "Uncle" and no mention is made of another sibling, the heroine must also be the villain's own flesh and blood (how's that for perversion?)! For the record, the aged and partially-disabled Zucco is not exactly cut out for fang-and-cloak work: if anything, he never quite bares the former and, with respect to the latter, sticks to his everyday clothes throughout – though he can still appear and vanish again at will! Amusingly, the film proper is preceded by a prologue featuring an "Inner Sanctum"-type host delivering a portentous speech, and where a book entitled "History Of Vampires" is actually thrown into the fire – intimating that what is to follow will be a novel spin on things but, then, what we get is just the usual stuff! While undeniably watchable (especially at a manageable 64-minute duration), DEAD MEN WALK's programmer pedigree ultimately makes it strictly forgettable fare.

Dead Men Walk" is a solid, if unspectacular, vampire film.**SPOILERS**Following the death of his twin brother, Dr. Lloyd Clayton, (George Zucco) buries him amongst speculation that he was a raving madman by the townspeople. Caught snooping through his brother's affairs by his assistant Zolarr, (Dwight Frye) he is later seen in the cemetery resurrecting Dr. Elwyn Clayton, (George Zucco) who comes back as a murderous vampire. As a series of vicious murders begins plaguing the town, he discovers that his brother has indeed returned from the dead to stalk his daughter Gayle, (Mary Carlisle) and she is soon under his spell. Finding the source of his powers to be Black Magic, Lloyd and Gayle's beau, Dr. David Bently, (Nedrick Young) race to stop him before his plans of revenge are fulfilled.The Good News: This here wasn't that bad. When it tried to be, there was plenty of atmospheric shots that were just fabulous. The early shot, where the coffin is being removed from the graveyard, with the fog slowly closing in and covering the figures, leaving only the outlines to waft through the scene, is inspired and quite striking. The film also has some really spine-tingling moments, where the vampire materializes out of nowhere and appears in front of people, often times appearing through the background like a shadow, and they are handled flawlessly and come off even today. For such a short film, there's also the traditional scenes and ideas from past vampire films, including the initially skeptical fiancée, the helpless local cop, the mad woman who knows the truth, the irate and skeptical villagers, the hunchback acolyte, and a rampant mob seeking to deal harshly with the good doctor under the belief that he is the killer. While clichéd, these offer a sense of familiarity that the rest of the film fails to offer. The climactic fire to reduce everything to victorious, but tragic, ashes is an effective action set-piece, being an effective end to send the film out on a high point. While derivative, this wasn't exactly torturous.The Bad News: There really wasn't a whole lot to dislike in this one. Most of it comes the fact that the movie does not follow conventional vampire lore, as the brother becomes a vampire through the use of black magic rather than the more commonly associated means. While not bad, the fact that it does tamper with convention doesn't really give more of a vampire feel, making it seem more like a curse inflicted upon a normal person rather than a being that preys upon us. That also makes us fear the main vampire far less than in most cases, a serious detriment in such a short film. The only other main problem with the film is it's extreme predictability. The presence of so many vampire traditions and sequences means that it's just a matter of time before the next item on the checklist is marked off, giving this a really easy plot to follow through with the ending that can be seen coming from the opening minutes. While not a dangerous threat to the film, by making it so predictable is to really squeeze most of the fear and tension out of the film, leaving it to coast on the strength of it's set-pieces. That is not a good case for a film to do. But these are easily overlooked.The Final Verdict: With a few flaws that can be easily overlooked for some, this is actually one of the more solid B-films from the time-period. It's not earth-shattering, but if given a chance, it can provide some entertainment value, so give it a shot. It's short time may hinder most of it's problems.Today's Rating-PG: Mild Violence

Clearly a film to play the lower half of a double bill, DEAD MEN WALK is a low-budget entry in the horror genre defeated by its stilted dialog and contrived situations. It's painfully dull and on the level of an Ed Wood film with amateurish acting from everyone except Zucco.Zucco plays a bad doctor who comes back as a vampire (with the assistance of DWIGHT FRYE) to take revenge on his good twin. As shown on TCM, the dialog is as murky as the photography and the print shown was badly in need of restoration.As good Dr. Clayton, Zucco declares that the latest death in the village "was not the cause of any known poison." He is soon visited by his "indestructible" brother who threatens to destroy him. He fires bullets at his evil brother to no avail. The poorly scripted story gets sillier as it goes on.Summing up: No better, but somewhat worse, than dozens of other low-budget horror flicks. This one, unfortunately, shows its "poverty row" origins too clearly. Too slow-paced for its own good despite its brief running time.