Customer Reviews

Blood of the Zombie

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Here we have Shriek distributors giving us a long lost bayoo classic. Is the movie good? Hell no. Is it fun to watch? Hell yes! The plot has more holes than swiss cheeeze, but that's the fun of these beauties. The story's about a guy who inherits a plantation that his voodoo loving cousin is presently living on, and he, his new bride, and the stranded belly dancing mistress they pick up find out quick that dear ol' couz isn't about to give up the property easily. She has her dead brother (a tuxedo wearing, long-haired zombie)waiting to do the deed that'll get rid of these pesky invaders. As a bonus, you also get the ultra bad (& I mean BAD) feature lenght "Voodoo Swamp" included in this package that has to be one the worst made movies I've seen yet! This is classic "bad-is-good". If the feature plot had holes in it, then this was machine gunned! No opening or end credits; can you believe that! In the movie, when they move to the next scene, you'll still see a faded print of the last scene for a few seconds! Believe it or not, this isn't even distracting. It's almost drug inducing. Absolutely hilarious stuff. Set in the Louisiana swamps, this is about a lovely lass who hires a hero boy P.I. to find her missing sister. He traces her to a place called "slave island", or something like that, and following this story is a priceless experience. The funny thing is that I watched it to the end. Being a veteran of bad movies, & B-flicks, I can't say that about every film I've watched. No spoilers here, you'll have to get this to view it yourself. Don't be put off by negative reviews. If you're into great 60's schlock, then these atmospheric gems will be your cup tea leaves. Get it while you can.

Shriek Show Video has come up with a real rare flick this time. It is Barry Mahon's long lost gem "Blood Of The Zombie" aka "The Dead One."
A very interesting story about a woman who brings back to life a rotting zombie to do her bidding. The print quality is very good and the color is vibrant in spots. It also co-stars Linda Ormand, wife of filmmaker Ron Ormond who gave the world such treats as Mesa Of Lost Women and Monster & The Stripper. Nice DVD release and I hope Shriek Show finds more rare gems like this. Highly Recommended for horror fans!!

THE DEAD ONE (pointlessly retitled here as BLOOD OF THE ZOMBIE) was considered a lost film for decades, but eventually the negative turned up and inspired a pair of rival DVD releases (with Something Weird's non-anamorphic but 2.35:1 framed release getting yanked right before street date). Meanwhile Sam Sherman slapped a new title card and a fake Independent International logo at the beginning for this Media Blasters release, which quickly turned into a technical disaster that still hasn't been fixed over eight years later. The first few minutes are severely cropped to 1.78:1, then the rest of the film unfolds vertically squeezed within the 1.78:1 frame and looks completely ridiculous. Though the package doesn't mention it, you also get a second (incredibly tedious) bonus feature with people lolling around in a swamp. Anyway, this Barry Mahon zombie film is a colorful, jazzy little number that shows how naive and charming these things were before George Romero changed the entire game in late '60s. Here's hoping someone treats it better down the line.

My family owned Kenilworth Plantation and we were just about to move in when the movie was filmed there around 1960. We watched the filming from the porch.The mosquitoes practically ate us up. The plot has to do with the wicked sister wanting to get control of Kenilworth. The movie was only shown in St. Bernard Parish where it was filmed and really bombed. Now it is being revived and is good for laughs.It was called The Dead One then. I tried to give it more than one star but couldn't get the rating to work. I'd give it a 4 for comedy although it wasn't made to be funny.

Wow. This movie really sucks. The plot is pointless and kind if hard to follow. I don't know why this is classified as a horror movie. The run time is an hour and a half and for about an hour and 15 mins all you watch is the couple talking. VERY SCARY!
Yes the movie was made in 1961 so the color is horrible. The audio is also not too pleasant. And not to bad mouth Shriek Show because they usually do a bang up job. The only time you see the zombie is during the last fifteen mins and even then nothing much more happens. And just so you know there is no blood or anything in this movie.
I'm just glad I only spent ten bucks on this.

Writer/Director/Producer Barry Mahon, who gave us Santa and the Three Bears, started out with cheesy flicks like this one, better known as The Dead One.

Despite the low grade script by Mahon, and the Grade Z acting, this was a fascinating zombie picture, set appropriately in New Orleans.

John MacKay may be investigating fellow cops on "Law & Order" but this baby is in his early career. His wife, Linda Ormond, was probably too ashamed to make another movie, as was the zombie, Uncle Jonas (Clyde Kelly), who was the perfect zombie. he had the clothes and the walk and the movement down pat. He should be in the Zombie Hall of Fame, if there is one.

Good for a laugh and a look at the career work of Barry Mahon, an interesting character.