Lightdeossk
Captivating movie !
Dynamixor
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Lachlan Coulson
This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
Leofwine_draca
For those who thought that RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD was the first real zombie-comedy-horror, think again. A good forty years before that film, a movie came along that portrayed the undead menace with an equal number of laughs and chills. That film is KING OF THE ZOMBIES, and it's a great little movie. Now, I may be biased, seeing as how the last zombie film I watched was the god-awful REVOLT OF THE ZOMBIES, made five years before this. That movie was a boring, zombie-free mess. KING OF THE ZOMBIES, by comparison, is a tightly-paced little thriller set on the confines of a tropical island.Essentially it's one of those 'haunted house' type movies, as our protagonists find themselves trapped in an eerie building and menaced by mysterious figures and the walking dead. These 'zombies' are of the classic variety, the hypnotised-workers group, and the make up, although simple, is more than effective. There's a lot of running around and voodoo ceremonies going on in the basement, and it all seems rather quaint and dated by today's standards. The majority of the cast are fairly wooden in their roles, especially the stiff-upper-lip 'heroes', but Henry Victor does a passable imitation of Bela Lugosi and Joan Woodbury wins points on her sheer loveliness alone. And then there's Mantan Moreland.You see, this is a COMEDY horror, along the lines of the classic Bob Hope type 'old dark house' comedies popular during the 1940s. And the presence of Mantan Moreland, a black actor typecast in this genre for his wide-eyed terror, means that we're in for a very funny ride. The type of humour seen here might seem racist and highly dated to a modern audience, but this is what passed for top comedy back in the 1940s and there's no point putting modern political correctness on an old, creaky black and white flick. Moreland shivers with terror, screams, runs and makes wisecrack after wisecrack in his various run-ins with the undead, and he's easily the best thing in the movie: he displays sound comic timing, great acting, and is a sheer likable personality. He also gets a huge amount of screen time, making this a very painless film to watch.
kai ringler
Slightly below average "b" movie, about zombies,, this time an American Pilot crash lands somewhere between Cuba and Puerto Rico, and him and his 2 passengers have to fend for themselves. while on the strange island the encounter a mad scientist who has zombies on the island,, little know to them is the fact that he is in fact a Nazi who wants to kill any visitors on the island and turn them into zombies so as to extract the information from their brains and turn the zombies into Nazi Zombies, with vital information for the War Machine. Interesting concept but I thought that I could have been done a little better than it was ,, I thought it was interesting but I was a little bored in different spots in the movie,, mind you it's not terrible,, just not great either.
binapiraeus
"King of the Zombies" certainly is one of the most MAGNIFICENT horror spoofs ever made - although, or maybe BECAUSE it was made by 'poor little' Monogram Pictures. Monogram had always had a VERY fine crew of actors, directors and screenwriters to make the very best of whatever means of production they had; and one of their best steady cast members was Mantan Moreland, known today mostly for his role as 'Birmingham' in the Monogram Charlie Chan movies. But here he's not just the second assistant to the great detective and his sons, but kind of a semi-lead - and of course the very core of the comical part of the movie.And just like the Monogram Charlie Chan movies always managed very elegantly to hold the balance between crime mystery and comedy, so does "King of the Zombies" with horror and comedy. There's everything the horror film fan's heart desires: an isolated island, a mysterious mansion with dark vaults, a strange scientist, zombies - and the adequate musical score to send shivers down your spine; and on the other hand, there's Mantan Moreland, better than ever (and getting, of course, a lot more opportunity to show his magnificent comical talent, with his eyes popping with fright and his knees shaking, and at the same time wisecracking and flirting with fate as well as with the kitchen maid...This much-underrated movie surely deserves more attention and a much higher ranking among classic horror comedies; the atmosphere is haunting, but at the same time you find yourself in the middle of a creepy zombie tale, you can't help laughing with the jokes thrown in at the most improbable moments - FIRST-CLASS entertainment from a small but classy production company, and a sublime cast and crew!
artpf
During World War 2, a small plane off the south coast of America is low on fuel and blown off course by a storm. Guided by a faint radio signal, they crashland on an island. The passenger, his manservant and the pilot take refuge in a mansion owned by a doctor. The easily-spooked manservant soon becomes convinced the mansion is haunted by zombies and ghosts. Exploring, the 3 find a voodoo ritual in the cellar, where the doctor is trying to acquire war intelligence by transferring personalities into his zombies. But the interruption causes the zombies to turn on their creator.There is another review on this site by an uninformed toe-head who says this movie was made for an urban black audience. He knows nothing. The film was originally supposed to star Bela Lugosi and then Peter Lorre, but neither were available. It was made explicitly to reach the same audience as Bob Hope's The Ghost Breakers! Does that sound like an urban black audience. What a jerk.The film is made very well, and even tho it's in the public domain, the prints of it are pristine which makes watching more enjoyable. It made money on release. Enough that a sequel was made. (Revenge of the Zombies.)
