I was in need of a zombie fix last night and happily I had plenty of friends who know my taste and had some nifty recommendations including two that -- shamefully -- I had never seen: "The Zombies of Mora Tau" and "Vengeance of the Zombies."
I decided to go old school with zombies last night and ended up watching "The Last Man on Earth" (1964) starring Vincent Price and based on the Richard Matheson novella "I am Legend." The film may lack flashy effects but in terms of conveying the themes and mood of Matheson's book it put to shame the recent big budget Will Smith adaptation. It was a nice, quiet, affecting little zombie film. The perfect nightcap to a long day. (Okay, technically the creatures in "The Last Men on Earth" are described as vampires but they display a very undead, zombie-like disposition so I include this film in the zombie genre.)
I was familiar with "The Last Man on Earth" and had seen it years ago but it was great to see it again and appreciate the way it created a sense of bleak loneliness. But two of the films that friends recommended I have to admit were new to me. I like to pride myself on being a zombie aficionado but I know I am far from an expert. So one friend was trying to recall a film he had seen as a kid about sailors and zombies but he couldn't remember the name. All he could remember was how it creeped him out and scared him as a kid so I was intrigued. The film turned out to be "The Zombies of Mora Tau" and the trailer won me over. Take a look and notice how the scene with the underwater zombies looks a lot like the scene in "Pirates of the Caribbean."
Then the other film is an overripe piece of 70s horror exploitation called "Vengeance of the Zombies." This one stars Paul Naschy in a triple role -- one of which is Satan. Here's the lovely, lurid trailer.
Naschy, who also wrote and directed some horror films of his own, is someone that I know of but have yet to actually see him in a film. After seeing this trailer I now must redouble my efforts to catch some of his work. So with more new zombie films on the horizon -- including another dead sequel from George A. Romero, and an AMC TV series based on the Robert Kirkman graphic novel "The Walking Dead" -- I just wanted to highlight some fun old school zombie flicks to entertain you.
