The Plague of the Zombies *** (1966, André Morell, Jacqueline Pearce, John Carson, Diane Clare, Brook Williams) – Classic Movie Review 3303

André Morell stars as Sir James Forbes, the old professor who sets about to investigate The Plague of the Zombies (1966), and Jacqueline Pearce (aka Servalan) plays Alice Thompson, who turns out to be an alluring zombie.

Director John Gilling’s 1966 British chiller The Plague of the Zombies is set in a village in Victorian Cornwall and stars John Carson as the local squire Clive Hamilton, who uses a magic voodoo ritual to raise zombies from the dead to work his tin mine so that he can avoid paying them a living wage!

Impressive and good looking in its own right, the film was influential, with its imagery going on to influence many later films in the zombie genre.

Gilling’s impressive, imaginative Hammer horror is graced with polished performances from Carson, André Morell as Sir James Forbes, the old professor who sets about to investigate, and Jacqueline Pearce as Alice Thompson, who turns out to be an alluring zombie.

It is August 1860 and Dr Peter Tompson (Brook Williams) doesn’t know what to do about the young workers who are dying of a mysterious epidemic. So he seeks help from professor Sir James Forbes, who travels down to Cornwall with his daughter Sylvia (Diane Clare).

Director Gilling knows what to do to keep the movie suspenseful and visually stylish. He filmed it back to back with The Reptile (1966), again using actors Jacqueline Pearce and Michael Ripper and many of the same sets, noticeably the main Cornish village set on the back lot at Bray Studios, Berkshire, created by Bernard Robinson.

Production on the film began on 28 July 1965 at Bray Studios. They also went shooting on location to Frensham Ponds, Farnham, Surrey, for the moorland, Black Park, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, for the forest and Oakley Court, Windsor Road, Oakley Green, Windsor, Berkshire, for the Squire’s house.

It also stars Diane Clare (dubbed) as Sylvia Forbes, Brook Williams as Dr Peter Tompson, Alexander Davion as Denver and the inevitable Michael Ripper as Sergeant Jack Swift.

Also in the cast are Marcus Hammond, Dennis Chinnery, Louis Mahoney, Roy Royston, Ben Aris, Tim Condren, Joylan Booth and Jerry Verno.

The Plague of the Zombies opened in London on 9 January 1966 and was later released on the lower half of a double bill with Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966).

It cost only about £100,000 but needed to take $1.5 million in cinema rentals to break even. It earned $2.34 million and made a profit.

British film and TV actress Jacqueline Pearce (20 December 1943 – 3 September 2018) was best known as the principal villain Servalan in the British science fiction TV series Blake’s 7 (1978–1981).

English actor Cecil André Mesritz (20 August 1909 – 28 November 1978), known professionally as André Morell, was a Hammer regular. He enjoyed his most famous screen roles as Professor Bernard Quatermass in the BBC TV serial Quatermass and the Pit (1958–59), and as Doctor Watson in the Hammer Film Productions version of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959).

He also appeared in the earlier Hammer film The Camp on Blood Island (1957), as well as The Shadow of the Cat (1960), She (1964, again with Peter Cushing) and its sequel The Vengeance of She (1967), The Plague of the Zombies (1965), The Mummy’s Shroud (1966) and in Hammer’s Cash on Demand (1964, again with Peter Cushing).

The cast are André Morell as Sir James Forbes, Diane Clare as Sylvia Forbes, Brook Williams as Dr Peter Tompson, Jacqueline Pearce as Alice Mary Tompson, John Carson as Squire Clive Hamilton, Alexander Davion as Denver, Michael Ripper as Sergeant Jack Swift, Marcus Hammond as Tom Martinus, Dennis Chinnery as Constable Christian, Louis Mahoney as ‘Coloured Servant’, Roy Royston as Vicar, Ben Aris as John Martinus, Tim Condren as Young blood, Bernard Egan as Young blood, Norman Mann as Young blood, Francis Willey as Young blood, and Jerry Verno as Landlord.

http://derekwinnert.com/dracula-prince-of-darkness-1965-christopher-lee-barbara-shelley-francis-matthews-andrew-keir-classic-movie-review-1734/

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3303

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/