Lugosi Stars in a Tale Love and Zombies

White Zombie (1932)
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Madge Bellamy, Robert Frazer, John Harron, and Joseph Cawthorn
Director: Victor Halperin
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

When Haitian plantation owner Charles Beaumont (Frazer) becomes obsessed with the beautiful Madeleine (Bellamy), he invites her and her husband-to-be (Harron) to have their marriage and spend their honeymoon at his plantation. When he fails to win Madeleine's heart, he turns to his neighbor, 'Murder' Legendre (Lugosi) and asks him to use his powers to make zombies to recreate Madeleine as his love slave. Will Madeleine and the local priest (Cawthorn) unmask Legendre's evil and save Madeleine from a fate worse than death, or will they merely become yet another pair of zombies in Legendre's growing force of mindless slaves?


"White Zombie" has been described as the first zombie movie ever made. I don't know if this is true or not, but it is definately one of the best. It predates the flesh-eating blood-spattered cannibal zombies of George Romero, but instead relies upon traditional zombie myths and tales of dark sorcery to generate its chills. 

This is a stylishly filmed movie that features creepy performances by Lugosi and Bellamy, and scenes that drip with creepiness, as Legendre's mindless slaves work his sugar mills, and as a ghostly, zombie-fied Madeleine glides silently through the vaulted halls of Legendre' house. (The height of creepiness is reached when the depth of Legendre's evil is fully revealed and he gradually starts turning Charles Beaumont into a zombie as well.)

"White Zombie" is a must-see for fans of classic horror movies in general, and fans of zombie movies in particular. It is the one of the roots from which the horror genre sprang. Heck, the film should be required viewing for anyone who is currently making horror movies... if filmmakers chose to emulate a work like this, maybe we'd have more decent horror movies coming out.

But don't just take my word for it. Click on the embedded video below to watch this fabulous movie via The Screening Room that's part of my YouTube Channel!

'Blood Highway' is a glimpse of something good

Blood Highway (2017)
Starring: Herlin Navarro, Kevin O. Peterson, Jack Shipley, Lily Rebecca Ramras, Kyla Geyer, Scott Sederquist, and Eddie Ascolillo
Director: Joseph Dwyer
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A pair of guns-for-hire (Peterson and Navarro) take revenge on a mad scientist (Shipley) and his psychotic hirelings (Sederquist and Ascolillo) as a zombie outbreak is spreading across the nation.

"Blood Highway" feels more like an excerpt from a longer movie than an actual short film. It seems to assume we have knowledge of the relationships between various characters, and there are stray references that are beyond what is reasonable even for an extreme in media res approach to story telling. Further, there's no discernable end to the story being told here; the encounter is resolved, but the main characters go stumbling off down the road with literal Hell at their heels,  three different subplots are begun during it, and there's one that seems left over from before the start of the film that remains open. Plus--the one highway in the film that doesn't seem particularly bloody.

All that said, what we have a sample of here looks like it could be a really good movie with a vibe that's best described as a cross between a gritty crime drama and horror film from the 1960s--as if Mario Bava had directed a George Romero-style zombie movie--with a John Carpenter/Goblins-esque electronic score. (That said, the film is clearly supposed to be set in modern day, since there are a couple kids posting pictures of themselves online using their smart phones.)

Sadly, although "Blood Highway" seems like a teaser for something yet to come that "something" does not appear to be anywhere in our future. (Even this webpage feels like there's more, but there isn't.) 

Take a few minutes to check out the film right now. It's bound to put you in the mood for more zombies!

'The Mad Ghoul' is worth knowing

The Mad Ghoul (1943)
Starring: George Zucco, David Bruce, Evelyn Ankers, Turhan Bey, and Robert Armstrong
Director: James Hogan
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

College chemistry professor Alfred Morris (Zucco) re-discovers a formula for a gas that ancient Central Americans used turn people into pseudo-living zombies, as well as a means for reversing the transformation. He uses his assistant, Ted (Bruce), as an unwitting human test subject while trying to put the moves on Ted's opera-singing fiance (Ankers)... but when the antidote for the gas turns out to only be temporary, Morris's life and Ted's psuedo-undeath become a lot more complicated.

"The Mad Ghoul" is a horror film from Universal Pictures--the studio that bought the world "The Mummy", "Dracula", and "Frankenstein"--that sounds like a film from Monogram or PRC, with its mad scientist with an even madder scheme, a young couple being threatened by evil, and a crusading reporter who is going to stop the monster the police have been unable to catch.

What the writers and director does with those elements are a great change of, though: The crusading reporter ends up, the young couple's romance is revealed to have been over even before the film starts, and the mad doctor's mad scheme keeps getting more insane, first because he was cocky and had to cover up a failed experiment and then because he wanted to remove all rivals for the woman with whom he believes he shares a mutual attraction. (Some of my favorite parts of the film is when George Zucco and Evelyn Ankers' characters are talking past each other; Zucco thinks they are expressing their love for each other while Ankers thinks she's just unloading her sorrows to a sympathetic ear. These scenes feature some nice acting and even better writing, because they perfectly communicate the notion that Zucco's character later expresses, after he realizes he was mistaken: "Sometimes we see what we want to see.")

The cast of "The Mad Ghoul" all provide good performances. Zucco is in particularly fine form, playing the crazed heavy he specialized in but with a tiny bit of nuances thrown in. Robert Armstrong is also fun as the "I'm smarter than the cops" newsman who populates films of this type, and while I saw his brutal end coming before it actually happened, I was a little sad to see him go. Meanwhile, Ankers and Bey play the kinds of characters they portrayed in many other films, and they do it with their usual skill. Finally, David Bruce, in one of his few starring roles, is good as what initially comes across as the standard, fairly bland romantic lead, but becomes an increasingly interesting and nuanced character as the film unfolds.

