Line #12 Film/WhiteZombie


1	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/white_zombie.jpg]]
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3	->'''Neil Parker:''' Who are you? And what are they?\
4	'''Legendre:''' For you, my friend, they are the angels of death.
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6	''White Zombie'' is a 1932 horror film directed by Victor Halperin and starring Creator/BelaLugosi. Based on the 1929 book ''The Magic Island'' by William Seabrook, this was the very first film to bring zombies to the silver screen, predating ''[[Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968 Night of the Living Dead]]'' by 36 years.
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8	Unhappy that Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy), the woman he loves, is marrying someone else, Haitian plantation owner Charles Beaumont (Robert Frazer) turns to the local WitchDoctor, "Murder" Legendre (Lugosi) to have things his way. Legendre uses his voodoo skills to have Madeleine seemingly die. After she's whisked away from her grave by Legendre and Beaumont, her husband Neil Parker (John Harron) learns the truth about her condition from missionary Dr. Bruner (Joseph Cawthorn) and together they set out to rescue her.
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10	The film is in the public domain, which means it can easily be found either online or included in almost any home video release containing public domain movies, though the versions found through said methods are of questionable quality. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Kino (their release contains both a [[DigitalDestruction heavily DNR-ladened version]] of the film and an uncleaned version) and by VCI Entertainment (their release has a version falling somewhere in between).
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12	Creator/JamesRolfe highlighted this movie in the 2009 edition of ''WebVideo/CinemassacresMonsterMadness'', and he eventually did a three-part commentary on it with Mike Mattei.
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14	Followed in 1936 by ''Revolt of the Zombies'', a loose unofficial sequel made by Victor Halperin with a different cast.
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16	Not to be confused with the band [[Music/RobZombie White Zombie]], though this is where they got the name from.
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18	----
19	!!This film has examples of:
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21	* AllInTheEyes: Hey, it wouldn't be a Lugosi flick without this.
22	* AmbiguousSituation: The carriage driver in the opening scene states that the zombies are the corpses of men who Legendre killed and reanimated from the grave. Dr. Bruner maintains that Legendre's victims are alive, just having lost their minds, and that he gave them the illusion of death so he could kidnap them. Madeline ''seems'' to be the latter, [[spoiler: as Legendre's death and possibly ThePowerOfLove are enough to make her come to her senses]]. [[spoiler: This also appears to be the case with Beaumont.]]
23	* AnythingButThat: Beaumont's reaction when he realizes what is coming up to him after Legendre poisons him.
24	* BigOlEyebrows: Sported by Chauvin, one of Legendre's zombies.
25	* BodyHorror: Much of this movie doesn't age well, but this trope is used for a thoroughly chilling moment. While Madeleine fell directly into her non-death after taking a full dose of Legendre's potion, Beaumont realizes what's up after taking only a sip of the poisoned wine. The result for him is even worse--he changes into a zombie ''slowly'', while being awake and aware the whole time, but unable to talk. The scene where a twitching, wild-eyed Beaumont just manages to extend a hand in supplication to Legendre, only for Legendre to brusquely brush it away, is quite disturbing.
26	* DisneyVillainDeath: Legendre dies when Beaumont uses his last ounce of will to push him over a ledge to the rocks below.
27	* DrowningMySorrows: After Madeleine's "death" and burial, Parker hits the bar.
28	* ExactEavesdropping: Beaumont has his butler Silver eavesdrop on his guests.
29	* FateWorseThanDeath: Parker's initial reaction when Bruner informs him that Madeleine may not actually be dead.
30	-->'''Parker''': Surely you don't think she's alive, in the hands of natives? Oh, no. Better dead than that!
31	* GraveRobbing: After her burial, Madeleine's body is stolen from her grave by Legendre's zombies.
32	* {{Hallucinations}}: After drinking little too much, Parker starts seeing visions of Madeleine around the bar.
33	%%* HollywoodVoodoo
34	* HypnoticEyes: When Beaumont orders Silver to attack Legendre, he hypnotizes him and he is helplessly carried away by his zombies.
35	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: MURDER Legendre.
36	* NoOSHACompliance: One of the UndeadLaborers at the sugar mill is shown tripping over and falling into the sugar cane grounder, and is crushed to death by the machine's uncaring operators.
37	%%* OurZombiesAreDifferent: See Voodoo Zombie below.
38	* PstandardPsychicPstance: Legendre employs his hypnotic powers by hand gestures, usually by clenching them together.
39	* RunningGag: "Excuse me, please. Have you got a match?"
40	* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Legendre poisons Beaumont's glass of wine to turn him into a zombie.
41	* TechnicallyLivingZombie: Madeleine's condition as the eponymous "white zombie".
42	** The missionary Dr. Bruner implies that ''all'' of Legendre's victims are this, and that the idea of them being living corpses is superstitious nonsense.
43	* TrillingRs: Legendre is fond of this:
44	-->'''Legendre''': ''For the futurrrrre, monsieur!''
45	%%* VillainousWidowsPeak: Legendre.
46	* VoodooZombie: Legendre's slaves are classic voodoo zombies--either living people or reanimated corpses that have been enslaved by voodoo magic to serve a master. The later idea of zombies as monsters out to eat people was basically invented by Creator/GeorgeARomero in ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968'' over thirty years after this movie.
47	* WheelOfPain: Legendre's sugar mill runs on such contraption, which is operated by his tireless zombies.

Context Film / WhiteZombie