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Simply A Masterpiece

Fresh and Exciting

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

***SPOILERS*** One of the last of the Zombie crazed 1940's Zombie movies has former undertaker and later insane lunatic Ormand Murks,Ian Keith, come back from the dead as a combination Zombie/Vampire who craves blood, his blood type and no one else's,to stay alive. This has Murks raid hospital blood banks and with the help of his almost Zombie like brother Fred, Earle Hodgins, get him the blood that he so desperately needs. It's when Murks turns to murder in murdering the man in charge of the hospital blood bank Dr. Rufus Maynard, Charles Trowbridge, who was about to report him to the police that Fred in not wanting to be implicated in Dr. Maynard's murder called it quits only to end up being murdered, and sucked dry of his blood, by an outraged and deranged Murks.To keep the story going and prevent the audience from falling asleep we have some comedy relief in the persons of Dr. Terry Evens, Robert Livingston, and his afraid of her own shadow nurse Susan Drake, Lorna Gray, who turn detectives in solving the string of murders blood draining and embalming victims that the crazed Ormand Murks is responsible for. There's also for good measures the Keystone Kop like police lead by the clueless Chief Inspector Rayan, Charles Cane, and his two bumbling assistants detectives Blake & Hendricks, Thomas E. Jackson & Leroy Mason, who make both Terry & Susan's job of tracking down and finding Murks that much more difficult.***SPOILERS*** Despite what seemed like him having supernatural powers Murks wasn't bullet proof which proved to be his Achilles Heel that in the end did the crazy guy in. That's after he captured and hypnotized Susan and forced her to kill Terry who was on his way, together with the police, to capturing and bringing him in. Being as mindless as he was crazy Murks, who was armed with a handgun, ordered Susan to shoot Terry who by hesitating for just a moment gave to police all the time that they needed to plug him themselves.

Dr. Maynard (Charles Trowbridge) tells Dr. Terry Evans (Robert Livingston) and his nurse, Susan Drake (Lorna Gray), about the theft of ten pints of blood from his lab. Later, he is visited by Ormand Murks (Ian Keith), a man Maynard had once had committed to an insane asylum.What attracted me to this film is quite simple: it is old and it is short. I am all about short films to watch while eating breakfast, and I am all about watching older movies (as a reviewer, my job simply cannot be done properly without knowing the history of film, particularly horror).Ian Keith plays a very cool, creepy man, wrongly judged insane, who wears a grave robber outfit. He is the highlight of the film, and what makes this one more horror fans should see. There is also a fun homicide detective scene where they question Lorna Gray and try to get her to falsely confess to murder. The back and forth is pretty fun, and it makes me wish that Gray was in more films like this (or like her Three Stooges work).

VALLEY of the ZOMBIES is not exactly a horror film and in spite of the title there are no wandering "undead". A fifty-six minute mystery from Republic Pictures is what we get. Interesting, too. A well known surgeon, Dr. Rufus Maynard(Charles Trowbridge)discovers there is a large number of pints of blood missing from his lab. A former mental patient, believed to be six feet under, Ormand Murks(Ian Keith),pays a surprise visit to tell the good doctor where the blood is going and why. Not very long after Maynard's nurse Susan Drake(Lorna Gray)and Maynard's business partner Dr. Evans(Robert Livingston)come back to the office to find the doc dead. Enter Detective Blair(Thomas Jackson)and Susan and Dr. Evans are suspects of murder. After 24 hrs of detention at the local poky, the couple are freed and go about trying to solve the mysterious death of Maynard and clearing their names. Perfect atmosphere and pace. Plus there is a bit of humor amid the gloomy story. Nothing scary; just fun to watch. Other players: Earle Hodgins, Charles Cane and LeRoy Mason.

If you approach this looking for zombies, especially an whole valley full of 'em, you'll be sadly disappointed yet I can't help it...I like this short little movie just the same. Maybe it's the wonderful atmosphere this film has what with mysterious going ons in the night, graveyards and tombs figuring into the plot. Or maybe it's the old fashioned villain who truly looks like a fiendish fellow...Ian Keith as the thought to be dead Ormond Murks, who now needs the blood of the living to stay alive. And while there may be a number of outdated stereotypes (by today's standards) at work here especially in terms of the frantic female Nurse Susan Drake who is easily spooked and frightened leaning upon the always steady and sure male Dr. Terrance Evans..still there's a certain innocence to this style of Horror which makes it fun...kind of hard to explain really. It's only being an hour long doesn't hurt either.