First zombie movie

[Madman Marz]

Hey, a friend and myself were watching the greats in zombie movies(Night, Dawn, Day, Fulci trilogy) and we began to wonder. What was the first zombie movie and where the idea for a zombie came from? Any knowledge of any of this would be helpful. Thanks for your time you schmoes.

[VicVega]

The oldest zombie movie I can think of is White Zombie which was made in 1932 and it starred Bela Lugosi and Madge Bellamy. Its a zombie movie where voodoo is the reason for their zombification and not chemicals.

http://images.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/6040h.jpg

[This message has been edited by VicVega (edited 08-17-2002).]

[The Professional]

the modern zombie was of course pioneered by romero in Night of the Living Dead, which of course ripped off of last man on earth and carnival of souls.

[Romero&Juliet]

how Did Romero Rip off Carnival of Souls????? I'd really like to hear what you have to say aobut this..

before I beat you to Death!!!! http://www.joblo.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[Madman Marz]

Come on guys. To each his own....opinion. Thanks for the info VicVega.

[This message has been edited by Madman Marz (edited 08-17-2002).]

[Romero&Juliet]

gawd, I was kidding Marz!!

I actually would like to know where the professional is coming from though..

[Boogeyman]

Sorry not any useful info that was asked for, but WHITE ZOMBIE was the movie ROB ZOMBIE named his old band name after. Before he changed the name to just Rob Zombie.

just thought id share that.

later

[Dr. Freudstein]

The movie White Zombie is awesome/ This is one of my all time favorite horror films from the 1930's....Bela Lugosi Is in top form as a voodoo master of Haiti...Awesome,,Has anyone ever seen the sequel..Revolt of the Zombies?

[The Professional]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Romero&Juliet:
gawd, I was kidding Marz!!

I actually would like to know where the professional is coming from though..</font>

ok, so carnival of souls is not really like it one bit, but LMOE is so like it its not even funny.

[Romero&Juliet]

*sigh* I've actually heard that Last Man On Earth is really similar to NOTLD..Haven't seen it though. http://www.joblo.com/ubb/frown.gif perhaps I should..

[Juice]

Here's some zombie information for ya:

If you look at the oldest information about zombies, you'll see they come from Haïti. They where brought alive with voodoo and used for slavery on the land. Very handy, since original zombies don't feel, think, see, hear or talk. They weren't evil, like the zombies we know now.
On Haïti, there are a lot of stories about zombies. There are even people in hospitals who do nothing, just stare; some people believe they are zombies.
On Haïti, there are bokors, (witchdoctors) who're known for turning criminals into zombies if they don't leave the village.
According to the oldest stories, this is how a zombie is made:
The bokor drives to the house of his victim, on a horse. He puts his lips on the keyhole and sucks his victims soul out, and then puts it in a bottle. He puts the cork on the bottle and the soul is stuck. The victim becomes ill and dies. After the funeral, the victim is token from his grave, the bokor calls his name and the victim stands up and is now a slave of the bokor, a zombie.
Another way is putting zombiepowder on your victim, a powder made out of different plants, frogs and human bones.
The only way to stop a zombie, is feeding him salt, so he'll remember he's dead and return to his grave.

Of course zombies are different these days... thank Romero for that.

[Juice]

And actually, you can call Frankenstein's monster a zombie too; after all, it is a man made out of corpses; you can call him a walking corpse. That means the very first zombie movie was also the very first horrormovie, the ten minutes long Frankenstein. You can't get the film anymore, there are only some pictures left.

[FeydRautha]

If you want to talk strictly about film history, I suggest you check out a film called "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" by Robert Weine (1920). It's a silent film that in my opinion is the first zombie movie.

For years many have mistaken it for a silent vampire movie (probably because it was made in Germany around the time Nosferatu was being cooked up by F.W. Murnau). If anyone can find a zombie flick made earlier than this one, please post, I'd love to learn about it.

[Bomont the Destroyer]

Romero didn't rip off Carnival of Souls but I heard he was influenced by it. Him and a million other people. I haven't seen Night of the Living Dead in several years so I can't really comment.