White Zombie

Horror movies can be scary in many different ways.  Some are full of gruesome deaths.  Others take us into a paranormal scenario our minds can’t completely comprehend or believe.  Still, others are just plain creepy and make our skin crawl in wonderfully horrible ways.  The pre-code era’s White Zombie, believed to be the first zombie film, has a bit of everything.

In 1932’s White Zombie, a young couple, Madeline (Madge Bellamy) and Neil (John Harron), plans to marry in Haiti.  Their host, Charles Beaumont (Robert Frazer), wants the girl, Madeline himself and seeks out the help of local voodoo guru, ‘Murder’ Legendre (Bela Lugosi).  Murder uses zombies to run his sugar mill, an effective source of cheap labor with no chance of forming a union.  Anyway, Murder gives Charles something that will help him win Madeline, but she will become a zombie.  Charles doesn’t want to do that to her, but he knows there is no other way.  Can he handle life with a zombie wife?

While this is a zombie movie, these are not the sort of zombies we see in most of today’s media.  These zombies stem more from the original voodoo legends of Haiti and Africa.  They are raised from the dead by voodoo, or some other means of witchcraft.  And rather than shamble, rot and hunt for human flesh, they don’t do much unless commanded by their master.  You’ll know when zombies are about to do Murder’s dirty work when does his zombie grip.

Though the quality of the film is not very good, there are still some fun tricks up its sleeve.  I loved the use of overlaps and transparencies.  Moments with Lugosi’s creepy staring eyes are always a treat, much like in his previous role, Dracula.  And really, the grainy quality of the film contributes to the creepy atmosphere the film creates.  It takes time and energy to make grainy images you strain to see in modern films.

I believe that White Zombie is the sort of classic horror film that can stand alongside classic greats of its time, like Dracula, The Mummy and Frankenstein.  It’s creepy, has a magnificent set design and wonderfully over acted for all the fun and creeps.  This could be a good first zombie film for kids, if you’re not ready for them to witness the blood and gore of Night of the Living Dead.  Madeline could also inspire a great minimal effort zombie costume, if you can keep from blinking long enough.

“Your driver believed he saw dead men… walking.”

Dracula

A cornerstone in Universal’s classic monster movies is Dracula from 1931.  Starring Bela Lugosi, the haunting images and story exposed a wider audience to Bram Stoker’s work and vampire lore.  I grew up with classic vampire images based off of Lugosi’s character and rubber bats on strings every Halloween.  To this day, nearly every generic vampire impression (anything Twilight related never counts, obviously) is based off of Lugosi’s voice, movements and looks.

The film begins with Renfield (Dwight Frye), a young man traveling to Dracula’s castle.  On the ride there, all the locals warn him against going.  One old woman even gives him a crucifix.  When he arrives, Dracula’s castle is quite a sight.  The place is a mess, with armadillos wandering in piles of dusty junk and giant spiderwebs sprawled above the stairs.  Renfield can tell something is amiss when it seems that his host has passed through the thick webs without disturbing a single strand.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t turn back and Dracula turns him into a slave, somehow getting him and his coffin onto a ship to England.

Once in England, Renfield is found on the ship and thrown into an asylum while Dracula strolls around town at night like a classy gentleman, complete with a top hat.  It seems that he has a taste for young women.  After sampling a few, Dracula sets his sights on Mina (Helen Chandler), stalking her room and gaining easy entry transformed as a bat.  Mina’s concerned father, Doctor Seward (Herbert Bunston) becomes concerned about his daughter and calls for Dr. Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) to investigate.  It isn’t long before Dracula and Van Helsing meet and legends and folklore become reality.

Since I was a small child, there have always been two creepy images from this film that stand out to me.  One is when Dracula is slowly creeping toward Mina asleep in bed.  His hand leads, fingers curved slightly, like a claw.  His face is frozen and fixed on Mina’s, most of his body is shrouded by the dark cape.  He bends over gently, like he could be a benevolent father kissing a child goodnight, but we know he’s about to viciously suck the blood from her neck.  As  kid, I was thankful for having the top of a bunk bed so no one could bend over me like that while I slept.

The second image is Dracula’s hypnotic stare.  This is shown many times throughout the film, with some variation (in a courtyard, with a top hat, without the top hat).  Basically, it’s just Lugosi starring straight ahead with tiny lights shining into his eyes.  This makes his face seem brighter and much more pale, like it glows in the dark.  And his eyes are huge and white with a weird glint that will command you do whatever he asks.  It’s always been one of those images that I could never look away from; truly hypnotizing.

Do the world a favor and show your kids Dracula before they ask awful questions like, “Does he sparkle in the sun?”  This classic version of Dracula can be the perfect film to first expose kids to vampires.  It packs enough scariness with images that are not violent while bringing out classic vampire lore.  Kids will get their fill of creepy castles, coffins, rubber bats flapping around without the blood splatter and hypersexualized images that come with more recent versions.  Plus, Frye has some creepily fun scenes as a raving lunatic under Dracula’s control that kids can really enjoy.

“Listen to them.  Children of the night.  What music they make.”