Search - Vintage Horror Classics: Zombies on DVD

These zombies don't come with cocktail napkins

Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 07/26/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The two discs of DELTA's VINTAGE HORROR CLASSICS: ZOMBIES offer up four 'B' grade frighters from the 1930s and '40s, one late '50s low budget flick that rode the "teenage" movie fad and a genuine cult classic issued a decade later.

SYNOPSES--

DEAD MEN WALK-- Stars George Zucco as night-and-day twin brothers and Dwight Frye as a creepy assistant to the evil one. Frye appeared in the Lugosi version of "Dracula" (1931) and as the hunchbacked lab assistant in "Frankenstein," from that same year. Directed by the prolific Sam Newfield.

KING OF THE ZOMBIES-- A plane crashes on an island and its passengers take refuge at a mansion that may be inhabited by ghosts and zombies. Released in 1941, this film has a WWII subplot. Director Jean Yarbrough is best remembered for heading up several of Abbott & Costello's features, plus their TV show.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD-- Cult fave about a brother (Johnny) and sister (Barbara) who visit a rural Pennsylvania town to see their father's gravesite. While there, Johnny is attacked and killed by a cannibalistic zombie but Barbara manages to escape. She flees to a nearby farmhouse where a group of terrified people are hiding from the monsters. After dark, their supposedly safe haven is beseiged by an army of the undead. Director George Romero appears briefly as a Washington reporter.

TEENAGE ZOMBIES-- Mad lady scientist uses nerve gas to turn pimply teens into pimply zombies. For hardcore cheese fans only!

REVOLT OF THE ZOMBIES-- Strange mid-30s movie that includes stock footage of Bela Lugosi's eyes. An expedition is sent to Cambodia; their misssion: destroy the formula for a zombie-creating elixir.

WHITE ZOMBIE-- Atmospheric early '30s fright flick about a witch doctor who double-crosses a plantation owner. The wealthy man causes the death of a woman engaged to another, and wants her brought back to life as his love slave, but the doctor has other plans for the poor girl.


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Parenthetical numbers preceding titles are 1 to 10 viewer poll ratings found at a film resource website.

(4.4) Dead Men Walk (1943) - George Zucco/Mary Carlisle/Dwight Frye/Hal Price/Al St. John
(4.9) King of the Zombies (1941) - Dick Purcell/Joan Woodbury/Mantan Moreland/John Archer/Guy Usher
(8.0) Night of the Living Dead (1968) - Judith O'Day/Russell Streiner/Duane Jones/Karl Hardman/Marilyn Eastman/Charles Craig
(2.7) Revolt of the Zombies (1936) - Dorothy Stone/Dean Jagger/Bela Lugosi ("The Eyes" - archive footage)
(2.2) Teenage Zombies (1959) - Don Sullivan/Katherine Victor/Steve Conte/Brianne MurphyPaul Pepper
(6.5) White Zombie (1932) - Bela Lugosi/Madge Bellamy/Joseph Cawthorn/Robert Frazer/Brandon Hurst/Clarence Muse"