Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1974) *

 

For the first hour this plays like a warped comedy, as it regards a theatrical troupe whose ego maniacal, "carrying a few screws loose" leader Alan Ormsby, ruling over them with an iron fist ordering his employees around holding up their acting jobs as collateral for they are to resurrect the undead on this island graveyard off the shore of a big city(New York?)using witchcraft. Unbeknownst to them, it works and the final 20 or so minutes cashes the check you zombie fans were waiting to receive. Boy, the closing of the film as the zombies unearth from their tombs ratchets up the terror considerably. I don't know if it's the low-budget photography, the unsettling sound effects, or grungy make-up effects(not to mention, the choice of skin tone color..sure seems to increase the foreboding quite a bit)that makes the final half-hour so intense and disturbing. It could be Clark's in-your-face style or that feeling of helplessness as the characters run out of options as the zombies close in. I think this would make an interesting combo with Fulci's 'Zombie 2'. The first of Bob Clark's 70's Horror Trilogy. Not everyone's cuppa tea(MANY hate the characters/cast of the film), but I'm a fan of this flick.

October 2007