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Joan Woodbury, Dick Purcell, Mantan Moreland, Henry Victor, John Archer ... see more see more... , Patricia Stacey , Lawrence Criner , Mme. Sul Te Wan , Guy Usher , Leigh Whipper , Marguerite Whitten , Jimmie Davis , James Davis , Laurence Criner , Madame Sul-Te-Wan

Set in the Caribbean shortly before the U.S. was drawn into WWII, this zombie chiller tells the tale of an American special agent who, along with his butler and a pilot, is sent out to find a missing ... read more read more...American Admiral, whose plane crashed on one of the islands. Unfortunately, the hero's plane also crashes. Fortunately, a suave but sinister German doctor with a very strange wife is there to help them. The doctor explains that his spouse is in a strange trance and he is trying to find a cure. The butler soon discovers that she is not the only one; the island is teeming with zombies. When the butler tries to tell his employer, the employer refuses to believe in "voodoo hocus pocus." The butler and the pilot find themselves entranced. Fortunately, the agent is still around to solve the mystery of the zombies and to confront the culprit, an enemy spy. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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42% liked it

945 ratings

Unrated, 1 hr. 7 min.

Directed by: Jean Yarbrough

Release Date: May 14, 1941

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DVD Release Date: October 7, 2003

Stats: 89 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (89)

  • FilmFanatik
    September 5, 2008
    FilmFanatik
    Hilarious, racist and just a hoot to watch. Reminds of the old Stooges shorts when they were staying in a haunted house. Not much on horror here, so skip it if you're looking for that.
  • mjgildea
    April 18, 2007
    mjgildea
    Such a poorly made and politically incorrect movie. This is the kind of movie your racist horror film-loving grandpa is into. A bunch of Uncle Tom Haitian zombies running around an island of an evil Nazi genius. You might get a laugh out of it if nothing else...
  • ileo
    March 3, 2008
    ileo
    Good.
  • zardoz3
    October 24, 2011
    zardoz3
    The only reason to watch this low-budget,lightweight comedy is Mantan Moreland. He delivers the best lines while our heroes stumble around on a remote island in the Caribbean at the mansion of Viennese Dr. Sangre who gives them rooms and food to spend the night. James "Mac" McC... read morearthy is flying with his friend Bill Summers and his black butler, Jefferson Jackson, when they enter an area somewhat like the Bermuda Triangle and wind up crashing on the island in--of all places--a graveyard. As it turns out, U.S. General Wainwright has been captured by Sangre--who may be working for the Nazis--and Sangre wants to learn everything from Wainwright that he can about the defenses of the Panama Canal. Monogram Pictures released KING OF THE ZOMBIES on the eve of World War II and like most pre-World War II movies, the Production Code Administration refused to let the studios assign a national identity to the enemies. Mantan has a field day, especially when he mistakenly believes that he has been turned into a zombie. Dr. Sangre is prepared to do anything to extract the information from Wainwright. At one point, Sangre calls on a voodoo priestess to try to get the information out of the reluctant Wainwright and into another person. Dick Purcell plays the rugged one of the two who tangles with Dr. Sangre and becomes a quasi-zombie. Zombies in this movie are nothing like those in a George Romero flick. They don't munch on people and drink their blood. They merely shuffle about and they don't take salt in their food.
  • briley9
    January 15, 2010
    briley9
    The film tells the story of a couple army operatives and their valet (why would you bring a valet on a military mission?) who crash land on a mysterious island while looking for a missing admiral. After they land, they discover that the island is inhabited by an Austrian ex-pat ... read moredoctor with an army of servants who?re distinctly zombie-like. It?s a pretty amusing movie, with the solid writing and acting characteristic of b-movies of the era. Some thoughts:

