I followed a zombie

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title I followed a zombie
Original title I walked with a zombie
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1943
length 68 minutes
Age rating FSK 12 (video)
Rod
Director Jacques Tourneur
script Curt Siodmak ,
Ardel Wray
production Val Lewton
music Roy Webb
camera J. Roy Hunt
occupation

I Walked with a Zombie (Original title: I Walked with a Zombie ) is in black and white twisted American film directed by Jacques Tourneur from the year 1943 . It was created as part of the horror film cycle produced by Val Lewton for Studio RKO .

A young nurse takes a job as a nurse on a West Indian island . Little by little she discovers that her apathetic patient has become the victim of a voodoo cult.

action

The young nurse Betsy comes to the west Indian island of Sankt Sebastian to look after Jessica Holland, the wife of the plantation owner Paul Holland. Paul and his sick wife, Paul’s mother, Mrs. Rand, and his alcoholic half-brother Wesley, live on the Hollands estate. Jessica Holland remains in a complete trance , a state that, in the opinion of family doctor Dr. Maxwell is due to an incurable tropical fever. Paul explains to Betsy that he is to blame for Jessica's condition, but without giving an explanation for his claim. Betsy falls in love with her employer and tries to heal Jessica out of love for him, but the insulin shocks she uses are unsuccessful. One of the local domestic workers suggests that Betsy let a voodoo priest cure the sick woman. Betsy thinks that the ritual could trigger a healing shock in Jessica and goes to the place of the ceremonies. There she discovers that the voodoo priest is none other than Paul's mother, Mrs. Rand. Mrs. Rand later admits that she herself brought about Jessica's condition through voodoo practices because Jessica had an affair with Paul's half-brother Wesley and wanted to leave Paul. The intensity of the rituals of the locals increases again, in which one of the participants pierces a doll with a needle. Wesley breaks an arrow from a statue, stabs Jessica and carries the body out to sea. Locals find Wesley and Jessica's bodies and carry them back to the Hollands estate.

production

I followed a zombie

I Followed a Zombie was Val Lewton's second horror film for RKO after the surprise hit Cat People (1942). The script was based in part on an article by Inez Wallace in American Weekly , but also used motifs from Jane Eyre .

I Followed a Zombie had its world premiere in New York City on April 21, 1943 and was shown regularly in US cinemas from April 30, 1943. In Germany , the film was not shown in the cinema, but first broadcast on television on July 10, 1974 .

Reviews

After the premiere, the New York Times described I Followed a Zombie as a "dull, disgusting exaggeration of an unhealthy, abnormal approach to life." The verdict of the industry journal Variety was only slightly better: "The film contains a few scary passages, but otherwise overflows with banal dialogues and cumbersome performance."

In later years, the English-language critics revised their judgment and described the film as "intelligent" ( William K. Everson ), "exceptional" ( Leonard Maltin ) and as "the most elegant" in Lewton's RKO horror cycle ( Tom Milne ).

Tourneurs Film is also considered a classic by German film critics. For the lexicon of international films , I followed a zombie is a milestone in its genre: “A subtle horror film classic, which is characterized by its atmospheric density and the masterful play with light and shadow. Tourneur knows how to skillfully increase the tension and to conjure up the nightmarish climate of constant threat through his symbolic imagery. A film that shaped its genre in style. "

Prisma TV Guide wrote: "If you can call a horror film 'beautiful' at all, then I was following a zombie with its wonderful, ghostly images and atmospheric accuracy."

Film scholar Norbert Grob commented on the atmosphere of the film: “Right from the start, I Walked with a Zombie exuded a strangely fateful, gloomy mood. The characters seem to enjoy remaining in the past, in love with doom and death. [...] With Tourneur, horror never arises through playing around with danger, fear, shock, rather through allusions to a parallel world that has a profound effect on everyday events. "

Aftermath

In 2001 a remake was released under the name The Ritual - Under the Spell of Evil , which however could not repeat the success of the original.

Rock band Wednesday 13 and singer Roky Erickson released songs called I Walked with a Zombie .

DVD publications

I Followed a Zombie is included in the DVD box The Val Lewton Horror Collection , released in the US in 2005 (and reissued in 2008) . In Germany, the 1999 film was released on VHS - video cassette . In 2012 Arthaus released the film on DVD as part of the Arthaus retrospective series.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Entry in the Internet Movie Database , accessed on March 24, 2012.
  2. ^ Peter Bowen: I Walked with a Zombie premieres. In: Focus Feature. April 21, 2010, archived from the original on September 27, 2011 ; accessed on September 14, 2019 (English).
  3. ↑ a b I followed a zombie. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film Service , accessed March 24, 2012 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ^ "[...] a dull, disgusting exaggeration of an unhealthy, abnormal concept of life." - Review in the New York Times on April 22, 1943, accessed on March 24, 2012.
  5. ^ I Walked with a Zombie. In: Variety.com . 1943, accessed on September 14, 2019 (English): "Film contains some terrifying passages, but is overcrowded with trite dialog and ponderous acting."
  6. ^ William K. Everson: Klassiker des Horrorfilms , Goldmann, Munich 1980.
  7. ^ Leonard Maltin's 2008 Movie Guide , Signet / New American Library, New York 2007.
  8. ^ Time Out Film Guide, Seventh Edition 1999 , Penguin Books, London 1998.
  9. ↑ Short biography of Jacques Tourneur on prisma TV Guide, accessed on March 24, 2012.
  10. ^ Norbert Grob: I followed a zombie , in: Ursula Voss (ed.): Film genres: Horrorfilm , Reclam, Stuttgart 2004, pp. 122–127.