Nights of Horror (1966)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Nights of horror |
| Original title | The Plague of the Zombies |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1966 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | John Gilling |
| script |
Anthony Hinds (as John Elder) |
| music | James Bernard |
| camera | Arthur Grant |
| cut | James Needs |
| occupation | |
| |
The Plague of the Zombies is a British horror film of John Gilling from the year 1966 . It was produced by the Hammer film company .
action
A mysterious plague rages in a village in Cornwall, and more and more residents are falling victim to it. The local doctor, Dr. Thompson, is puzzled and asks his friend and colleague James Forbes for advice, who immediately sets off with his daughter Sylvia to support Thompson. Together they decide to exhume the citizens who died last. To their surprise, they find that the coffins are empty. Her research leads her to an abandoned mine on the estate of Squire Clive Hamilton. They watch with horror a number of the undead there. They also find out that Hamilton lived in Haiti for some time and is said to have adopted dark voodoo practices there.
In the meantime, Clive Hamilton, who has heard from the investigations of the two, pays Sylvia a visit. Hamilton supposedly accidentally drops a wine glass that Sylvia has handed him, and through another maneuver he manages to get Sylvia to cut herself while picking up the broken pieces. He secretly takes a drop of Sylvia's blood in a vial and, when he returns home, performs a voodoo ritual with it, which makes Sylvia his mindless puppet. Hamilton steers Sylvia into a wooded area near the mine, where a large number of zombies are already waiting to attend a ceremony in which Sylvia is to become one of them.
While Thompson is following Sylvia's heels, Forbes invades Hamilton's country house and discovers numerous small voodoo dolls with which Hamilton apparently controls his zombies. When he is surprised by one of Hamilton's henchmen, a fight breaks out, as a result of which a fire breaks out. At the last moment, Forbes can overcome his opponent and get to safety from the flames. When the dolls burn too, the zombies begin to catch fire and frantically attack each other. In the resulting chaos, Thompson and the rushed Forbes manage to free Sylvia from Hamilton's clutches. In the distance they hear Hamilton screaming to his end in the flames.
Reviews
"Creepy, atmospheric horror that is one of the best of the hammer films."
"Thrilling horror film - the beginning of a whole series of zombie ballads."
background
The film was shot in July 1965 at the same time as the hammer production The Reptile (The Reptile) at Bray Studios in Berkshire . Some sets were used for both films, and part of the cast was used in both films, with director Gilling directing each.
Nights of Horror ran on January 9, 1966 as a double feature with Hammer's Blood for Dracula (Blood for Dracula) in British cinemas. On August 5th of the same year it celebrated its German premiere. The film was also released in Germany under the title Im Bann des Voodoo-Priesters .
According to the book The Hammer Story: The Authorized History of Hammer Films relations between were repeated nights of horror and two years later published genre classic Night of the Living Dead (Night of the Living Dead) made.
Web links
- The Plague of the Zombies in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Nights of horror in the German dubbing files
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nights of Horror on Allmovie.com
- ↑ Nights of Horror. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ^ Marcus Hearn, Alan Barnes: The Hammer Story: The Authorized History of Hammer Films , Titan Books 2007, p. 101.