| I Walked With A Zombie |
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| Directed by Jacques Tournuer Produced by Val Lewton James Ellison .... Wesley Rand Frances Dee .... Betsy Connell Tom Conway .... Paul Holland Edith Barrett .... Mrs. Rand James Bell .... Dr. Maxwell Christine Gordon.... Jessica Holland Theresa Harris .... Alma Sir Lancelot .... Calypso Singer Darby Jones .... Carrefour Every so often there comes a film that in trying to decribe it properly or even do it justice this author gets intimidated.I Walked With A Zombie is a perfect example of such a film.In fact when I first tried to watch it a few years ago I lasted only 20 minutes.Thankfully common sense prevailed and recently watched it three times in the space of three months. This film has been likened to Jane Eyre in which a young woman falls in love with her employer.But then you have to add murder, guilt, voodoo and zombies to the mix.This film is more like poetry than it is a horror movie.If you're looking for fast paced chills and don't care for subtle horror or the creeps then skip this one.Let the rest of us enjoy it! Betsy Connell is a young nurse hired by Paul Holland, a sugar plantation owner in the West Indies.Betsy is to look after Paul's wife Jessica.Jessica is a mental patient.She suffered from a tropical disease that "burned out part of her spinal cord" according to Dr Maxwell. She can move but seemingly feels nothing nor can she communicate.The locals think that she is a zombie, one of the living dead. Betsy meets Welsey Rand, Paul's half brother.There is a great deal of tension between the two men.Betsy and Wesley spend an afternoon in St Sebastian.In an interesting "greek chorus" or narration device, a calypso singer sings a song that tells a tragic story about the Hollands that Betsy hears.It seems that Jessica and Wesley fell in love but Paul would not grant her leave from him.Although the singer sees Wes and apologises Wes gets drunk as a result of hearing the song. Later that evening Mrs Rand, mother to both Wes and Paul comes to the tavern and meets Betsy. Mrs Rand wants Betsy to use her influence on Paul to help Wes stop drinking.Betsy does and Wes gets bitterly angry at them both. Betsy realizes that she has fallen in love with Paul.But she feels the best thing to do would be to somehow return Jessica back to him.So she and Dr Maxwell try insulin shock therapy to no avail.Wes is angry with both of them as he feels they are doing this for selfish reasons and not for Jessica. Betsy then decides on taking Jessica to the Houmfort to see if a voodoo ceremony would help. We're treated to a creepy walk in the dead of night through a sugar cane field.The wind is rustling the cane leaves..or is it something more?Carrefour the zombie waits for them but lets them pass.Betsy witnesses a voodoo ceremony and she also discovers Mrs Rand's behind the scenes involvement.But the natives think that Jessica is a zombie and plan to have her return to them. As voodoo begins to infect the lives of Paul,Wes, Jess and Betsy we learn that Mrs Holland may actually have been "murdered" in a voodoo rite when she originally became ill.Carrefour comes to take Jessica back but is stopped by Mrs Rand.However the voodoo rites continue and the evil begins to take its toll on those in Fort Hudson.Wes begs Betsy to give Jessica a lethal dose of drugs to end this torment.Betsy refuses.However events cannot be stopped and tragedy strikes again.At the conclusion we have to ask ourselves was it murder or voodoo? There are so many subtexts to this film.The power of our beliefs,the tragedy of love and death and how things aren't always what they seem.Even though the island is a beautiful place it is built on the misery of human suffering and slavery.This truly is a classic film.Enjoy! |
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