- Directed by Jacques Tourneur
- Written by Curt Siodmak, Ardel Wray, Inez Wallace
- Stars Frances Dee, Tom Conway, James Ellison
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 9 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6SWz27OXac
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s low-key horror, but pretty entertaining. There are zombies, but it’s more of a mystery figuring out what’s going on and who’s behind it.
Synopsis
“I walked with a zombie,” explains Betsy. “It all began in such an ordinary way…”
Betsy Connell interviews for a medical job in the Caribbean. She’ll be paid $200 per month. The hospital director makes it all sound really nice – especially talking about palm trees when there is heavy falling snow visible out the windows of his office.
She soon meets Paul Holland, who is her new boss in the West Indies. “There’s no beauty here; only death and decay,” he warns. “Everything good dies here, even the stars.” He’s obviously a lot of fun, so Betsy decides she likes him.
The driver tells that the Hollands brought all the black folks to the island– as slaves, back in the day. She’s cheerful about the story, ignoring the whole thing about slavery. She settles in and gets called to dinner with Paul’s half-brother Wesley Rand. They hear the drums in the jungle. She likes him too, but there is obviously some conflict between the two brothers.
Betsy wakes up that night hearing a woman crying outside. She follows the sound to a tower. She runs into Jesscia Holland, who looks like a zombie and advances on her threateningly. Paul comes in and breaks things up. Betsy says she heard crying, which Paul denies, but Alma the maid speaks up and says there was a baby born. They are all still wallowing in the misery of their former slavery so they cry when a baby is born and laugh with joy at a funeral. Alma attends to both Betsy and Jessica in the morning. “She was very sick and then she went mindless,” Alma says about Jessica.
Dr. Maxwell comes by, and Betsy asks him about zombies. He says that Jessica had a spinal fever which results in a person without any will power, but will obey simple commands, like a sleepwalker. He tells nurse Betsy about her treatment and care.
On her day off, Betsy runs into Wesley in town. They listen to a singer singing a song about the Holland family, which offends Wesley. Wesley warns Betsy about Paul. Betsy meets Wesley’s mother, Mrs. Rand. That night, over dinner, everyone discusses voodoo. Betsy falls in love with Paul, but Paul is obviously still married to Jessica. Betsy wants to cure Jessica even more just to help him.
Dr. Maxwell wants to try a risky procedure on Jessica involving insulin and an electric shock. Alma tries to point out that there are better doctors on the island– the_ Hungan,_ the voodoo priest. Betsy asks Mrs. Rand about taking Jessica to the hungan.
The two girls do go to the voodoo ritual. She runs into Mrs. Rand there, who warns Betsy that Jessica cannot be cured. A man sticks Jessica with a sword, but she doesn’t bleed. When they get home, Paul admits that he doesn’t really want Jesscia back.
Wesley thinks that Paul drove Jessica deliberately insane, but Jessica doesn’t believe that. He wants Betsy to go back to the mainland for her own safety.
That night, a giant zombie shuffles around outside Betsy’s room. Betsy follows the sound and goes back into the tower. She calls for Paul, and they both see the zombie-man. Mrs. Rand intervenes and sends the zombie back to where he came from.
Dr. Maxwell comes in and says there’s going to be an investigation into what happened to Jessica. Wesley put them up to this; he still accuses Paul of everything. Mrs. Rand claims that Jessica isn’t insane; she’s dead. Living dead. She turned Jesscia into a zombie, and she admits it all. Jessica wanted to leave Paul and run away with Wesley, so she asked the hungan to make Jessica into a zombie. Dr. Maxwell says it’s just a coincidence, and Jessica simply has jungle fever. No one believes Mrs. Rand except Wesley.
We see the hungan doing a ritual with a doll, and Jessica starts walking toward them. Paul and Wesley argue about the truth of voodoo. Wesley thinks Betsy knows the drugs well enough to cure Jessica. Later, the hungan tries again, and this time Wesley opens the gate and lets her out.
Wesley follows Jessica and then stabs her to death. He carries her into the ocean, and they both die as the giant zombie simply watches. Some local fishermen find the bodies and carry them home as Paul and Betsy watch in horror.
Commentary
It’s got a few things that wouldn’t fly in modern films, but considering this takes place in Jamaica in the 1940s, it’s not too offensive. White people sure dressed formally in the 1940’s Caribbean islands. The men are all in suits and ties, and the women all have long gowns, and no one sweats. I suspect that’s not quite the reality of the situation.
The love triangle (or quad-angle in this case) isn’t really necessary, but it doesn’t take too much time.
It’s not particularly terrifying, but it does have zombies, and watching the mystery unfold is entertaining.