Revenge of the Zombies

Back again boys and girls. It's okay. I know you missed me. How about a zombie film starring Captain Ben Morris and Uncle Remis? Lost you all?   Good.  I am referencing character actor veteran John Carradine of Shock Waves and James Baskett of Song of the South. Yes let's hearken back to the year 1943. This Revenge of the Zombies.

Casual Friday at the Ministry of Silly Walks

Deep within the Louisiana swamps, odd things are happening. Which is par for the course in films, killer crocodiles in an area they are not indigenous to, zombies, serial killers. I mean the list just goes on and on. Seriously Hollywood, go mess with Florida more. Manhunter and Mean Season were a while ago.

Scott Warrington (Mauritz Hugo of The Utah Kid, No Questions Asked, The Restless Gun and Tales of Wells Fargo) and his ace detective chum Larry Adams (Robert Lowery of Mystery of the River Boat, The Monster and the Ape, Arson, Inc. and Batman and Robin) are trudging through the swamps in search of an old mansion currently occupied by Scott's sister Lila (Veda Ann Borg of Kid Galahad, The Shadow, The Falcon in Hollywood, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, The Restless Gun, The Fearmakers and The Alamo) and her husband, Dr. Max Von Altermann (John Carradine of Jesse James, Stagecoach, Frontier Marshal, House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, Billy the Kid Versus Dracula, Branded, Red Zone Cuba and Death Corps a.k.a. Shock Waves) and see what all the hubbub is, bub.

We find out thanks to some exposition, that Warrington's sister Lila, who was in good health dropped dead at a young age. The family doctor suspects poison and is convinced Dr. Altermann is the killer in question. Doesn't help him refusing the doctor the right to examination of her body for death certification.

Great Scott! I hope Robin can handle Gotham while I am away.

Apparently the good doctor is a bit kooky. Little bit crackers. See he is building the ultimate army for the Third Reich. A regiment of the dead. Yuuuuup! We are in Nazi Zombie territory again. Given this is 1943, we shan't see an exorbitant amount of boobies. Sorry sexist pig fans.

So ace detective decides to play Warrington and Warrington plays detective Adams for the old switcheroo! Then the put the squeeze on him, see? Take the thumb screws to him, see?

Another welcome site to this otherwise serious film about Nazi Zombies is character actor/dancer/comedian Mantan Moreland (Girl Trouble, Eyes in the Night, Cabin in the Sky, Charlie Chan in the Secret Service, The Scarlet Clue, Dark Alibi and The Shangnai Cobra) known for being bug eyed, jittery and great escapes from monsters, creepers and general supernatural happenings. Sweet jumpin' catfish! His character Jeff is fast talking, good solid comedic relief and more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room full of rockin' chairs.

The writer is correct. I am rocking the John Holmes stache.

Now then let's take a moment and talk about our antagonist, Dr. Altermann or rather John Carradine. With 351 credits to his name, that is a damn accomplishment. And then...I found out that some ambitious directors would buy footage of Carradine and insert them into the flick so they could top bill him in order to draw in a crowd.

Frankenstein Island with director Jerry Warren who used the same footage of Carradine as a floating head would either repeat dialogue or have new dialogue with the same footage.

Whereas Fred Olen Ray took five minutes of footage from Judge from Hell and crammed it in his failing title Honey Britches and under Troma title renamed it Demented Death Farm Massacre. Yeah I find some of the weirdest trivia to bestow upon my readers.

Back to the film. With a mixture of the Helsinky formula (MST3K reference) and his mambo (voodoo priestess, not the dance) this legion of the damned to good to go for bringing about the Nazi facist regime. Rocking a John Holmes like mustache, Carradine doesn't look 180 like I am used to so you can imagine my surprise when the tall, lanky creeper eyed Carradine seemingly looked pleasant and kind hearted.

Also clips of White Zombie starring Bela Lugosi were crammed in here. Can Warrington and Adams combat the dead? Do they know the head shot or Evil Dead bodily dismemberment?

It would appear we have the godfather of the Nazi Zombie subgenre. The originator, the patient zero if you will. With oddly placed incidental music, Moreland running all over that mansion and hijinks ensuing, you forget this is supposed to be a serious film. So yes if you want a goofy black & white flick to riff on or instigate a drinking game, Revenge of the Zombies is your flick.

Let's bring out the whole cast ONE MORE TIME!!!