I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE

US, 1943, 69 minutes, Black and white.
James Ellison, Frances Dee, Tom Conway, Edith Barrett.
Directed by Jacques Tourneur.

I Walked with a Zombie sounds a rather sensational title. It is the title for a short small budget thriller produced by Val Lewton and directed by Jacques Tourneur. They had collaborated with several horror films in the early 40s, including The Cat People and The Leopard Man. Tourneur was to direct in the late 50s, the very interesting Curse of the Demon. This brief film uses the atmosphere of horror for zombies and the West Indies and has some quite interesting horror situations and themes.

1. A quality horror film? Val Lewton and his reputation for small-budget horror films?

2. Audience response to the background of zombies and voodoo? The idea of a zombie and the 'living dead'? The tradition of horror and the 'living dead'? The blend of nature and religion and superstition, superstition and practical common sense? How well were these themes incorporated into the film?

3. The bizarre tone of the title? The credits sequence and the walk along the beach? The importance of the narration by Betsy and audience involvement with her and her understanding of the situation? The parallels with such novels as Jane Eyre with the governess, the mad wife, the enigmatic master, romance and danger? A satisfactory 20th century adaptation of
'Jane Eyre'?

4. The traditions of 19th and 20th century Gothic horror stories? The presence of evil, the power of evil, human beings under the sway of evil and trying to break through?

5. Themes of superstition and common sense, ritual and healing? Mrs Rand and her ambiguity in being doctor and voodoo chief? Betsy as commonsense nurse and yet going to the healing ritual? The presence of the industrialists and plantation owners in the West Indies and belonging to the atmosphere and society? The slave tradition and the prowl in the yard of the fort? St. Sebastian's arrow and the killing of the zombie with St Sebastian's arrow? The subtleties of detail and symbol used for the ambiguity?

6, The visual presentation of the voodoo ceremonies and atmosphere, the drums heard in the initial part of the film, the frenzy of the rites, the trances, singing and dancing, the power of the zombies, the dolls and their use, of drawing the wife to her death?

7. Betsy as heroine - Canadian, skill as a nurse, her concern about health? The romanticism of a West Indies Isle and Paul and his theme of evil? Her love of the house, of the fort, her comment on her experiences there and her love for Paul and hearing his confession? Her experience of the two brothers, of Mrs Rand, of the wife?

8. The contrast between the two brothers? Paul as older, morbid, the heredity? His admitting his attitude towards his wife and her illness? His blame and lack of blame? His treatment of Wes? Wes by contrast as half-brother, his affair with his brother's wife, his being blamed for her death? His blaming himself? His drinking scenes? Betsy's response, his mother's care? The irony of the West Indian singer singing the legend and ballad of the romance?

9. The ambiguity of Mrs Rand in the film? Her sympathetic role as mother, healing doctor? The irony of her being the voice behind the grille? Her warning to Betsy? Her confession of the truth, the reasonableness of her being involved in the rites and their overpowering her, the presence of magic, superstition, religious possession? Her blame for all that happened? Her presence at the end?

10. Paul's wife and her beauty, death and coma, her zombie-like existence and presence, scaring Betsy in the tower? Her being lured to the procession? The irony of Wes' stabbing her to death with St Sebastian's arrow and taking her out to sea for death? Both bodies being carried in procession at the end?

11. The significance of the West Indian atmosphere and characters, the servants, the graciousness of Betsy's breakfast in bed, the singer at the cafe, the cafe owner, the people involved in the rites, the birth of the child?

12. Themes of light and darkness, fear and shadows, the use of night? The island and isolation? The emergence of voodoo and the history of the slave? The contrast with Betsy appearing as a modern nurse, her talks with the doctor, hopes from the shock treatment and the disappointment at failure?

13. The tragic ending with the death and the symbolic walking into the sea?

14. Themes of fear, symbols of fear? The blend of the preternatural and the natural for a successful horror film?