“There's no beauty here, only death and decay. Everything dies here. Even the stars.” — Paul Holland

Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur teamed up to create another atmospheric masterpiece in the horror genre in I Walked With a Zombie. RKO’s Roy Webb once again supplied an appropriately moody score in this film of mystery and voodoo. Lewton proved that a big budget wasn’t everything with a string of films made during the 1940s now highly regarded as some of the finest in the genre. Photographer J. Roy Hunt deserves some credit here as well; his use of black and white to create a mood both eerie and real is a big plus.

Underrated Frances Dee stars as the Canadian nurse offered a job on a sugar plantation in St. Sebastion in the West Indies. Her thoughts of palm trees and ocean breezes lead her to accept, but the viewer senses danger when she is asked whether she believes in witchcraft before consenting. She meets the enigmatic Paul Holland on the ship and in no time falls in love with her lush surroundings and the enigmatic Paul. His wife Jessica is ill and unresponsive. She is the reason Paul’s half-brother Wesley drinks. Dee learns the real story while lunching with Wes, when a song played by the locals at the cafe reveals all.

Dee is lovely and genuine here, giving a nice performance. She honestly misreads Paul’s feelings about his wife. A walk through a cane field by someone on a windy night is particularly eerie. Like many of Lewton’s best efforts in the genre, I Walked With a Zombie is dreamlike and darkly romantic, a foreboding hovering over every frame, even in brighter moments. There is almost a gothic feel to this one. If Rebecca or Jane Eyre were filmed as horror stories, on a much smaller budget, they would be I Walked With a Zombie.

This is a cinematic masterpiece and a must-see film for fans of classic films. Just don't watch it alone on a dark and rainy night. ( )

A film starring Frances Dee and Tom Conway (RKO, 1943).

A nurse moves to the Caribbean to care for a catatonic woman.

D (Bad).

I don't get it. As a melodrama, which is what it spends most of it's time on, it's completely terrible. As a horror film, I suspect it's meant to be a commentary on race, maybe? So there's that, if you really want to see the perspective of 1940's white people on race, filtered through a low budget horror movie.

(Feb. 2023) ( )

L'ambiance du film emprunte à celle du film noir. Une jeune infirmière est engagée pour s'occuper de l'épouse (Jessica) d'un certain Paul Holland, sur une île du Pacifique. Elle découvrira les mystérieux rites des indigènes avant de comprendre que Jessica est un zombie.
Il est dommage que le scénario et la narration soient aussi minces car la direction photographique et la manière très réaliste de filmer des rituels vaudous sont très réussies et dignes du grand réalisateur qu'était Jacques Tourneur. C'est à la fois authentique et très esthétique.
"I walked with a zombie" aurait sûrement gagné à être plus long (le film ne dure que 70 mn). Cela aurait pu donner de la profondeur et davantage de tension à un film qui reste assez superficiel avec des personnages dont on a le sentiment qu'ils ne sont qu'effleurés. ( )