Witness the birth of the modern zombie

Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Starring: Judith O'Dea, Duane Jones, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman, Keith Wayne, Judith Reilly, and Kyra Schon
Director: George Romero
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

When the dead rise to eat the living, a small group of people board themselves up in a house and attempt to hold out against an army of hungry zombies.

"Night of the Living Dead" is perhaps one of the most effective horror movies ever made. While its budget constraints are occassionally evident, and the acting leaves something to be desired at times, it still emerges as one of the scariest, most intense, films ever, with near-perfect pacing, great camera work, and sparse but effective set design and special effects. It's also arguably the most influential film of modern times, and many creators of horror and suspense films from the past 20 years probably owe quite a bit to Romero for inspiriation.

The key to the films success is that it incorporates a bit of the morality play aspect that exists at the core of most horror movies with a complete sense of claustrophobia and a certain doom. Although a national (possibly worldwide) disaster in unfolding, the action of movie is mostly confined to a single house, and the threats that those barricaded within come not only from the undead hoard outside, but also from each other as their various character flaws are explosed and amplified due to their situation. (Of course, it also features one of the most disturbing zombie flesh-eating scenes that have ever been put on fillm... if you've seen the film, you know what I mean, and if you haven't yet, you will know as soon as the moment happens.)

Despite recognizing this as a true classic fillm, I also admit it's not perfect. In addition to the acting, there's a couple of plot holes. I recently watched the movie again, and I still find the opening cemetary sequence strange beyond words, and I still am not certain what Barbara's ultimate fate is. (One thing I am certain of is that it's not a racist movie. I watched the film again, because I heard how it was supposed to have racist undertones throughout--undertones that are fully exposed at the film's climax--and since I'd never noticed that, I figured I'd watch the film again. Well, I'm here to tell you that anyone who finds racism in this movie is probably a racist themselves who are engaging in a bit of projection.)

This film is one of the most commonly found in the massive DVD multipacks, and it is a highlight of every package it's in; it plus one or two additional movies you're interested in will make the set worth its purchase price.

If you haven't seen this classic and are a fan of zombie movies and horror movies in general, this is a must-see. It's the original of the "modern zombie" and a damn fine movie to boot.

Halloween is coming...

... so here's a chance to watch one of my all-time favorite horror films, right here at Shades of Gray, uncut and digitized from a print that I think was in better shape than the one used to make the DVD copy I paid good money for.

Click here read my review of "White Zombie"--and the sit back and enjoy the wonderfully creepy show!

White Zombie (1932)
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Madge Bellamy, Robert Frazer, John Harron, and Joseph Cawthorn
Director: Victor Halperin
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Noteworthy only for featuring the firston-screen eye-ball eating and zombie-rape?

Maniac (aka "Sex Maniac") (1934)
Starring: Bill Woods, Horace B. Carpenter, Ted Edwards, Phyllis Diller, and Thea Ramsey
Director: Dwain Esper
Rating: Two of Ten Stars

Don (Woods), a mad doctor's assistant, kills his boss (Carpenter) in self-defense. Then, using his great skills as an impersonator, he pretends to be the doctor to cover up the crime long enough to dispose of the body. Things get worse and weirder from there.

"Maniac" is a loosely based on (well, I should probably say "ripped off from") Edgar Allen Poe's "The Black Cat".

The filmmakers also pretend that they are giving us an intelligent tale of a man's descent into madness, like Poe's story "The Black Cat". As the film starts, our mad doctor's assistant is unwilling to even steal bodies for his boss's experiments in reanimating the dead, but by the film's end, he's plotting and executing all sorts of violence and depravity while laughing and carrying on in ways that made the dearly departed mad doctor Meirschultz look well adjusted.

I say it "pretends", because their true goal was to simply shock the audience as much as possible--and in 1934, this film would have been pretty damn shocking. The cat eyeball-poppling and eating scene is startling and appalling even when viewed with the very jaded eye of a modern movie viewer who's sat through hundreds of films along the lines of this one.

With copious nudity, a maniac raping a zombie girl, dancers walking around in their undies, perverted morgue attendants, cat-fur harvesting, and the aforementioned eyeball-eating scene, the film is clearly designed first and foremost to cram as much "objectionable" material into its 50-minute running time. I imagine this film showed in "adult" movie houses Back in the Day, and I can't help but wonder what the initial reaction might have been to it.

This can't be described as a good movie by any standards. It's even too dull to be suitable for a Bad Movie Nite--although there are admittedly plenty of moments of unintended hilarity from the overacting by just about every cast member and the horribly purple dialogue they deliver. However, if you want to see how even early filmmakers pushed far beyond the boundaries of good taste, "Maniac" is worth checking out. (I suspect it has some sort of place in cinematic history--"first eyeball-eating scene on film", or "first zombie-rape on film"?--so maybe all who consider themselves true cinema-buffs should check it out.

'The Ghostbreakers' features a great cast, great cinematography, and a weak script

The Ghostbreakers (1940)
Starring: Bob Hope, Willy Best, Paulette Goddard, Paul Lukas, and Anthony Quinn
Director: George Marshall
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A risk-taking radio reporter (Hope) and his butler Alex (Best) set out to protect an heiress (Goddard) when it seems a sinister Cuban businessman (Lukas) is going to try to scare her out of her ancestral home with a fake haunting.

