Fri 18 Nov 2016
Reviewed by Jonathan Lewis: ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU (1957).
Posted by Steve under Horror movies , Reviews[8] Comments
ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU. Columbia Pictures, 1957. Gregg Palmer, Allison Hayes, Autumn Russell, Joel Ashley, Morris Ankrum, Marjorie Eaton, Gene Roth. Director: Edward L. Cahn
Zombies of Mora Tau is best thought of as two distinct movies in one: an enjoyable, if not overly imaginative, B-horror film and a clumsy, downright boring crime drama with supernatural elements thrown into the mix. Directed by Edward Cahn, Zombies of Mora Tau had the potential to be a guilty, campy pleasure. But it just ends up as a rather forgettable low-budget horror movie, one that was churned out for audiences without much thought to either characterization or coherency.
One thing is for sure. The movie doesn’t waste any time getting to the heart of the matter. The film opens with a scene in which a chauffeur (Gene Roth) is driving the young, beautiful Jan Peters (Autumn Russell) to her grandmother’s house in Africa. Along the way, he runs over a man standing in the middle of the road. But he insists that it’s fine because it wasn’t a really a man. It was a zombie!
You see, Grandmother Peters (Marjorie Peters) has set up a homestead in Africa to be close to her “deceased†husband, a sailor who is one of the living dead that haunt the region. Jan doesn’t believe her grandmother’s voodoo hokum.
That is, until a group of conniving diamond thieves show up to retrieve treasure from a sunken vessel – the very same boat that Grandmother Peter’s husband was on. Apparently, there is some curse that keeps the zombie sailors in a state of living death.
As I mentioned previously, the movie had all the makings of a solid B-movie. After the first act, the movie unfortunately transitions into a third-rate crime film in which the diamond hunters battle both amongst themselves and against the zombies, all for the sake of sunken treasure in a remote corner of Africa. One wonders if the gang would have been better off by robbing a jewelry store back home.
November 18th, 2016 at 10:21 pm
I used to think that I could see Allison Hayes in almost anything, but this movie certainly put that thought to the test.
November 19th, 2016 at 12:14 am
I saw this recently and I identified with the old grandmother being harassed by the zombies. Only with me it’s the non-readers and non-collectors surrounding my house and trying to get rid of my book collection…
November 19th, 2016 at 8:03 am
Of course the highlight of the Allison Hayes oeuvre was the classic ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN.
November 19th, 2016 at 8:12 am
Allison Hayes died early at age 46 of blood poisoning. As a kid I loved the Francis Talking Mule movies. She played opposite Francis in the first film in 1954. A discouraging beginning and things could only improve after that debut.
November 19th, 2016 at 9:41 am
Not as much fun as Cahn’s FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE. ZOMBIES has its moments but it also drags badly.
The zombies are kept alive because of a curse on a stolen treasure. Did the makers of PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN steal this notion?
November 19th, 2016 at 2:23 pm
I think you may be on to something, Dan.
November 19th, 2016 at 7:13 pm
Jonathan,
Watching and reviewing this one is above and beyond. Good ideas went to this movie to die horrible deaths.
December 24th, 2016 at 6:55 pm
On the other hand… This is a movie that appeals greatly to me – in spite of it’s slow, emotionless progress (much like the title zombies in that respect). See, this movie also contains hard-hat diving and undersea zombies. Nothing could drive me away from a movie with those elements.
Also, the payoff at the end where the tearful old lady lays the zombies to rest, is kinda effective.
Cahn may have been a mediocre director but he directed a number of my favorites, including “Creature with the Atom Brain” and “It! The Terror from Beyond Space” – both of which I would defend more vigorously than this one…