    * Clearly the best part of the film is Mantan Moreland, the beloved character actor from innumerable 1930s and 1940s films. He?s got an hilarious physical presence, jittering and skittering in the tradition of the cowardly sidekick like Costello or Shaggy/Scooby. He gets all the best laugh lines, and is the only one who gets funny scenes. The best bit is his banter with the scullery maid, who offers him lots to eat and trades barbs with equal wit.
    * Of course, the worst part of the film is the grotesque stereotypical part given to Mantan Moreland, who plays ?Jeff,? the loyal valet. A continuation of the minstrel tradition, Moreland speaks with the exaggerated slang typical of such characters and lives out all the worst stereotypes of behavior. As an educated, hyper-conscious white man I found myself cringing at these elements as I laughed at the humor, and then cringing that I?d laughed. The inextricability between the human elements of Jeff and the racially loaded elements coming from the history of minstrelry and American theater make the film challenging to watch.
    * King of the Zombies uses the voodoo zombie, but combines it with the villainy of Nazi Germany, turning the ex-pat Austrian into an intelligence agent for the third reich. He combines hypnotism with voodoo (by way of a native priestess) to control his zombies, though it?s unclear why he has a big army of zombies. There?s also an unexplained niece who hates him but doesn?t seem to be able to do anything about it.

    It?s worth watching if you like older zombie movies, and complicated humor steeped in traditions of racial tension. You can watch it on the Internet Archive if you like.
  • CHILIcheeseDONUTSwithTUNAonTOP
    September 4, 2009
    CHILIcheeseDONUTSwithTUNAonTOP
    Holy crap this was awesome! An early horror comedy, maybe the first zombie-comedy (well, Ghost Breakers had one zombie in it, so I guess its a close call). Hilarious throughout - the character Jefferson Jackson was downright amazing in nearly every way. Timing was impeccable and ... read morethe subject matter was right on. I would love to see this remade (and I already started casting - so far I have John Turatatino as Dr. Sangre and Renee Zellwegger as Barbara Winslow, but who could fill Mantan "Shit, if this is gonna be that kind of party, I'm gonna stick my dick in the mashed potatoes" Mooreland's shoes?), but anyone who has seen this knows it could never be remade without some major changes. Definitely a period piece (the subtle anti-German propaganda really isn't so subtle), but it still retains everything it was trying to do all these years later. Two military men crash land their plane on an island in the Caribbean. An Austrian doctor lives on a plantation where he has many servants. Later it is shown they are actually zombies as he works closely with an island priestess to control them. Definitely a buyer!
  • thegulfsharkparty
    July 10, 2007
    thegulfsharkparty
    More an archival piece than something you really want to go out, buy, and watch. It's kind of tough to track down, but if you do, it's very cheap, so it's worht the asking price just to have it in your collection.
    As you can imagine, released in '41, this thing is extremely low... read more-budget as it is pre-WWII which was, sadly, the jump start to our economy over in the U.S.
    The plot isn't too bad and I'm sure if a Danny Boyle or a Kubrick ,etc were to tackle it, it could be very well-done. Overall, the film is really sketchy and the editing is downright terrible with some inexplicable cuts in the middle of scenes.
    Like I said, more or less by today's standards, it's a terrible film, but it's not a dreadful film. Big difference. If you're a huge zombie fanatic that wants to own as many as you can, go out and track it down. If not, no hard feelings, you're life won't be incomplete if you don't have it.
  • theSwitchbladeSister
    November 5, 2006
    theSwitchbladeSister
    More silly now than frightening, but still enjoyable. This deals with the voodoo branch of zombies, not the radioactive ones.

    The most amusing character is without a doubt the (stereotypic black) valet, who has some great quote-worthy quips.

    "You can't be a zombie."
    "Why?!... read more"
    "'Cause zombies don't talk!"
    "Can I help it if I'm loquacious?"

View All King of the Zombies Reviews

Critic Reviews

Dennis Schwartz
December 10, 2007
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Lackluster zombie farce. Full Review

Rob Humanick
October 13, 2007
Rob Humanick, Projection Booth

A work of slapped-together, audience-pleasing basics. Full Review

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King of the Zombies Trivia

  • Complete this quote from the movie Shaun of the Dead: "Who died and made you f***ing king of the______?"  Answer »
  • In this 1941 classic film, a pilot and his passengers crash-land on a Caribbean island, and they seek shelter with an Austrian scientist who harbors diabolical secrets.  Answer »
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