"The Ghostbreakers" is a fast-paced, messily plotted horror comedy that has Bob Hope playing an oddly contradictory character--one who constantly talks about how scared and cowardly he is, but who invariably chooses the most direct and dangerous path toward problem solving at every opportunity. He is ably supported by Willie Best, who plays his man-servant and is slightly more prone to fear than his boss but who also seems to be a little smarter; and by Paulette Goddard, the chipper and stubborn heiress who refuses to be intimidated and who doesn't understand the meaning of the word "no." This trio of performers play fabulously off each other, each displaying fine perfect timing and switching back and forth between the roles of "straight man" when the jokes are flying.

The comedic performances of the stars is both enhanced and contrasted by stylish and moody cinematography and great sets that puts a number of straight horror movies from the 1940s to shame (including some of Universal's later Mummy pictures and all the "House of..." monster mashes). A number of sequences would be perfectly at home in a horror film, such as when the characters arrive on the island housing the haunted castle, and the one where Paulette Goddard is stalked by a zombie.

Unfortunately, the excellent cast and crew are laboring in the service of a badly done script. While each joke and comedic set-piece are funny by themselves, the plot that links them together is so badly constructed that it can't even be described as flimsy. Several of the red herrings obscuring who the true bad guy is are left to just flop around on the floor without any tie-in whatsoever to anything else that's going, and no explanation is offered as to how the weird caretaker of the castle and her zombie son fit into things. Presumably, they are in league with the villain, but that's never made clear, nor is there any sort hint provided to whether the son truly is a zombie or not. Worse, the zombie is the object of one of films pure moments of slapstick when within this space of a few minutes it manages to put on (or be placed in) a suit of armor and ambush Hope and Best with a morning star. Did the zombie disguise himself? Did his mother? Did the villain? It's just one of many disconnects in the film that cause its second half and conclusion to be less-than-satisfying.

Speaking of zombies and disconnects, this is one of those films I've heard is supposed to be racist through and through, because Willie Best plays a character that is a spooked black servant who is the butt of a number of jokes from Bob Hope. However, if one actually watches the movie, one sees that Best's character actually gives as good as he gets--lobbing more than just a few zingers Hope's way--and is no more or less cowardly or scared than any other character in the film. Yes, he's a clear-cut comedic figure in the film, where Hope swings between comedic and heroic, but he stands watch over the lady in distress even while knowing a killer is on the prowl, and he joins with Hope in a physical fight against the zombie. I had the same reaction to this film as I had to "King of the Zombies", another film featuring a supposedly horribly racist portrayal of a black character, but in actually watching the film, the black servant turns out to be the brightest character in the film. (Admittedly, the Mantan Moreland-portrayed character in that film is the stereotypical "scared negro servant" who happens to be working for a racist moron.)

And in both those supposedly racist films, the racist stereotypes are mild when compared to black characters in modern films, such as the over-sexed, loudmouth cop that Chris Tucker portrayed in the "Rush Hour" series, or just about any film you care to mention that has featured a rapper or former rapper trying his hand at acting. It seems to me that some commentators should actually try watching this movies instead at coming at them with preconceived notions.

Despite its flaws, "The Ghostbreakers" is an entertaining comedy in the "creepy old house" vein that lovers of that sub-genre would do well to check out. Bob Hope fans will likewise find the film interesting, as the character he portrays is a little different from what emerged later once his comedic film persona was firmly established. All in all, it's a movie that should bring extra fun to the Halloween season.

'Zombies Calling' is top-notch zombie comedy

Zombies Calling (Published by SLG Publishing, 2007)
Story and Art: Faith Erin Hicks
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

When a Canadian university is overrun by zombies, it's up to geeky horror film lover Joss to save herself and her roomates, armed only with the Rules of Survival gleaned a lifetime of watching zombie movies and a spork.

For about two decades, SLG Publishing (formerly Slave Labor Graphics) and its imprint Amaze Ink has been one of the American comic book industry's best-kept secrets. They have quietly been publishing high-quality, quirky comics and graphic novels that really deserve far more recognition and readership than they've ever gotten.

One such book is Faith Erin Hicks' hilarious "Zombies Calling", a breezy graphic novel that moves effortlessly between drama, humor and horror. It's a well-crafted book that entetains and amuses from the first page to the last. Writer/artist Hicks presents a cast of characters that are likeable and funny and that she gets us to care about. Like a good zombie movie, we want them to escape the brain-hungry hoards because we like them... and when Rule Two comes into play ("One person makes the ultimate sacrifice so the rest can live"), the book as as suspenseful as any zombie movie you've seen.

In fact, this book will remind you so strongly of "Zombieland" that you may think Hicks was copying that movie. The truth is, Hicks' book predates "Zombieland", and it's either proof that Great Minds Think Alike, or the writers of "Zombieland" are familiar with the well-kept secret that is SLG Publishing, and intimately familiar with "Zombies Calling".

If you're looking for some light Halloween reading, or perhaps a gift for a zombie lover in your life, you can't go wrong with "Zombies Calling".

'Revolt of the Zombies' is a non-event

(I like the poster though.)

Revolt of the Zombies (1936)
Starring: Dean Jagger and Dorothy Stone
Director: Victor Halperin
Rating: Two of Ten Stars

At the height of World War I, a French officer (Jagger) brings to his generals the ultimate weapon: the secret to creating impervious zombie soldiers! Unfortunately, before the Cambodian monk can be made to share this secret with the Europeans, he is murdered by a sinister enemy agent. A military expedition is sent to the darkest heart of Cambodia's jungles to see if the secret can be recovered.

"Revolt of the Zombies" actually has a really interesting plot at its heart. Too bad the filmmakers completely botched this movie, with awful dialogue and pacing that is at once too slow and too fast--important events happen off-screen and are then relayed to the viewers by the characters in boring exposition. Worse, the movie ultimately chickens out in regards to both its use of zombies in the story AND in regards to what seemed to have been its message about the negative impact of European colonialism with an "absolute power corrupts absolutely." What's more... there ain't no damn zombie revolt in the film (but that's because there aren't any real zombies, either).

