Watch King of the Zombies For Free

To me, this movie is perfection.

Just what I expected

hyped garbage

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Horror comedy from Monogram starring Mantan Moreland and a couple of forgettable bores. I'm not a big fan of Moreland but I'll admit he outshines these two guys by a country mile. It's basically an old dark house film with the three men stranded in said house on an island with a mad scientist (Henry Victor in a role originally meant for Bela Lugosi).There's a lot of stuff about voodoo and zombies, which is just an excuse to let Moreland do his bug-eyed double-takes and "afraid of spooks" routine. This is the part of Moreland's comedy shtick that I have never enjoyed. And it's not because of the offensive racial element of it, but rather because I'm not enamored with comedians who rely heavily on goofy facial expressions for laughs. I've voiced the same complaints about the likes of Red Skelton and Huntz Hall. But there is a part of Moreland's act I do like and that's when he falls back into his vaudeville routine of having a snappy back and forth with another actor. We see a bit of that here when he shares scenes with the maid (played by Marguerite Whitten). Those scenes were my favorite parts of the movie.Anyway, the horror isn't all it's teased to be as there's an espionage plot that's a lot less interesting. It was 1941, after all. It's not a great movie but it's not terrible by Poverty Row standards. It moves along quickly enough, which helps. But the entire film rests on Moreland's shoulders. If you love him, you'll probably laugh your tail off watching this. If you don't, this will go over like a lead balloon.

I don't want to do it. It's talked about enough, but I feel like I have to address it. That giant elephant in the room of our culture anymore. Of course, I mean racism. It's such a touchy subject, but one that has become so implicit in our culture that it seems like you can't discuss any film anymore without defending or abusing it's portrayal of minority characters. The film should be judged, fairly, on its' comparison to other cheapie horror films of the era and how it stacks up, but there is so much discussion of the stereotyping of black characters in this movie that you almost have to discuss it. By not addressing at all, you run that risk of being labeled a racist yourself because you dared to embrace a film that has obvious stereotypes.I do not champion those stereotypes, nor approve of some of them, but I am also willing to say they are products of their age. That does not excuse them, but also does not mean that an audience looking at it with the benefit of 70 more years of racial understanding should judge it by today's standards. I'm already discussing this far more than I intended, so I will say this. Mantan Moreland is the star of this movie. He is hilarious. He is the entire reason that this movie is so enjoyable. It would be another 20 years before Hollywood really started giving starring roles to black actors, so I would say that Moreland is a pioneer here and should be appreciated for it. So, enough of my rant.The movie has a lot in common with the other Monogram Pictures of its time, cheap throwaway horror films, produced with a small budget, bad writing and bad acting and pushed out. Most of them had ridiculous plots with people acting in ridiculous ways and this movie is no exception. What it doesn't have, that a lot of Monogram's best known pictures have, is Bela Lugosi, but they got Henry Victor to do his best Lugosi impersonation.Two guys are on a mission to find a missing admiral who has crash landed in the Caribbean. Naturally, they bring their servant along because you can't go on a trip without your valet, now can you? They end up crash landing on an island that seems to be mostly jungle except for a creepy European guy who has a big, Gothic mansion in the middle of the jungle. It's filled with his sleepwalking wife, his young niece and a house full of zombie servants. It is, actually, one of the last films that I can think of where Hollywood used the old style zombie, the idea of the Caribbean style mindless minion that became popular horror fodder in movies like WHITE ZOMBIE and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE. The movie is full of jungle drums, mindless walkers, hidden passageways and a big voodoo ceremony in the finale. On the surface, the Nazi type character is doing research on hypnosis and mind control. Ultimately, he is using it as a plot to help his allies with a nefarious plot against the Americans they are at war with.The two main characters are really just window dressing. We have the secret agent man, young and dashing, out to win the girl and save the day, but he's completely generic and forgettable. His buddy, the pilot, is along for some comic relief and to become the plot device as he is brainwashed by the evil scientist. It is Moreland who is the star. He has a majority of the screen time. He gets all of the best jokes. He is, also, the hero. Moreland is the one who realizes that something is afoot. He uses the other servants of the house to dig up information on what is really going on in this plantation. In the end, it is Moreland that saves the day. His sense of humor is fantastic. Yes, typical of the day there are a lot of one-liners and witty comebacks, but his facial expressions and use of body language is, also, just spot on.The humor makes this movie shine, but there is plenty of Saturday matinée monster goodness to satisfy my cravings. Watch this in a dark room on a Saturday night and it's perfect. The zombies go perfectly with the jungle drums, setting an exotic scene of scariness. The main villain plays his role well. Yes, he's clearly aping Lugosi, but he does it well. The creepy voodoo witch adds a nice touch, leading up to a finale, complete with voodoo masks that reminded me of something straight out of a Scooby Doo cartoon, which is what this whole movie feels like to me.

So says Mantan Moreland, the companion and valet to Dick Purell when spooky island doctor Henry Victor allegedly casts a spell on him and makes him say over and over what sounds like I hamma somby. Is Moreland faking it or has he really become one of those soulless monsters who roam the earth under their masters orders.The master in this case is Henry Victor who reminds me of a slightly younger Lionel Atwill or George Zucco. He's pretty spooky, keeping a wife under a spell and has her niece (Joan Woodbury) standing by her. Purcell is overshadowed by Moreland whose character is definitely stereotypically cowardly and subservient but far more interesting. Moreland provides a much needed balance in the limited amount of horror which gets pretty spooky during a zombie ceremony. Madame Sun Was Ten adds her typical zest as the Voodoo priestess while Margarite Written is an amusingly sexy black maid in Victor's house who makes an excellent foil for Moreland. An above-average poverty row second feature, this is consistently entertaining and pretty well made considering the obviously low budget and familiar sets from other Monogram thrillers. Fast moving at just over an hour, this never bores and while there are few surprises, how is all wrapped up is actually quite neat.

