I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE

Not a bad title is it, although I guess if this horror film from 1943 was made today it would be beefed up - 'I Slept With A Zombie' maybe?

And it would have a lot more scares, because frankly there aren't many here.  What it does have is oodles of voodoo atmosphere and a prime collection of messed-up white people.

The protagonist is nurse Betsy who comes to the Caribbean island of Saint Sebastian to care for Jessica, the wife of Paul, the owner of a sugar plantation.  Jessica is in a zombie-like state, the result supposedly of a tropical fever (really?).

Also hanging around is Paul's younger half-brother Wesley, who has a burgeoning drink problem, and their mother Mrs Rand.

We soon learn that in the past Wesley and Jessica were in love and wanted to go away together.  Paul stopped them, just before Jessica became sick. 

Paul's feelings towards his wife are obscure.  In fact Paul's feelings about anything are far from clear since he is very much one of the buttoned-up, emotionally constipated brigade.

Despite this (or maybe because?) Betsy falls in love with Paul, but weirdly she wants to cure Jessica so she can be reunited with her husband.

This leads Betsy to the extreme step of taking Jessica (at night naturally) to the local voodoo temple to be cured, in a very atmospheric sequence.  There we find, to our surprise, Mrs Rand who has persuaded the islanders that she has voodoo powers, so that they will follow her medical advice.

The film rapidly moves to a bizarre ending where Mrs Rand confesses that she used voodoo powers to turn Jessica into a zombie.  Wesley then kills Jessica (although if she is a zombie isn't she already dead?) and then takes his own life by walking into the ocean whilst carrying her dead body. 

Presumably Paul and Betsy will now marry and live happily ever after, although frankly who cares?

The plot clearly has echoes of 'Jane Eyre' but the emotional and dramatic possibilities aren't explored, presumably because the makers of the film (producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur) wanted to focus on the voodoo aspects of the story.  In this they succeed admirably.

The previous year the same partnership had made 'Cat People', both films now being regarded as minor horror classics.  I would push back a little against that in the case of this film due to the aforementioned lack of scares, or indeed the absence of any real threat to anyone.

Nevertheless it is well worth checking out, especially since its running time is scarcely more than an hour.

RATING: ✓ If You've Nothing Better To Do