I probably would have shrugged my shoulders at this one--it's just another low-budget, crappy horror film--but it was made as a follow-up to the fabulous "White Zombie." I expected more of "Revolt of the Zombies" because "White Zombie" is a dyed-in-the-wool classic horror film, one of the best zombie movies ever made (and perhaps even the *first* zombie movie ever made), and it was as low-budget as "Revolt."




Click here to read my review of "White Zombie" at The Bela Lugosi Collection.

Jesus smote zombies for our sins

Jesus Hates Zombies (Alterna Comics, 2009) 

Writer: Stephen Lindsay Artists: Various 

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars 

After flesh-eating zombies overrun the Earth, God sends his Only Son to save a small group of faithful. Unfortunately, Jesus is, once again, sent to Earth under-equipped for the job ahead of him, and he must fight his way through zombie hoards as he treks across the United States. This is one mission where there is no Love to be had from the Christ, because Jesus HATES zombies!

     "Jesus Hates Zombies" is a collection of short stories drawn by various artists and written by series creator Stephen Lindsay. The art varies tremendously in quality, but, as a lover of the old-time anthology comics, I still appreciated the format. (Not enough to cut the editors any slack; some of the art really is at such a low level that I can help but wonder if it was drawn by someone's Significant Other.) 

The stories, however, are of consistently high quality. While the idea of Jesus wandering a "Dawn of the Dead"-style world looking for the final pure souls so that he may bring them God's word while sending zombies back to their graves is fun in-and-of-itself, Lindsay manages to infuse every story with dark comedy that had me smiling at every page and even laughing out loud at more than one occasion. Jesus' initial arrival on Earth, his acquisition of a car, and his later acquisition of a zombie sidekick (appropriately enough named Lazarus) are all funny high points of a very funny book.

  However, there are a few almost sad moments as well, such as the one where Jesus encounters zombies in an abandoned amusement park (in a tale that may remind some readers of the hit movie "Zombieland"*, but they should be aware that Lindsay's story was originally published in 2007.) And then there's the horror. You can't have a zombie comic book without SOME horror. Here, the most chilling moments arise when Jesus thinks he is at the end of the quest but instead finds himself facing something very different than lost sheep waiting for his help; and the story where he's trying to get a good night's sleep and instead is cornered by hungry undead. But even the horror is delivered through a snappy script and funny artwork.

 

*Sidenote: As I watched "Zombieland," it reminded me both of this graphic novel and of "Zombies Calling," another great graphic novel of comedic zombie antics. I wonder if it was a case of great minds thinking alike, or if someone on the "Zombieland" writing team likes reading the sorts of books that get reviewed here at "Shades of Gray"?

'I Walked with a Zombie' is a masterpiece of the unexpected

I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
Starring: Frances Dee, Tom Conway, James Ellison, Edith Barrett, Christine Gordon and Darby Jones
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

A young Canadian nurse, Betsy (Dee), comes to the West Indies to care for the invalid wife the wife of a plantation manager (Conway). When she falls in love with her employer, Betsy determines to cure her charge, to give her beloved what she things he wants. even if she needs to use voodoo to do it.


"I Walked With a Zombie" is one of the great classics of the gothic horror genre. With spectacular visuals, characters with murky motivations and natures, dark secrets aplenty, and a pure-hearted young girl who just wants to make everything right and who naively believes she can do so, it's a picture that is far better than its cheesy title would lead you to believe. Like every film produced by Val Lewton at RKO, it's a film that breaks conventions and helped establish cinematic vocabulary that remains in use to this very day. (Lewton's films were among the first to use sound and imagary purely for the purposes of startling the viewer, such as interrupting a quiet scene with a sudden burst of sound.)

The film also succeeds because of the powerful performances by the actors involved and the expert direction by Jacques Tourneur. Too often in films of this vintage, I find myself irritated by the "insta-romance" that springs up between characters--"The Maltese Falcon" and "Notorious" are both excellent movies that are marred by such plot elements--but the pacing of "I Walked With Zombie" and the performances of by the actors are such that that the romance between Betsy and her employer seems natural and believable.

Even more moving than the story and the acting is the film's direction and cinematography. Not a second is wasted and not a scene isn't perfectly staged or shot perfectly framed. The zombie in the film is one of the most chilling to ever be featured on screen, and Betsy's trek through the sugarcane field to the voodoo ceremony is one of the finest examples of how to build dread and suspense.

Anyone who considers themselves a student of horror films MUST see this movie. This goes double if you fancy yourself a filmmaker (or some day want to be one). Don't apply the lable of "genius" to Dario Argento, George Romero and Mario Bava until you've seen how REAL geniuses made movies.


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Cinematic Black History Milestone:First Black Sidekick Who's Smarter Than the Hero

King of the Zombies (1941)
Starring: Dick Purcell, Mantan Moreland, John Archer, Joan Woodbury and Henry Victor
Director: Jean Yarbrough
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

Mac (Purcell), Bill (Archer), and Jeff (Moreland) are forced to land on a mysterious island after their plane runs low on fuel. Here, they find a mysterious family who aren't at all what they seem... and who are the center of a Nazi cult of undeath.


"King of the Zombies" is one of those movies that you should not show to your ultra-liberal, hyper-PC friends. Their heads will explode when Moreland (as Jeff, friend and loyal servant to adventuresome pilot, Mac) starts in on his stereotypical, subserviant negro comedy routine--a character that was common in this sort of film through the late 1940s.

