The Plague of the Zombies (1966) - film review

Sir James Forbes, a distinguished professor of medicine, is surprised when he receives a letter from a former pupil, Dr Peter Thompson, inviting him to look into a spate of mysterious deaths in a small Cornish village.  Intrigued, Sir James travels down to Cornwall with his daughter Sylvia and immediately senses that something is wrong.  He receives a cold reception from the locals who, set in their superstitious ways and controlled by the reclusive Squire Hamilton, refuse to allow post-mortems to be performed on their dead.  Sir James and his former student decide to exhume one of the recently buried villagers, only to discover that his coffin is empty.  Peter then learms, to his horror, that his wife Alice is dead, murdered by what Sylvia describes as a walking cadaver...

One of the best films to come out of the fruitful partnership of the production companies Hammer and Seven Arts, The Plague of the Zombies is also one of the most influential of all British horror films, defining a sub-genre that continues to be popular with both filmmakers and audiences.  Its influence can be seen on George A. Romero’s classic horror masterpiece Night of the Living Dead (1968), and the plethora of zombie films since.   Although it was released as the B-movie accompaniment to the more lavish Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1965), this is clearly the superior film, offering far more thrills and a much more interesting story than the more familiar vampire romp.

The Plague of the Zombies achieves a remarkable visual impact on what, even by the standards of the day, was a ludicrously tight budget.  The production limitations are surmounted by a combination of imaginative set design, lighting and camerawork which lend a haunting dreamlike feel and offer the viewer an experience that is genuinely frightening.  The psychological effect of the oblique camera angles and unusual shot compositions is accentuated by James Bernard’s eerie score, creating a sense of confinement and oppression.  This serves to amplify the film’s anti-colonialist subtext very well, making it clear that the villains of the piece are not the zombies, but rather those who choose to exploit them.  

This fiilm was shot back-to-back with the equally effective chiller The Reptile (1966), sharing the same atmospheric sets designed by Bernard Robinson.  Both films were directed by John Gilling, who, despite his excellent work here, had a somewhat undistinguished filmmaking career.  Whilst it may lack any big name actors, the cast list does include some very capable British character actors, with top billing going to André Morell, who was famous at the time for his portrayal of Professor Bernard Quatermass in the BBC television series Quatermass and the Pit, transmitted in 1958.  Morell makes a good substitute for Peter Cushing, bringing a vulnerability and sense of moral indignation that would have felt less convincing had the part been played by Cushing.   Sci-fi enthusiasts and telly addicts of a certain generation will easily recognise Jacqueline Pearce, who would become a television icon as Servalan in the cult BBC series Blake’s Seven in the late 1970s.  

It may seem pretty tame by today’s standards, but when it was released in 1966 The Plague of the Zombies was something of a groundbreaking film, pushing the boundaries of acceptability with a more realistic depiction of physical violence than had so far been seen in a British horror film.  It is easily one of the most shocking and scariest of the horror films that Hammer made, and also one of the most compelling.   The highpoint has to be the sequence set in a misty graveyard where the zombies rise from their graves and advance slowly on their petrified human victim.  This sequence has been emulated many, many times since, almost to the point that it has become a standard horror cliché.  Gilling’s direction and Arthur Grant’s suitably expressionistic photography makes this an utterly terrifying journey into Hell – and an enjoyable one at that.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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