White Zombie

The American horror film "White Zombie" directed by Victor Galperin was released on big screens on August 4, 1932. The film tells about the victims of voodoo sorcerers - Haitian zombies.

This is the first full-length film in which zombies appear on the screen. This term, along with the very theme of the living dead, appeared in English-language literature shortly before the release of the film: in 1929, the New York Times reporter William Seabrook published the book "Island of Magic", one of the sections of which is devoted to voodoo magic and, in particular, zombies. It was this book that screenwriter Garnett Weston took as the basis for the film "White Zombie".

This film is also known for its original advertising campaign: during the premiere screenings in front of the cinema, nine actresses in zombie costumes and makeup walked along the wooden platform to the sounds from the film (the fight of tam-tams, the noise of work on sugar cane plantations, the singing of cicadas).

After the release of the picture, the zombie theme in the works of art was constantly developing, and its popularity was constantly growing.

In Haiti, Madeleine Korot and her fiance Neil Parker arrive at the house of a wealthy planter Charles Beaumont. On the way to the planter's house, they meet a local sorcerer who scares the lovers with his strange appearance. Unrequited Love for Madeleine forces the plantation owner Charles Beaumont to meet with the sorcerer and ask for his help. The meeting takes place at a sugar factory, all the workers of which are zombies. The sorcerer claims that the only way to help Charles is to turn Madeleine into a zombie with a special poison. Charles secretly gives the potion to Madeleine, and she dies shortly after the wedding ceremony. After the funeral, the sorcerer and Charles enter Madeleine's crypt to turn her into a zombie. At this time, her fiance Neil, drunk with grief, goes to the grave of his beloved and discovers the loss of the body. Neil turns for help to a local missionary, Dr. Bruner, who tells how the sorcerer turned many of his rivals into zombies, who now guard his estate.

At the castle, Charles begins to regret Madeleine's transformation and asks the sorcerer to bring her back to life, but he refuses. After drinking a glass of wine, Charles realizes that the sorcerer has poisoned him and is going to turn him into a zombie. When Neil enters the building, the sorcerer senses his presence and orders Madeleine to kill Neil. She approaches her husband with a knife, but Bruner stops her. Then the sorcerer orders his zombie guards to kill Neil. At this time, Bruner stealthily sneaks up to the sorcerer and knocks him out with a blow to the head. Unconscious, he loses control of his zombies, and they fall down from a high cliff. The sorcerer regains consciousness and tries to escape from Neil and Bruner, but Charles, who appeared in time, pushes him off the cliff, and then falls down himself. Madeleine comes out of her trance and remembers her beloved.

In the film people can be turned into a zombie only if he was "killed" in a certain way – with a special poison that can be eaten or inhaled and even the smallest dose of which leads the man in a deep coma indistinguishable from death. After a funeral the sorcerer awakens the body, subordinating clouded the victim's will. Thus, turns into a zombie not a dead body, but a living, introduced by means of a poison in a special state of consciousness.

It is logical that the zombies look like regular people, except the shabby clothes, gait slow and lethargic, almost absent reaction to external stimuli Is due to the fact that all the actions of the zombies is directly controlled by the caster (probably telepathically). Own a zombie you do not feel pain, cold and fear.

In the movie there are scenes taken from the literary source, such as the burial of local residents a deceased relative on the road to protect his body from the sorcerer, or the zombies in a sugar factory. Also in the picture is cited penal code of Haiti, in accordance with which human poisoning to become zombies should be considered murder.

The film, like its literary source, popularized the theme of a zombie among Europeans. The way zombies are depicted in the film, their appearance and behaviors formed the basis of zombies that have long been used in works of art.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»