There's a difference here, however. Unlike most films where the black comic relief character is a cowardly goof who needs the guidance and protection of the dashing, capable white hero to get safely through the night, it's actually Jeff who recognizes the danger faced by the heroes. If Mac and Bill weren't a pair of racist jackasses, who dismiss everything that Jeff has to say without even the slightest bit of consideration, there would have been fewer lives lost as the trio struggles against the Nazi zombie master.

Unfortunately, I doubt the filmmakers were aware of this irony, either while reading the script, during shooting, or while assembling the final product. If they were, it goes unnoticed by any character in the film. Given the overall lack of quality in this too-slowly-paced, mostly badly acted low-budget part horror/part wartime propaganda film, I am almost certain the juxtaposition of the very clever black character against the dull-witted white heroes is a complete accident.

I can't really recommend "King of the Zombies", but I do think Mantan Moreland's performance is an excellent one, as he has great comedic timing and a whole raft of truly hilarious lines. The fact that Jeff ultimately emerges as the brightest character in the film is also something that's noteworthy, and I think it gives the film a unique twist.

Reviews of Classic Vampirella

For over 15 years, Harris Publishing has struggled to restore the classic icon of horror in comics, Vampirella, to the pinnacle of glory she acheived in the late 1960s and 1970s. There have been glimmers of genius in their efforts, but they've mostly been dissapointing. It seems like none of the modern writers have been able to capture what made the original comics so cool and fun. (Nor have any of the modern artists been able to match the glory of the art.)

In this post, I review four graphic novel collections that Harris has produced of the original Vampirella tales. Some of them are still available from the publisher at www.vampirella.com, but they are, sadly, mostly out of print.

Still... all hail the boot-wearing, alien vampiress with the impossibly skimpy costume! Theses books are some of the best Halloween reading you'll ever lay eyes upon, as they are brimming with vampires, witches, zombies, and demons. Even Dracula himself puts in several appearances!

(Among the illustrations are some of my favorite Vampirella portraits over the years, with the Dave Stevens illo at the top being my all-time favorite. It originally appeared on the back cover of "Vampirella vs. the Cult of Chaos".)


Vampirella vs. the Cult of Chaos
Writer: Archie Goodwin
Artists: Tom Sutton and Jose Gonzalez
Rating: Nine of Ten of Stars

In the late 1960s, magazine publisher Warren introduced "Vampirella Magazine", an anthology series presenting horror comics with a "mature" flavor that was hosted by a vampire vixen who ware an impossibly skimpy one-piece bathing suit and high-heeled boots.

In fairly short order, however, one of the most talented creators to ever work in comic books--Archie Goodwin--took the character to center stage, developed a supporting cast of friends and foes and put down a foundation that other creators have been building on for nearly 40 years.

"Vampirella vs. the Cult of Chaos" is a paperback that was produced by Harris Comics in the early 1990s, shortly after they acquired the publishing rights for the Vampirella comics. It contains the early Archie Goodwin stories that chronicle Vampirella's first serious adventures. First, we have her initial encounter with the adherents of the Cult of Chaos and the introduction of her loyal companion Pendragon, as illustrated by Tom Sutton in some of his earliest professional work. The art's a bit rough around the edges, but the future hights his talent will soar to is still evident. Then, as Vampirella's struggles against the Cult continue and she finds herself persued by blind psychic and vampire hunter (and future ally) Conrad Van Helsing, the art chores are taken over by Jose Gonzales, the artist who is most closely associated with the Vampirella character. The art is postively amazing, and the stories also get stronger as Goodwin perfects a forumla that mixes equal parts of humor, horror, and B-movie style sci-fi as Vampirella squares off against angels of death, lycanthropes, zombie-masters, love-sick sea demons, and even the strip's unique take on the vampire of vampire, Count Dracula.

Lovers of B-movies, quality comics, and sexy women in outfits that can't possibly exist outside of comics (or only if the wearer has lots of spirit-gum applied to her breasts and moves very, very carefully) shold seek out a copy of this book. (All joking aside, the tales contained in the pages of "Vampirella vs. the Cult of Chaos" truly are classic examples of high-quality comic book story telling.)

Vampirella: Transcending Time & Space
Writers: T. Casey Brennan and Steve Engelhart
Artist: Jose Gonzalez (cover by Dave Stevens)
Steve's Rating: Ten of Ten Stars

"Vampirella: Transcending Time & Space" was the second collection of classic Vampirella tales issued by Harris Comics after they revived the character in the early 1990s. It picks up where "Vampirella vs. the Cult of Chaos" (review here) left off, and writers Brennan and Englehart continued to build an excellent house on the foundation that master storyteller Archie Goodwin put down.

The book reprints seven stories, which not only continues Vampirella's clash with the Cult of Chaos, but also manages to pick up and resolve some left over story-threads from the previous book. A major storyline running through the bulk of the tales relates to the attempt by Dracula (who in the Vampirella mythos is an alien from the same planet as our heroine) to reject the Mad God Chaos, to cleanse his soul, and to atone for the many centuries of evil he has committed. It makes for very interesting reading.

Although solidly rooted in the Goodwin stories, the tales presented in "Transcending Time & Space" have a different, more freewheeling flavor. Where Goodwin tended to anchor most of his tales with horror genre mainstays (vampires, werebeasts, and demons) or references to classic genre fiction, the stories penned by Brennan and Englehart lean more heavily on science fiction and bizarre fantasy elements--servants of Chaos trap Vampi and friends in a Dream Dimenions; they're transported to a distant world inhabited by a thoroughly alien and monstrous creature; and then there's the all-powerful Conjuress who hopes to show Dracula the path to redemption. All of these elements, mixed with the sexy Vampirella, a dash of humor, and healthy number of crazed cultists all add up to some great comic book stories that make up the second half of the greatest run of Vampirella tales in the character's near-40 year history. (The book is made even stronger by the fact that in the book's closing tales, Englehart ties off a plot thread that's been dangling since Goodwin's first Vampirella story, and then spins it off into an unexpected direction.)

