Observations of the film


Morell was a stand-out. He made the movie. I enjoyed seeing his character socially steamroller the locals. He was also perceptive and knew when to retreat. Everything was believable about him.

The jarring musical note that accompanied the sudden and literal opening of the eyes of the corpse of Alice when she awakens as a zombie is virtually identical to similar sequences in Romero's Night of the Living Dead, which was released two years later.

The film was marred by its predictability (not a deal-breaker, as we can watch Morell unravel the mystery that we've already figured out) and by its lack of real suspense or fear. (Granted, the generation of terror is exceedingly difficult in fiction, and only a few films and stories have pulled it off, in my view.)

I loved the idea that when the dolls/effigies are burned, so too do the zombies they represent.

Who operated the elevator? Zombies?

The zombies seemed aimless, like robots absent instructions. Only at the end of the movie did they attack.

John Carson, who plays Squire Hamilton, sounds a lot like James Mason.

The squire's manor is the real-life Oakley Court, also used in many other Hammer pictures, and though IMDb doesn't list it, it could be the interior of Castle Borski in The Gorgon (1964).

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I also thought it odd how the zombies had no focus. I found it odd that many were lit on fire, arms burning, and for some reason, one in particular was wearing an obvious mask.

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