dsclassic Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 White Zombie, the first (?) Zombie movie, I saw today, contemplating getting this DVD..Bela sure looks spooky in this one Vampire Bat,,,with Lionel Atwill...well not to give away the big shock of the "Vampire Bat" ..ok there was no Vampire Bat ! These are both 1 hour classic horror.. Your thoughts............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBSG Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 The first time I saw "White Zombie," it was on the second half of a double bill with "The Old Dark House." (This was in the 1980s, not the 1930s by the way.) It suffered by comparison with the James Whale film. However, I saw "White Zombie" again a couple of years ago, and I liked it much better. It has a good atmosphere and Lugosi gives a very good performance, even if the rest of the cast is pretty forgettable. "The Vampire Bat" is very stylish. The real "star" of that movie, to me, is Dwight Frye as the creepy misfit who likes bats. What I found interesting was the movie's attemtpt to rationalize vampirism and de-eroticize it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joefilmone Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 "White Zombie" is still chilling- and according to "Monsters in the Closet" there is an interesting **** erotic subtext . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBSG Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 I would be rather sceptical about the homoerotic subtext in "White Zombie." I think sometimes people go too far in reading stuff into old horror movies. I remember reading a discussion of "Dr. X," in which the author claimed that the fur collar on Lionel Atwill's coat "proved" that the character of Dr. X was really gay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vertigo22 Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 Never seen Vampire Bat, but am naturally biased towards White Zombie. It is probably the trend-setting movie of Lugosi's career, where he would have to evelate the material well above the tripe it would most often be. Although, to be fair, White Zombie isn't that bad at all. It's a very moody and unsettling film. I liked the part where the zombies are making the sugar, and one of them falls in. Yet, no screams are heard, and we see one of the other zombies struggling as he indifferently grinds up the corpse. Classic stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts