#201: The Dead Don’t Die
Voodoo curses and the Chicago mob are a weird combination
This review was originally posted to Twitter on January 1st, 2020.
Initial release: January 14, 1975
Network: NBC
Director: Curtis Harrington
There’s nothing quite as fun as obscure film. Sure, everyone’s seen Star Wars, but finding an obscure made-for-TV movie with mostly character actors nobody remembers that doesn’t exist on DVD is a treat… even if the movie isn’t.
Based on a story by Robert Bloch, The Dead Don’t Die (not to be confused with the 2019 zombie flick of the same name) features George Hamilton as Don Drake, a Navy man on leave to clear his executed brother Ralph’s name of murdering his wife. Drake’s investigations around Chicago have him meeting Ray Milland as Jim Moss, who runs a dance hall that’s hosting a dance marathon (a real thing in the 1930s.) Ralph and his wife were participating in a previous marathon until she was killed while he was asleep. Drake is also visited upon by a mysterious woman, Vera (Linda Cristal) who insists on Drake laying off his investigation and leaving town. Drake won’t be persuaded, especially after he sees his dead brother walking around town….
George Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead brought big changes to the otherwise scant zombie movie genre, moving away from the usually racist depiction of voodoo origins as exemplified by White Zombie. This film brings back the voodoo zombie genre, setting it in 1934 for good measure.
Of course, as this was the 1970s and not the 1930s, the film is a little more racially sensitive than its predecessors, setting it in Chicago rather than the west indies, with the main villain being a white guy who plans to use his (mostly intelligent) zombie army to take over the world. The voodoo connection is discussed, and James McEachin stars as a disappeared dance trainer who grew up in the West Indies and knows the legends, but beyond that it’s little more than a schlocky madman plot, a throwback after George Romero’s groundbreaking indie shocker.
This is not a good movie by most standards. Milland kind of muddles through most of his lines, Hamilton is a generic “cynical” type, and Cristal can’t decide if she wants to overact or underact. The special effects are pretty bad and the camera work is, well, workmanlike. There’s lots of little mistakes here and there that scream “low budget.” Overall the film is just the embodiment of a “midnight movie,” a no-budget chiller that muddles through every aspect of filmmaking to make something that isn’t good, but still kinda fun. The fact that this film does not exist on DVD and the only home video version you can find are grainy VHS tapes only add to that feeling. Luckily, you can watch the film for yourself on YouTube, in all its grainy, muddy glory.
As made-for-TV horror films go, this is a fairly tame outing with a somewhat interesting schtick that, while falling flat on most of what it wants to do, still manages to be a somewhat entertaining watch.
