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THE REVIEW
Well before the Romero horrors of late '68, well before the concept of the "living dead" as an aberrant monster devouring living flesh, this work by the little-known Victor Halperin develops themes descending from hoodoo superstitions, typical of the African populations transplanted to the central territories of the new continent.
Unlike voodoo, which is the strictly religious aspect of the Afro-American imagination, hoodoo represents everything that is magic, legend, mystery: sound artists who have gone down in history like Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker spoke of amulets ("mojo"), spells, and curses. In 1932, "White Zombie" (in Italian, "L'Isola Degli Zombies") left its hidden yet fundamental mark on horror cinema to come.
The plot presented in the barely 75 minutes of the film is simple: an American couple celebrates their wedding in Haiti, where "the dead are buried in the street, where there are people," and falls into the trap of a wealthy landowner in love with the bride. Plotting in the shadows, a sorcerer (Bela Lugosi) who has the power to subjugate to his will through a potent drug.
What gives force to this film is the splendid atmosphere recreated, and the concise narration that leaves room for disturbing and memorable moments, despite presenting fairly evident acting and conceptual naiveties, also (but not only) due to the epochal advent of sound. All played on the contrast between the shadowy areas and the pale figures that traverse them, taking the obviously obligatory black and white to the extreme as a functional expressive medium. The impenetrable night and the very white skin of the bride, subjected to the wickedness of the evil Lugosi. To remember: the scene inside the factory, where the zombies (living dead or hypnosis?) work in unison without any glimmer of lucidity on their faces; the protagonist's despair, drunk and tormented by the pain of losing his wife; the obsessive African music; the ending, once again naive but well executed, almost making the entire story seem like just a nightmare.
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Summary by Bot
White Zombie (1932) by Victor Halperin is a landmark horror film predating modern zombies. It draws on hoodoo magic distinct from voodoo and creates a haunting atmosphere with striking black-and-white visuals. Bela Lugosi stars as a sorcerer controlling the undead, and while the film shows its early sound-era limitations, it remains memorable and influential in horror history.
