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Tom Conway, Frances Dee, James Ellison, Edith Barrett, Christine Gordon ... see more see more... , James Bell , Theresa Harris , Sir Lancelot , Darby Jones , Jeni Le Gon , Richard Abrams , Alan Edmiston , Clinton Rosemond , Martin Wilkins , Melvin Williams , Norman Mayes

RKO producer Val Lewton seemed to thrive upon taking the most lurid film titles and coming up with pocket-edition works of art. Saddled with the studio-dictated title I Walked With a Zombie, Lewton, t... read more read more...ogether with scripters Curt Siodmak and Ardel Wray, concocted a West Indies variation on Jane Eyre. Trained nurse (Frances Dee) travels to the tropics to care for Christine Gordon, the wife of seemingly abusive Tom Conway. At first, Dee merely believes her patient to be comatose. But as the drums throb and the natives behave restlessly, Dee tries to bring her patient back to life by jungle magic. Conway is racked with guilt, believing himself responsible for his wife's condition; his guilt is stoked by Conway's drunken brother James Ellison, who has always loved Gordon. Utilizing very limited sets and only a handful of extras, director Jacques Tourneur manages to evoke an impression of an expansive tropical island populated at every turn by voodoo worshippers. Many of the sequences, notably Frances Dee's first languid stroll into the midst of the native ceremonies, have an eerie dream-like quality that pervades even the most worn-out, badly processed TV prints of I Walked With Zombie. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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72% liked it

4,392 ratings

Critics

91% liked it

23 critics

PG, 1 hr. 9 min.

Directed by: Jacques Tourneur

Release Date: January 1, 1943

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DVD Release Date: October 4, 2005

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Stats: 270 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (270)

  • FilmFanatik
    April 12, 2011
    FilmFanatik
    Although he went on to make much better films, Jacques Tourner's I Walked With a Zombie is not anywhere near a waste of time. There are some genuinely creepy moments (although they're repeated in other Val Lewton productions) and some very lovely cinematography. There's not rea... read morelly much of a plot to speak of and our leading lady has very little to do in the second half of the movie, but there's some good stuff here. Worth a late night viewing.
  • mjgildea
    March 10, 2010
    mjgildea
    I Walked With a Zombie is full of beautiful photography, fantastic set design and stunning direction from Jacques Tourneur. The acting's pretty much what you'd expect from a low-budget 40s horror movie but there's so much more going on that makes up for it. The scene on the way u... read morep to the homefourt was fantastic as was the scene that introduced Jessica. Legitimately scary shit. The story kind of scatters a bit by the time you get to the end and a few things were kind of unclear to me but at that point you don't really care. This movie is a moodfest orgy for the eyes.
  • flixsterman
    January 31, 2010
    flixsterman
    Ripe with that subtle eerieness that Lewton and Tourneur have become known for. I like this one a little more every time I see it. It's the kind of film that creeps up on you.
  • SirPant
    October 1, 2009
    SirPant
    Another sensationalist title to draw in the crowds which it really didn't need to do as this is a fantastic thriller and by then Lewton & Tourneur were quite respected. I feel the title puts a lot of people off which is a shame because this is a classic!
  • arashxak
    December 28, 2008
    arashxak
    A well-made moody & creepy film but I think it feels a bit rushed, Could have been a bit longer & better
  • ceWEBrity
    December 15, 2008
    ceWEBrity
    There actually seemed to be a time when B-horror was visually and thematically interesting, if less so than its big-budget counterparts. That time, for the most part, has long since evaporated. I Walked with a Zombie is a lovable little oddity, hilariously xenophobic, poorly acte... read mored and not in the slightest bit scary, but still fun to watch nonetheless. Only 70 minutes long, it clips on at a cheerful pace until you arrive at the conclusion, melodramatic and neatly satisfying.

    And dude, dig those attitudinal changes between the 40s and now. I'm sure the director intended his racism to be completely unironic, but it adds a new layer of unintended subtext to the proceedings if you give the movie a "white colonialism" read. It's funny what culture and society can integrate into a movie, whether purposely or not.
  • webalina
    January 20, 2008
    webalina
    In this Val Lewton film, based on "Jane Eyre", a nurse travels to Haiti to care for a sickly woman. But is her illness more voodoo than virus? Some nice spooky scenes of the silent zombies lurking in the dark. Warning: If you're looking for gore and gutmunching, you'd better look... read more elsewhere. These are zombies made by medicine men, not the living dead. But like all Lewton films, the atmosphere makes it worth a look.
  • drblood
    June 24, 2007
    drblood
    Very tame by today's standards but what a great atmosphere and acting.
  • michaelneumann
    April 11, 2006
    michaelneumann
    [img]http://www.tendreams.org/olbinski/Manon%20Lescaut%20a.jpg[/img]

