White Zombie

I forgot to mention in earlier posts that I have of course been watching my share of zombie movies. I decided to get the grand daddy of them all and I know some of you may think that is Night of the Living Dead, but that is not the case. The first Zombie movie actually came around the same time as Dracula did in 1931. it actually starred Bela Legosi as the zombie master. The movie in question is called White Zombie. It's a about a young white couple that decides to get married in Haiti as guests of a wealthy landowner. The wealthy guy in question is actually in love with the woman and wants to make her his wife but she refuses. Thats when the wealthy man decides to use Bela Legosi's zombie powers to make the woman into a zombie. Suffer from necrophilia much? Well the young woman does indeed turn into a zombie but the wealthy man realizes that the woman has no appeal without a soul ( I could have told him that). Everything turns out alright in the end though. Zombie master and wealthy guy bite it in the end (no pun intended) and the young woman turns out to not be dead after all.

The really interesting thing about this film is how the zombies are used as servants. They are a perfect example of colonialism's stamp on a society. There's even a delicious scene in which zombies are used to grind sugar cane but a zombie accidentally falls into the grinder. The zombies, of course, take no heed in their fallen comrade and continues to work without a second thought. This if course is a perfect example of slave labor getting crushed into the very product they are forced to make. Love it.