As strong as the stories in this book are, they wouldn't be half as effective if not for the gorgeous Jose Gonzalez art. While I'm lukewarm toward his tendency to drop in fine art portrait-style images in the middle of his sequential panel art, the detail and beauty of work on every page of the book is a real joy to behold. His layouts are clear, his characters expressive, and every panel helps move the story forward AND be a work of art unto itself. (Gonzalez's finest moments on the Vampirella series are, arguably, found in this book; the two tales set in turn-of-the-century England are particularly well-rendered.)

Oh... and the Dave Stevens cover on this book is perhaps the finest drawing of Vampi that we've seen in 25 years.

All in all, this book is a must-read if you have any fondness at all for the Vampirella character, or if you like well-done, off-beat horror comics.



Vampirella: Crimson Chronicles Vol. 4
Writers: Flaxman Loew and Archie Goodwin
Artists: Jose Gonzalez, Leopold Sanchez, and Jose Ortiz
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

"Vampirella: Crimson Chronicles Vol. 4" presents 13 Vampirella tales from issues 29 to 41 of the original black-and-white "Vampirella" magazine published during the early 1970s.

The art in this volume is absolutely gorgeous, but the fluxuating quality of the stories show that even at the halfway mark of the magazine's life, Vampirella's best days were behind her.

With the initial Archie Goodwin stories, we had horror tales with a classic feel and touches of humor (collected in "Vampirella vs. the Cult of Chaos"). With the T. Casey Brennan and Steve Englehart scripted stories, the sci-fi aspect of Vampirella was emphasized more, but there was still an air of classic horror about the strip. With the arrival of Flaxman Loew (whoever he may truly have been, because that has got to be a pen-name!), the series moves in a campy, offbeat direction, with less of an ongoing storyline but instead having Vampirella and Pendragon globe-trotting from booking to booking, and adventure to adventure. (Loew makes more use of the magic act/showbiz angle than any of his predessors did.) It's still a horror strip, but it too often plunges into the depths of pure silliness. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn't.

Take, for example, the low points of the book. Each are two-part stories.

First, there is "The God of Blood" and "Betrothed of the Sun-God" where Vampirella becomes the lust-object of a very jealous Aztec god. Here the goofiness of a sun-god wanting to make Vampi his bride--and turning to ash anyone who looks upon her scantily clad body--is balanced by the lecherous evil of the god's priests, and a plotline about a phoney psychic who is murdering her way to a fortune. (Someone out there must really have liked this storyline, because not only did Warren reprint it later in the original Vampirella series, but Harris has already printed that slightly revised version in a previous paperback, "Vampirella: A Crimson Thirst". These stories are beautifully illustrated, but I think the presense of an Aztec sun-god whacking mortals over Vampirella is a bit much.)

Second, at the bottom of the barrel, the book presents "The Vampire of the Nile" and "The Mummy's Revenge". The in this two-part storyline "reveals" that Vampirella is a reincarnation of Cleopatra, and that she first became a vampire due to the actions of her evil brother. The follow-up pits her against occult forces that are bent on bringing back the evil from her previous incarnation. The second story has some decent elements in it--the sequence with Vampi is stranded in the catacombs under Rome and the dead may be coming back to life is very well done--but its too tightly tied to the idiocy of Vampi as the reincarnated Cleopatra to be any good.

On the flipside, the desire of Loew to send Vampirella off in different and unexpected directions work very well in "The Undead of the Deep" (where Vampi confronts a bizarre underwater party that she may never escape), "The Running Red" (where a cruel gambler and an immortal wanderer meet, with Vampirella standing at the crossroad of fate), "The Sultana's Revenge" (where the manipulative wife of a Middle Eastern prince brings danger to Vampi and Pendragon), "The Carnival of Death" (where evil hedonists get their come-uppance after they attempt to ruin a party thrown by the last remaining member of Venice's old upperclass, and "The Blood Gulper" (where Vampi crosses paths with a rock star and his agent who are truly operating on the life-blood of the public). These stories are all fabulous little chillers that pit Vampirella against unexpected foes while providing either chuckles, tragedy, or ironic twists (sometimes all at the same time).

Another two-part adventure--"The Head-hunter of London" and "The Nameless Ravager"--that pits Vampi against an insane killer and his spell-weilding sisters presents some of the most horrific scenes in the whole book, but the stories feel rushed, so their impact on the reader is someone lessened. Still, one has to congratulate Loew and the illustrator (Sanchez) in this case) on putting some naked women in the book who DON'T look hot in swimsuits.

The balance of the stories ("She Who Waits"--the single Archie Goodwin tale in the book, his last work on Vampirella, as far as I know-- and "The Malignant Morticians" are mostly forgettable and they have a sense of filler about them. They're not bad, but they are vapid.

As mentioned at the top of the review, the art in the book is spectacular. Leopold Sanchez's style is a bit more consistently cartoony than those of Jose Gonzalez and Jose Ortiz (in fact, Ortiz' style is so similar to that of Gonzalez that I had to check to credits page to sure I knew who was doing what), so the first impulse is to consider his work lesser. However, as one reads on and gets used to his style, it becomes clear that Sanchez's art is just as solid, spooky, and sexy as Gonzalez... it's not weak, it's just different. The cover galleries presented on the inside makes one long for the day when such gorgeous covers were common-place on comics magazines.

"Vampirella: Crimson Chronicles Vol. 4" may be a book that's erratic on the story-front, but it's still a collection of fun, creepy stories, and we still get to see Vampi when she was at her best. Most of the stories here are still superior to the more "serious", more modern tales that Harris presented during the past ten years. Get yourself a copy... it's great reading!



