Michael_Elliott The Dead One (1961) * (out of 4) Johnny (John McKay) and his new wife Linda (Linda Carlton) travel to a property that now belongs to him but once there he notices that a voodoo priestess is bringing a man back from the dead to kill for her.Barry Mahon was a filmmaker who dealt with a variety of subjects but the majority of his pictures were in the sexplotiation genre. He created some pretty bad movies and some rather bizarre ones but this one here is pretty darn boring from the opening scene to the closing one. With that said, it's interesting to see what he attempted to do with such an early zombie movie and one that most people haven't seen or haven't even heard of.The film was eventually released to DVD under the "new" title of BLOOD OF THE ZOMBIE and the zombie is about the only reason to watch the picture. It's interesting seeing another zombie movie made before NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD so this one here has more in common with WHITE ZOMBIE and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE. Once again we've got someone using voodoo to bring the dead back to life in order to do her killing.Everything about this movie shows it's "C" grade. Everything from the performances to the direction to the way the story is told. There's really not too much that happens in the 68 minute running time and usually all of the scenes are padded to the point where you might start laughing. Just check out the scene where the zombie is climbing up a flight of steps and moving incredibly slow. How anyone would get caught by this thing is just hilarious.

morrison-dylan-fan Since having read a few small bits about a Jazz band called the Joe Jones band over the last few months,I was surprised to find out that the group made an appearance in a horror film that I had recently picked up on an ultra low budget DVD.Which led to me deciding to take a look at this Horror Jam.The plot:After celebrating their wedding by partying in a jazz bar,a young couple head for their new home.On the way,they kindly pick up a hitch-hiking musician who they had watched performed earlier in the day.Arriving at the new house,everyone settles in for the night.Suddenly,as everyone is starting to go asleep the sound of Voodoo drums begins deep in the belly of the house.View on the film:Although the pictures on the cover originally caused me to suspect that the film would have a real mouldy look,writer/director Barry Mahon (whose life looks like something tailor made for a screenplay) instead gives the film a nice pastel look,which helps to make even the most boring moments in the film watchable.Whilst the cast do OK with Mahon's simple screenplay,the clear stars of the show have to be the three or four Jazz groups featured in the first half of the film,who each give terrific mini performances that help the first half of the film to really fly by.

Bezenby Now, this is one boring film! For such a short film, they sure find a lot of time for nothing to happen, which is a shame because I was looking forward to this one. You've got your playboy jazz guy who's settling down in a plantation he's inherited, but not after taking his new bride to see some jazz, some other jazz, and a belly dancer (that must every new bride's dream honeymoon!). Boringly, his cousin, who's mental, is doing voodoo at the plantation and resurrecting her dead brother so he can kill the new bride for some reason (seems awfully complicated when a simple gunshot would do). This involves a lot, and I mean a LOT, of bongo abuse. Seriously, the guy in this film hammers those bongos so much I'd expect his fingers were the size of Arnie's biceps by the time they'd finished the film. So, near enough the first three quarters of this film are uneventful, so by the time they have the dead guy shuffling about looking to throttle someone, you'll be sound asleep. It did dawn on me that the zombie resembled Diamond Dogs era, coke-addled Bowie, so that gave me a chuckle, as did the ending, where the hero was all like "Well, cops…that's what happened. See ya!". You might derive fun from this. The print you can get in the UK is one of the best I've seen for such an old film.

trashgang I did it again, i mean, watching a movie from the 60's. And again it came clear to me why i am not into movies coming from the fifties and the sixties. I can watch the old classics even flicks from the silent era without a problem but the era as stated is really nothing for me. It's the time they are trying to start with effects but they are so silly. This flicks was once a lost one and it popped up but never full uncut. This is the first full uncut release to see so I did but what should be the difference between cut and uncut here, I don't know. The movie clocks in just over one hour and still some scene's are way too long. When they shown some jazz clubs they show the musicians, but too long. I'm not wanted to see the jazz, I want to see horror...But it's the importance of this flick why you should have it. it's one of the early zombie flicks just before Night Of The Living Dead. I know, there are older ones but here it's more zombie than the early zombies flicks were it's all about voodoo. Here voodoo is also important but you see the zombie coming out of the grave. The zombie itself looks scary for the time being, but the storyline isn't that strong, it takes a while before things get started but the movie really has some followers due the history and as said, the importance in the story of zombie flicks.