‘Sex and horror in one gigantic thrill show!’
Revolt of the Zombies is a 1936 American horror film directed and produced by the Halperin Brothers which stars Dean Jagger and Dorothy Stone. It is one of the earliest zombie films.
Although it was conceived as a loose sequel to Victor Halperin’s moderately successful 1932 film White Zombie, when compared with Halperin’s previous work, this film is generally regarded as a disappointment.
Although he is not credited in the film, Bela Lugosi’s eyes appear in Revolt of the Zombies whenever zombifying-powers are used; it is the same image of Lugosi’s eyes used in the film White Zombie.
Reviews:
‘” …the most celebrated elements of White Zombie are left out and traded for bigger versions of its weakest parts. Halperin, who must had been more comfortable in silent cinema, seems lost at directing a sound film, with the characters reciting their lines as if was a theatre. The overall style of the acting is too stagy, as if the film was merely a filmed play. And not even a good play to begin with.” W-Cinema
“There are so many scenes of people standing still in front of photographed backdrops, mouthing clumsy and insipid dialogue full of coagulating curds of lumpy exposition … You might be asking yourself how anyone could possibly make an unbearably boring movie about zombies in Cambodia, amongst the majestic ruins of Angkor Wat. It’s an awfully tall order, but the Halperins found a way.” Nigel Honeybone, HorrorNews.net
“The film is briefly interesting when Armand starts to raise his zombie armies, but they never actually do anything. Revolt is only noteworthy in being unusually grandiose for its time – the swiftness with which Armand gains control over the minds of an entire nation anticipates the apocalyptic proportions of later zombie movies.” Peter Dendle, The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia
Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca
“The film promptly degenerates into a silly triangular affair, which though it echoes White Zombie, is even more atrociously acted and lacks that films saving graces.” The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror
“‘B’ picture silliness with the germ of a good idea.” Alan Frank, The Horror Film Handbook
“Terribly inept, almost unwatchable. A low point in the career of Dean Jagger…”John Stanley, Creature Features
“You’ll spot the villain right away, as he does his best to overact every sinister eye shift.” Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg, Andrew Herschberger, Zombiemania