Vampirella & The Blood Red Queen of Hearts
Writers: Bill DuBay and Rick Margopoulos
Artists: Jose Gonzalez, Gonzalo Mayo, and Esteban Maroto
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

"Vampirella & the Blood Red Queen of Hearts" is a slim paperback reprinting eight stories from the original run of "Vampirella Magazine." About half of them focus on the villain mentioned in the book's title--a devotee of the Cult of Chaos who is quite possibly the craziest foe Vampi ever faced--and the rest capitalize on Vampirella's science fiction roots more-so than perhaps any others published. (Given that Vampirella's current publisher has ret-conned the sci-fi aspects of Vampirella's background into oblivion (except in the manga-esque "Vampi" version), those stories will probably stand as the ones that have taken the MOST advantage of the sci-fi roots of the character.)


The Blood Red Queen of Hearts was a crazed woman who decided she was going to make herself a Bride of the Mad God Chaos, and to prove her worth she was having her imp servant carve out the hearts of Chaos' greatest enemies. Her insane plan was to culminate with her offering up the ultimate dowry to the god-the heart of Vampirella, a woman who once narrowly escaped becoming a Bride of Chaos herself.

As you might expect, the Queen's plans don't go quite as she had planned. Her machinations actually end up leading to her getting the sort of “reward” anyone who disappoints Chaos gets, providing Vampirella with an opportunity to return to Drakulon, and for the reader to learn about the society that once existed there. The trip to Drakulon also brings Vampirella into conflict with perhaps the creepiest bad guy to ever cross fangs with her. In fact, the "Return to Drakulon" stories mark the end of consistently high quality for the series; after that point, the quality and tone of Vampirella's adventures become inconsistent and erratic.

The final two tales in the volume are from the last days of "Vampirella Magazine", and it shows. The art is not up to the standards set by the likes of Jose Gonzalez and Esteban Maroto, or even Tom Sutton, and one of the stories (a sci-fi horror take with Lovecraftian overtones) is simply lame. The closer in the book (“Return of the Blood Red Queen of Hearts”) is a fun read and it does manage to end the book on a high note.

According to the liner notes in "Vampirella & The Blood Red Queen of Hearts", the Queen was a favorite among readers, and she appeared on more covers than any other Vampirella villain. While the fact that the Queen ran around in even less clothes than Vampirella (being the Blood Red Queen of Hearts means you go topless everywhere!), but I think that readers also responded to the fact that she one of the most interesting Vampi foes to come along since the very earliest days when Archie Goodwin and Steve Engelhart were writing the stories.

If you need help surviving a zombie attack, read on.

In the Event of a Zombie Attack (2008)
Starring: Claire Cassidy, Telisa Steen, Dennis Hoffer, and Nicholas Stender
Director: W.L. Wittstruck
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

"In the Event of a Zombie Attack" is a cute short film made up of vignettes designed to look like old education films designed to inform the audience about how to survive should they find themselves in the middle of a "Night of the Living Dead"-type situation.

The first of these shorts features a stereotypical, droning 1950s educational film scientist (portrayed by Claire Cassidy) explaining why flesh-eating zombies exist, how they multiply, and how to avoid being attacked by them. The second has a survialist (portrayed with great zeal by Telisa Steen) explaining the ins and outs and proper etiquette of surviving as society crumbles under the onslaught of zombies. In both of these shorts, a pair of campers appear as object lessons to illustrate the points being made, along with a couple of animated segments drawn by the creator of the concept behind the film, Jeff Freels. All the elements add up to a very funny spoof of educational films and zombie movies alike.

Interspersed during and between the educational segments are advertisements for products from a certain well-diversified large company that may or may not also be the ones responsible for whatever toxic waste it is that is causing zombies to rise. Just because they're an evil megacorp that crossmarkets their cigarette brand during an ad their Zombie Chunks kid's cereal doesn't mean their sponsorship of the "In the Event of a Zombie Attack" educational films means anything other than their being responsible members of the community! (The ads for the various Ziggurat Chemicals products are almost funnier than the main features themselves.)

All the various bits that make up "In the Event of a Zombie Attack" add up to a unique and amusing viewing experience. Plus, the film conveys some very important information. (My favorite zombie survival tip? "Decent, Respectable Grooming Habits May Just Save Your Life!")

For more information about this film and tips on how YOU can survive a zombie attack, visit the website by clicking here.

Lugosi mostly wasted in this comedy muted by passage of time

Zombies on Broadway (aka "Loonies on Broadway") (1945)
Starring: Wally Brown, Alan Carney, Sheldon Leonard, Bela Lugosi, Anne Jeffreys, and Darby Jones
Director: Douglas Gordon
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

A pair of bumbling promoters (Brown and Carney) travel to the voodoo-haunted San Sebastian island to find a real zombie for the opening night of a racketeer's new night club, the Zombie Hut.


There aren't many comedies that remain relevant and funny beyond the decade in which they were made, let alone five decades after they were made. This is even more true if a comedy full of pop culture references that the people of the day would understand, but that grow evermore obscure and meaningless to viewers who come later. "Zombies on Broadway" is a comedy that has been sapped of all its punch in the interveening years.

Much of the humor in this film is derived from the fact that it is to a large extent a direct spoof of "I Walked With a Zombie", a stylish horror film that had been a hit for RKO in 1943 and which the audiences watching this film in 1945 would almost certainly have seen. The setting for the two films are the same, the same wandering muscian sings the same tune in both flicks--although here the lyrics are goofy instead of haunting--and the spoofing of the trek to the secret voodoo ceremony is unmistakable and funny... if you're familiar with "I Walked With a Zombie." If not, the film will seem even more insipid than it is.