Film buffs who are desirous of getting their hands on the obscure little horror/comedy "King of the Zombies" (1941) seemingly have no other option than buying the DVD currently available from the Roan Group. This DVD is actually a pretty good deal, as residing on its flip side is the second zombie movie ever made, 1936's "Revolt of the Zombies" (1932's "White Zombie" was, of course, the first). But be forewarned: "ROTZ" is a fairly terrible film, slow moving and deadly dull, despite its 65-minute length. I have written elsewhere of this pathetic little stinker, in which Dean Jagger learns the secret of zombification in the ruins of Angkor Wat and uses his newfound powers to take vengeance on the fiancée who had jilted him. Happily, "KOTZ" is an entirely different proposition. While certainly nobody's idea of an exemplar of the cinematic arts, it is at least entertaining, and very often quite funny. Though made on the proverbial shoestring by "Poverty Row" studio Monogram Pictures and clocking in at a brief 68 minutes, here, the viewer is left quite contented, although actually wishing for more.In the film, three men on a mission for the Navy crash-land on a very strange island in the Caribbean. Pilot "Mac" McCarthy (Dick Purcell, who would go on to star in the "Captain America" serial in 1943) tells his two fellows that they are "somewhere between Cuba and Porto Reeker," while fellow officer Bill Summers (John Archer) frets and his manservant, Jefferson "Jeff" Jackson (an absolutely hilarious Mantan Moreland), offers up a steady stream of pop-eyed one-liners. Their plane a hopeless wreck, the trio seeks shelter at the gloomy abode of Dr. Miklos Sangre (Henry Victor, who many will recall as circus strongman Hercules in the 1932 classic "Freaks"). Sangre's household, however, is a strange one. His butler Momba (Leigh Whipper) and cook Tahama (Madame Sul-Te-Wan, who would go on to appear with Moreland in the 1943 film "Revenge of the Zombies") are like the denizens of a spook house, while--what else?--the living dead walk the halls, the creations of Sangre for an unnamed foreign power. And then things grow even worse, as both Mac and Jeff are turned into zombies, and Sangre plots to use his pretty niece (Joan Woodbury) in a voodoo ceremony to effect transmigration....To my delighted surprise, "King of the Zombies" turns out to be a perfectly acceptable entertainment for both young and old. Writing of the film in his excellent encyclopedia "Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide," author Glenn Kay bemoans the "cheapness of the production" and the film's "sluggish pace," leading him to give the picture "stinker status." But I think Kay is being much too harsh here. Yes, the film surely was made on the cheap, but director Jean Yarbrough (who had previously helmed 1940's "The Devil Bat" and would go on to direct 1946's "The Brute Man" and, uh, 1967's "Hillbillys in a Haunted House") keeps things moving along very well; the picture is never boring and has decent-enough production values...at least, as compared to "ROTZ"! The film LOOKS just fine, and builds to a fairly tense little conclusion (that voodoo ceremony). And the picture's music, by composer Edward Kay (no relation to Glenn, I would imagine!), features a surprisingly earwormlike opening theme and a highly hummable voodoo chant; amazingly, the musical score for this picture was actually nominated for an Academy Award! Our three heroes are extremely likable men, and as for Mantan...well, he easily steals the movie; in fact, without his always amusing presence, I shudder to think what a drag this film might have been. Far from employing the Stepin Fetchit style of embarrassing black caricature that has torpedoed so many other films of that era, Moreland is ingratiating, cool and, in general, a riot! Yes, his eyes bug out quite often to the point where one would think him an advanced glaucoma patient, and yes, he is capable of uttering a line on the order of "Who's thems?," but overall, the actor/comedian's performance here should sit very well with modern-day audiences. Just about every single line that Moreland delivers is hysterical. (It did not surprise me to learn that Mantan was briefly considered when Shemp left The Three Stooges!) When he awakens in a cemetery after the crash landing and learns that he is NOT dead, he declares, "I thought I was a little off-color to be a ghost!" After he's asked what he thinks of Tahama's magic potion, he opines, "I don't know, but it ain't kosher!" After Sangre hypnotizes him into being a zombie, he declares to a file of the undead, "Move over, boys, I'm one of the gang now." And when Summers asks him what he thinks of the distant voodoo drums, he responds, "I don't know, but it ain't Gene Krupa!" In short, Moreland maintains his dignity throughout, and never embarrasses the viewer once, as the mumbling, "I's a'coming" Fetchit always did. I believe that I had previously only seen Moreland in one other film, the cult classic "Spider Baby" (1964), in which his role is a small one. Seeing him in "KOTZ" has made this viewer an instant fan, and I eagerly look forward to seeing "Revenge" one day, in which Mantan reprises his hilarious "Jeff" Jackson character. Anyway, the bottom line, I suppose, is that "KOTZ" is certainly nothing great, but darn it, this movie is both fun AND funny...again, unlike "ROTZ," which really rots and is absolutely devoid of humor. Apropos of its zombie theme, perhaps, "ROTZ" was dead on arrival. "KOTZ," on the other hand, just might make you howl with laughter to awaken the dead....