    There are many things said in the world that really ought to have been said by somebody else. Meaning is twisted when I discover from whose mouth a particular phrase was hatched, for better or worse. Some wo... read morerds are so alive and wise, almost a separate entity now that they have been spoken or written. The person automatically becomes different, either qualifying for an upgrade or downgrade in intelligent perception. And either these words and its sayer are frolicking in harmony with each other, or they diametrically oppose and form a paradox of meaning. Basically, a 'what the hell' person. "You just don't know enough about these people to assume their actions and words do not align with their selves." Horsefeathers. What kind of logic is that anyway? What part of "I just know, okay?" do you not understand? ...I'm talking to a quoted phrase. Yeah, it's late. But one thing remains the same: some people do not deserve the words they say. Like Shakespeare. When I found out that "You offend your lungs for speaking so loud" was originally said by that dude over 400 years ago, I was devastated. My 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Seanor, owned that verse up until "Mr. History Book" freakin' waltzed right onto the scene, dispensing 'facts' like a drug dealer on a schoolyard and blowing kiddies' minds with The Truth. Felt like my lungs were offended via punching. Well, not really. I just wanted to include a lung-punching in this bloodless entry for some reason. *gash*

    But I have a solution to these apparent contradictions. The who's and the what's need to take opposing sides, like a game of Red Rover, and I should decide who gets to do and say what with neat little lines drawn connecting it all. Completely, utterly reasonable. It will make perfect sense when connected. A sublime, heavenly, 100 per cent non-perishable kind of perfect sense. "Well 'perfect sense' is highly subjective, and is something hardly perceivable by individuals greatly lacking in it." What is this, a consensus? Stupid double-quoted counterpoints. But since I'm only part-jerk, I shall suffer minor internal conflict and illustrate for you examples of what anybody considers 'perfect sense' (an original phrase by me), and ye all shall understand more clearly when I can organize these concepts, shuffle history and collective personality up a bit, and re-deal a new more sensible existence. Right, so..."perfect sense":
    giraffes
    entropy
    pop rocks
    tesseracts
    "Twin Peaks"
    fractals
    Michael Jackson
    avante garde
    women
    poop
    life
    writing while half asleep (now)
    writing while full asleep (soon)
    this entry (by association)
    ...


    And [url="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/showthread.php?t=476008"][size=4]this[/size][/url].

    Perfection. Right there, baby. Okay, so...click it. Come on, click! I know you smell what I smell, too. A good kinda smell, one that twirls your nose hairs in loops and your mind in a bowtie when you sniff it. And it's not that dog fart. It's a smell of ancient time...and of fresh margarita! Come on in, it's my 20,000th post party! And it smells!
  • fb100000185301014
    October 4, 2011
    fb100000185301014
    Exactly what the consensus described, this is the mother of the zombie films. A must watch for the Zombie fans

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Critic Reviews

Variety Staff
September 24, 2007
Variety Staff, Variety

Overcrowded with trite dialog and ponderous acting. Full Review

Don Druker
September 24, 2007
Don Druker, Chicago Reader

It transcends the conventions of the horror genre and remains one of Lewton-Tourneur's most compelling studies in light and darkness. Full Review

Thomas M. Pryor
August 8, 2006
Thomas M. Pryor, New York Times

A dull, disgusting exaggeration of an unhealthy, abnormal concept of life. Full Review

Sarah Boslaugh
October 14, 2011
Sarah Boslaugh, Not Coming to a Theater Near You

I Walked with a Zombie is a horror film for grownups, which presents a complex picture of human relations and offers multiple explanations for events portrayed without definitively endorsing any of them. Full Review

Walter Chaw
October 22, 2009
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central

Sultry, claustrophobic, the guilt repressed here is the spectre of slavery stencilled over another abandonment of another wife... Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson
April 17, 2009
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

One-ups Cat People with its stylish visual scheme and West Indies voodoo rhythms. Full Review

Sarah Boslaugh
September 19, 2008
Sarah Boslaugh, Playback:stl

I Walked with a Zombie is a horror film for grownups, which presents a complex picture of human relations and offers multiple explanations for events portrayed Full Review

Steve Biodrowski
July 4, 2008
Steve Biodrowski, ESplatter

This is a film that wants to ellicit not screams but shivers as it takes you on its journey into the heart of human darkness ... Full Review

Rob Humanick
October 12, 2007
Rob Humanick, Projection Booth

A miniature masterpiece of contorted human emotions and uneasy personal broodings emphasized by a gothic melange of sight and sound. Full Review

Kim Newman
September 24, 2007
Kim Newman, Empire Magazine

It uses Caribbean folklore and weird religious imagery to spice up a romantic tangle that pays off. Full Review

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