Zombies of Mora Tau (1957)

one of my absolute favorites!

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

I had no idea what to expect from this movie. Given that it takes place in Africa I expected it that it would be about zombies driven by voodoo rituals such as White Zombie and I walked with a zombie. This movie has a different take though on the zombie phenomenon. Rather than driven by a ritual from some witch doctor they are cursed men. They do not age, cannot be killed, don't feel pain and they can hardly be wounded. They don't have a will of their own their only purpose protecting a treasure of jewels laying at the bottom of the sea near the wreck of a ship. The zombies are fearless with only fire keeping them at a distance. It's all explained in the movie by an old lady what can be done to stop them and remove the curse. That's right these zombies are more like restless souls than evil flesh eating monsters they would become in later zombie movies. Yes the action scenes look cheap even though the underwater scenes look very nice. With a running time under 70 minutes everything was explained and the motivations of the protagonists all cleared. Too many movies spend too much time sidestepping focusing on things who don't really matter. Not this movie, straightforward right from the start until the end.

An expedition is launched to loot the treasure of a sunken ship off the African coast. But what the participants don't know is that their expedition is just the latest in a long line of failed attempts to obtain these highly coveted diamonds. The ships' long undead crewmen now exist as zombies and will kill anyone who comes near. Among the people on this trip are pragmatic hero Jeff Clark (Gregg Palmer), Dr. Eggert (Morris Ankrum), a professor who's writing a book, George Harrison (!) (Joel Ashley), ostensibly the man in charge, and Georges' wife Mona (Allison Hayes). Area local Mrs. Peters (Marjorie Eaton) knows the score, but George and company are just too stubborn to listen.To start with, this viewer agrees that it's stupid how the surviving characters remain pretty clueless about the fate of one of them, despite Mrs. Peters' words. And those "underwater" sequences aren't exactly convincing. But otherwise, this is "good" goofy fun for lovers of silly schlock from this era. It might not have enough action for some audience members, but it has an irresistible midnight movie appeal and a sufficient amount of low budget black & white atmosphere. The zombies themselves are never too threatening. The cast gives the proceedings very straight faced performances; Palmer is a decent hero, Autumn Russell is pretty as his leading lady, Ashley is an amusing jerk, Hayes (otherwise known as the 50 foot woman) is hilariously bitchy in her part, and Ankrum as always is a delight to watch. It's a hoot to note the fact that these particular zombies are like Frankensteins' monster and have an aversion to fire.Overall, this is deliciously daft horror, guided by prolific B director of the era Edward Cahn, that at least only goes on for a fairly trim 69 minutes. Ray Corrigan, who played the alien in Cahns' well regarded "It! The Terror from Beyond Space", appears here as a sailor.Seven out of 10.

Zombies of Mora Tau (1957) * 1/2 (out of 4) Silly horror film from Columbia about zombies guarding some diamonds on the bottom of the sea. This little set up should have made for an interesting film but the poor direction makes this film quite hard to get through. Even at 70-minutes the film moves way too slowly without too much life anywhere to be found. The only good features are a few items, which seem to have influenced Romero. Allison Hayes co-stars.Now available on DVD through Columbia.

Adventurers tangle with zombies who can walk underwater. (Did George Romero ever catch this?)The fifties were a fallow decade for the walking dead. Scary zombies may have roamed INVISIBLE INVADERS and CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN, but they were sci-fi generated. (PLAN 9, anyone?) MORA TAU more or less sticks to the hoodoo playbook, but its finale is unforgivably weak, and the underwater scenes, which should have been a highlight, are blatantly bogus. If the story were rewritten on land, it would have spared lots of trouble and unintended laughter.On the plus side, quickie director Ed Cahn always aced day-for-night shots, and nearly all of the action here occurs in darkness. The film is free of stock wildlife footage and white dudes dressed as natives. The cast seems to appreciate scripter Bernard Gordon's snappy dialogue. Cult actress Allison Hayes pulls double duty as a shrewish moll and a zombie. Can't act worth stale jujubes, but still a treat to watch. There's also plenty of gaffe guffaws, my favorite being the portly zomb who "chases" victims down a staircase as he clutches the railing.