Usher Video:

		List Price: $7.98		Label: Alpha Video Salesrank: 75427 Released: January 22, 2002
		Our Price: $3.21
		Used Price: $1.77
		MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated) Media: DVD

King of the Zombies Reviews:
"Zombies are just dead people who are too lazy to lie down!"
2008-05-21 - I wasn't quite sure what to make of this movie by the title and actor list. Don't let the title fool you into thinking this is a movie along the lines of Night of the Living Dead, it isn't. This is really a light-hearted, comedy-mystery-thriller, along the lines of The Ghost Breakers, or as mentioned by another reviewer Spooks Run Wild, which happens to also have been produced by the same studio, Monogram.

King of the Zombies is a true "B" movie with a great supporting cast. Mantan Moreland is responsible for the comedy element throughout the movie and does a great job. This was my first introduction to him and I am looking forward to seeing more of his movies.

As the movie runs just over an hour, it moves at a comfortable pace. A group of three men, in search of a missing plane flown by an important military officer, crash land on an island. The island appears to be deserted except for a mansion inhabited by a mad doctor and an odd group of servants, including Zombies. The doctor has no knowledge of the missing plane, or so he says, but is willing to put the men up until they can be rescued. They become suspicious of the doctor and their snooping reveals many secrets. Though the ending is relatively uneventful, it really is the path of the story that makes this movie so enjoyable.

As with many of the Monogram pictures, there is a bit of propaganda sprinkled throughout. For example, the enemy ends up being the Germans. It is also interesting to consider the way that other races were once viewed and treated. The movie allows us a window to our past.

Amusing 1941 undead horror comedy
2008-03-31 - Made just as the US entered the second world war, this goofy zombie horror comedy is breezy fun throughout its 67 minute running time. Some US agents and their servant crash their plane on a creepy, remote island. They find a shadow mansion populated by a staid German doctor, his staff, and his wife, who is said to be afflicted with an illness leaving her in a trance-like state. First the servants give hints that voodoo practices have resulted in many zombies on the island, and it isn't long before Mantan Moreland, the aide to the agents, finds himself amusingly unable to convince his employers that dark mischief abounds, possibly rooted in the workings of the mysterious German. Mantan Moreland steals the proceedings as the constant scaredy cat, though his role is far from PC and is rooted in servant stereotypes. He is partly redeemed by being the only character to show some common sense, let alone some acting charisma; most of the other performances are fairly stiff, and I'm not counting the zombies! Lots of fun to be had in details such a the zombies having to be on a special low-salt diet, Moreland's crisis of whether he himself is a zombie or merely hypnotized, and... are those voodoo drums or Gene Krupa?

Typical dialogue:

"I've seen em with my own eyes!"
"He seems to be troubled with hallucinations"
"No sir, zombies. That's what I'm troubled with."

Or

"You're not a zombie. Zombies can't talk"
"Can I help it because I'm loquacious?"

The film drags some towards the end when there is less comic relief and more focus on to tying up plot threads, but compared to many of the supernatural films of its day (and much later), this is still watchable as it knows when not to take itself too seriously.


Hilarious zombie film
2007-12-12 - The King of Zombies - This movie is really funny. I don't know if it was intended to be funny, but the movie is hilarious. Mantan Moreland, the man playing the African American valet or male servant, is so funny. The movie is a great laugh and I highly reccommend it. Gotta love the quotes in this movie! In one scene Moreland, thinking he is a zombie, tells the other zombies "Move over boys, I'm one of the gang now". He then proceeds to lead the "Zombie Squad" to the kitchen. Good and funny.

Poor Quality Transfer to DVD Format
2007-11-28 - King Of The Zombies is a great campy/funny B&W film, and Mantan Moreland steals the show. Unfortunately this transfer of the film print to DVD is the worst that I have ever seen, and Im not referring to the scratches, dust or spots on the print that was used, this actually adds to the vintage feel of the film. The problem with this DVD is that the frame of view has been cropped in on all sides so any scene where the actors head is close to or at the edge of the original frame gets there head cut off down to the nose or mouth and this is through the whole film not one or two scenes. I don't recommend that anyone who enjoys vintage film of this type buy this DVD.

Where Do These Titles Come From?
2007-10-03 - This movie appears to be an attempt to capitalize on every possible contemporary issue and popular subject of the late 1930's and early 1940's. There are spies, Nazis, zombies and an African American comedian thrown in for good measure. I would say the director threw in everything but the kitchen sink, but there was one of those too. The primary plot is generally dull and lifeless, but the comedy in this movie is classic.

Our story begins with three people in an airplane lost over the ocean. They desperately scan for a radio beacon to find an airport, finding instead a suspicious radio conversation. The trio, James "Mac" McCarthy (Dick Purcell, who managed 74 film appearances before his untimely death in 1944), his servant Jefferson "Jeff" Jackson (comedian Mantan Moreland, who is one of the best things about this movie; Moreland became a regular in the Charlie Chan movies of the 1940's), and pilot Bill Summers (John Archer, who was near the beginning of a career that would eventually span 60 years) crash onto the island and discover suspicious happenings.

We soon learn that an admiral is missing, and that can only mean one thing. Yep, you got it; the admiral has to be on the island somewhere. The local guy in power appears to be Dr. Miklos Sangre (Henry Victor, who appeared in many spy movies as well as the cult classic "Freaks"). He has assorted house guests, including a bevy of genuine zombies. We also learn that Dr. Sangre is attempting to use voodoo to gain the secrets of the admiral.

Most of this movie was bizarre. I kept wondering why the various characters did the things they did. The one thing that made this movie survivable was the antics of Mantan Moreland and beautiful Marguerite Whitten as Samantha the maid. Both actors were far superior to any of the other actors in this movie. Moreland's style of comedy may seem to step too closely to the degrading stereotypes of the era, but it was also evident that servant Jeff Jackson and maid Samantha were the only two characters who knew what was really going on and were the only characters smart enough to stay out of the way of trouble. Moreland's lead in taking the zombies to dinner is easily the best part of this movie and that scene showcased the talents of both performers.

My first impression of this movie is that it tried to squeeze too many subplots into its short length. We have Nazis, zombies, a missing admiral, a love story, a crash and more. The director avoided the problem caused by having a lot of plots by spending very little time on developing any of the plots. I thought this movie was about the missing admiral, but the movie seemed to wander around for a while and the missing admiral got very little face time until near the end of the movie. Even after watching the movie the most memorable portions were those featuring Moreland and Whitten. My general impression is that this movie is a comedy that also has some stuff about zombies and an admiral in it. At least, that is the way I am going to remember the movie.

I could easily dismiss this movie as worthless, and it nearly is. However, all the scenes with Moreland and Whitten were enjoyable. Whitten was a wonderfully smooth actress who commanded her role. Moreland is a natural comedian whose presence made him the focus of every scene he was in. This movie is rare in that African American performers were the lead characters in several scenes though Caucasian performers were the nominal stars of the movie. I recommend this movie for the presence of these two stars. However, be aware that much of the humor in this movie would be considered unacceptable by today's standards.

Before I forget, the title of this movie borders on the absurd. Dr. Sangre was a Nazi experimenting with hypnosis and voodoo. He was far from the "King of the Zombies." Sometimes movie titles are more impressive than the movies themselves.

Enjoy!