It's no secret that I am a huge fan of Bela Lugosi. This is my second favourite film of his. My first is 'The Human Monster.' I may write about it, but at the moment, I haven't made up my mind on that one.
In this film, Madeleine and her fiancé, Neil, make their way to Charles Beaumont's property in Haiti. On the road, they meet a mysterious stranger who they later discover is a practitioner of the evil branch of voodoo. He and some of his zombie entourage approach their carriage and he forcibly steals Madeleine's scarf.
It becomes clear that Charles is not just a friend to the happy couple. He is deeply in love with Madeleine to the point of obsession. He meets with the strange voodoo practitioner, 'Murder' Legendre, in secret at the latter's sugar cane mill. Charles watches in horror at Legendre's employees--a horde of mindless zombies. As one zombie falls into the mill, and the others don't stop powering the machine thereby causing the zombie to be ground up in the machinery, Charles is clearly conflicted as to if he has made the best choice. He goes through with his meeting anyway. He wants a means to make Madeleine elect to marry him rather than Neil. Legendre tells him the only way is to turn Madeleine into a zombie by way of a powder that can be ingested or inhaled. Charles agrees, determining Madeline's fate, and his own.
Legendre revives her as a zombie after she dies soon after the wedding ceremony. Neil goes practically out of his mind in despair. He's haunted by visions of Madeleine and eventually visits her tomb, which he discovers is empty of any sign of his former bride. He consults a Dr. Bruner, a local missionary. It is from Dr. Bruner that Neil discovers Legendre's practice of turning his enemies into zombies. He has even turned his own previous voodoo master into a mindless slave. Neil suspects this may be what has happened to his beloved, and they hatch a plan to save the lovely Madeline.
Charles realizes the error of his decision as Madeline shows no signs of recognition nor emotion when she sees him. In fact, she exhibits no emotional response to anything. He didn't think things through when he made the decision to have her transformed. Eventually, Charles discovers he, too, has been affected by Legendre's powers.
I won't spoil the ending for those who haven't seen this yet. Even though this film has been around for a number of decades, I don't like to think that I ruined someone's potential viewing by giving the game away. Instead, here is the film for you to discover what happens! Happy viewing!
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