Even for a dumb flick, this is ridiculous! (SPOILER ALERTS)
Okay, I just saw ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU for the first time (!), in the new Sam Katzman box set. At first I thought this would be one of those enjoyably dopey movies we love to watch, but most of it is so ineptly done that it's almost NOT bad enough to be good! Some examples:
The zombies. They're just there: no suspense, no tension, no mystery slowly revealed to the audience, nothing -- just, oh look, zombies: in plain sight, right off the bat, no big deal, and everybody just accepts their existence with little debate. Lousy direction and writing, for starters. And c'mon -- all 10 of 'em just keep getting up out of their open boxes in the crypt, no one has ever tried to seal it up or destroy it? And how did they become zombies in the first place? Why is keeping the diamonds away from everyone so critical?
Africa? Zombies are almost always associated with Haiti. And "Mora Tau" sounds like some place in the Pacific. And not a black face anywhere. Not even the setting is credible.
The hero. Jeff Clark (played by Gregg Palmer) weaves back and forth -- at times, greedy, opportunistic, selfish, indecisive, even cowardly; in between, by turns brave, noble, self-sacrificing, generous. A thoroughly confused and senseless characterization -- no sense of development or audience sympathy, just a character who behaves according to which scene is being filmed.
The gorgeous and underrated Allison Hayes. As Mona, she's captured by the zombies (off-screen), and when the guys find her she's lying on the floor of the crypt. Jeff feels her pulse and says she's dead; when she arises as an obvious zombie, they think she's "all right" even though she doesn't speak, stares straight ahead, and has to be led back to the house. Grandma Peters declares she's dead; she's cold to the touch and still shows no signs of life. But later on, Jeff and Jan go to her room (where she sits helpless in bed, intimidated by all those anti-zombie candles), and Jeff says he thinks she's "recovering". From being DEAD??! (By the way, could they have made Allison's breasts stand up any higher, more firmly or more pointedly in that shot of her lying flat on the crypt floor?)
The ending. Why does dumping the diamonds overboard from the launch, in a few feet of water, mollify the zombies and allow them to disintegrate in peace? How is this an acceptable fate for the loot compared to having the rocks in a chest in the shipwreck? Couldn't someone as easily (more easily) dive for them, scattered around in a very small spot, as go looking for them in a deeper shipwreck? And as only Captain Peters was shown disintegrating at the end, can we presume that all the zombies -- including Allison Hayes -- dissolved too? How come none of the other victims of the zombies over the years turned into zombies themselves, except Ms. Hayes? (Okay, just take one look at her and you'll know why.)
The music. It's all stock music anyway, but who chose the musical passages underlying each scene? Almost every time violent action or shocking scenes occur, as far as the music accompanying the scene goes, it's like being in an elevator -- weak, unclimactic blandness. A movie's supposed to have music cued to the scenes unfolding on the screen. Most of the music laid throughout this film is a continuous, sleep-inducing, undramatic let alone unexciting, string of blah. Listen closely, next viewing.
There's more, but that's plenty for now. Just a little more care and this film could have been a creepy, albeit very minor winner. No wonder Katzman had such a low reputation, and Edward L. Cahn's listless direction doesn't help anything either.
But on a good note: a very effective performance (the only one, except maybe for Ms. Hayes) by Marjorie Eaton, in old-age make-up (she was 56 in real life), as Grandmother Peters. (Oh, yes: although she's mentioned as being Jan's grandmother at several points throughout the movie, when she herself greets the expedition members she introduces Jan as her "great-granddaughter". Obviously E. L. Cahn didn't want to waste any film in re-shooting the scene.)