Aside from the muted references to a popular movie that has now fallen into obscurity, the film is further hampered by the fact that it centers around a pair of comedians whose routines will remind viewers of Abbott & Costello. Unfortunately, Brown & Carney are no Abbott & Costello, so with vaudeville and this style of comedy no longer in vougue, viewers will find themselves wondering why they aren't watching the real Abbott & Costello instead of a studio-manufactured knock-off. (The only bits that remain chuckle-worthy are some of the activity when Mike gets turned into a zombie.)

Even Bela Lugosi fans will be disappointed with this one. While he had an absolutely fabulous role in "The Body Snatcher" (also from RKO the following year), the role he plays here is on the level of some of his worst Poverty Row flicks and a foreshadowing of what is to come for him in "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla" toward the end of his career. Lugosi doesn't even get to show his talent for comedy, something that at let him do every so often.

Finally, this film pre-dates the flesh-eating zombies that have become the cinematic norm since George Romero made "Night of the Living Dead" and "Dawn of the Dead". It centers around voodoo and the kind of zombie that entered into the public imagination with White Zombie, one of the many genre-defining horror films that Bela Lugosi appeared in (and which is also referenced obliquely in "Zombies on Broadway").

If you're interested in seeing what a satire like "Team America: World Police" will look like to viewers in 50 years (or "Disaster Movie" or "Silver City" in five years), this film is worth checking out. Otherwise, it should just be ignored. My advice is to spend the time you might have wasted watching this film is to seek out a copy of "I Walked With a Zombie", one of the greatest zombie movies ever made. (And, as of this writing, freshly available on DVD alone with the eight other groundbreaking and vionary horror movies that he produced for RKO during the 1940s. They are films that anyone who enjoys horror movies must see... and that goes double if you fancy yourself a filmmaker. (The set even includes the aforementioned "The Body Snatcher.")

'Essential Tales of the Zombie' is an accurate title for a fine collection of comics

Essential Tales of the Zombie (Marvel Comics, 2007)
Writers: Steve Gerber, Tony Isabella, Doug Moench, Chris Claremont, et.al.
Artists: Pablo Marcos, Alfredo Alcala, John Buscema, Bill Everett, Gene Colan, et.al.
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

"Essential Tales of the Zombie" is one of an ongoing series of 500-page+ collections of reprinted material from the past 30-40 years of Marvel Comics' output. The material in this book originally appeared in some of Marvel's black-and-white magazines from the mid-Seventies. It presents dozens of tales of voodoo and walking dead, the majority of them taken from the 10-issue run of "Tales of Zombie." Also sprinkled throughout the book are some of the best text features from the magazine, such as reviews of zombie movies and articles about voodoo.

It should be noted that nowhere in "Essential Tales of the Zombie" will you find walking corpses of the flesh-eating, post-Romero kind. The undead here are mostly the result of voodoo curses and similar magics. For me, this classic feel is refreshing in this day and age of rampant splatter and dismemberment.

The most worthwhile material in the book is the ongoing saga of the Zombie from the title. It's the story of Simon Garth, a captain of industry and control freak, who is murdered and reanimated as a zombie. Painfully aware of his condition, yet helpless to do anything about it, he becomes the undead slave of a series of different masters, controlled by the mystical Medallions of Damballah.

The stories of Simon Garth are top-notch, classic horror comics, which is not surprising, given they were penned by Steve Gerber when he was at the height of his creative powers. The manage to present social commentary, tragedy, chills, and poetic justice to the bad guys, often-times within the confines of the same story. The narration may get a bit purple at times, but the power of the stories shine through. Plus, the two-part tale that sees Simon Garth finally gain the peace of the grave is an excellent bit of writing by Gerber's successor on the strip, Tony Isabella. It is a perfect end to the story of a man who was forced onto a journey of discovery and redemption.

Although Bill Everett and John Buscema drew the first three tales featuring the Zombie, the art on the Simon Garth saga is mostly by Pablo Marcos. Alfredo Alcala also handles the art on a couple of the stories. Despite the vast difference in styles between these four artists, the mood remains consistently oppressive, dark, and spooky, and all do a great job capturing the macabre atmosphere of the Louisiana swamps and Haitian back-woods that the Zombie spends most of his time. (Alcala, Buscema, and Everett happen to be three of my favorite artists, and they do fine work here.)


Aside from the stories chronicalling Simon Garth's journey, "Tales of the Zombie" contains two stories with Brother Voodoo (a superhero who, as his name implies, gains his powers from voodoo rites) and a couple dozen short horror stories. The Brother Voodoo stories are... well, they're Brother Voodoo stories. The character always seemed a bit goofy to me, and he's true to from in both stories. (One wraps up the plotline from his "Strange Tales" appearances, and it was nice to finally know how that all ended, but the character still doesn't do much for me.) The shorts are mostly your standard twist-ending sort of tales that have been around in comics since the 50s... the ones that once filled the pages of "Creepy", "House of Mystery" and "Psycho". Althoguh they are all excellently written and illustrated, these run the gamut of quality from ho-hum to masterful.

Rounding out the book is an interesting time capsule of table of contents from each issue of "Tales of the Zombie", selected text pieces about voodoo and the occult, a two-part short story from Doug Moench, and some reviews of movies featuring zombies. The movie reviews were of particular interest to me (big surprise there, eh?) and there were even a few mentioned that I hadn't heard of! These magazine articles made for surprsingly good reading... although I wished a few more of had been included. I would have liked to read the obit of Bill Everett that was mentioned on one of the ToCs.)

"Tales of the Zombie" is an unusual entry in the "Essential" series, but one that lives up to its title. Fans of horror comics won't regret spending money on this one.