Valley of the Zombies
Entry updated 16 December 2024. Tagged: Film.
US film (1946). Republic Pictures. Directed by Philip Ford. Written by Royal K Cole, Sherman L Lowe, Dorrell McGowan and Stuart E McGowan. Cast includes Adrian Booth, Earle Hodgins, Ian Keith, Robert Livingston and Charles Trowbridge. 56 minutes. Black and white.
After a mysterious caped figure enters a hospital via the roof and a mislead whereby we expect a nurse to be his victim, we watch brain specialist Dr. Rufus Maynard (Trowbridge) inform his colleagues – who include Dr. Terry Evans (Livingston) and nurse Susan Drake (Booth) – that the institution's blood supply is continuing to disappear. Shortly after, the caped gentleman introduces himself to Maynard – he is Ormand Murks (Keith), placed in a mental institution five years ago by the doctor, mainly for his belief that regular blood transfusions would "guarantee him a kind of Immortality": a year later, though physically healthy, he had died in Maynard's presence and his body handed over to his brother, Fred (Hodgins). Murks – a former undertaker – now explains he had found a place in between life and death (see Eschatology), "a world of living dead", a result of investigations "in a land of voodoo rites and devil potions ... in the valley of the Zombie". A potion is used, but once taken only a regular intake of fresh blood will counteract its side-effects: thus the thefts of the hospital's supply. When Murks, behaving like a Drug addict, demands blood, Maynard replies that he will call for an ambulance; but Murks states he will not "be exhibited as some strange monstrosity before an amphitheatre of prying experimentalists" and – as they are the same blood type – takes Maynard's, assuring him "you'll have the pleasure of contributing to the cause of science". Horrified, Fred, who worked for the doctor and had been pilfering the blood on his brother's behalf, attempts to call the police, but is murdered too.
Whilst burying Maynard, Murks is interrupted and flees. The police investigate and interrogate Terry and Susan, whom they consider the main suspects – particularly when Fred's body is discovered in a freezer; they are released when a third, freshly killed body is found: like the other two it had been embalmed. Realizing the police still consider them involved, the pair decide to catch the murderer themselves. Their investigations lead them to Murks's old house, where they run into the police (who have been following them) and Murks, who kidnaps Susan and steals one of the police cars, driving it back to the hospital; however, that car has a phone with a broken off switch, enabling the pursuers to deduce his route by the sounds picked up by their phone. They find a hypnotized (see Hypnosis) Susan finishing the transfusion of fresh blood into Murks. A brief chase follows; Murks orders Susan to shoot Terry, but the police shoot him in time, breaking the hold he had over her.
With Murks being one of the living dead and craving blood, the film evokes both zombies and Vampires, though his behaviour is not that of a typical zombie and the blood is not drunk (though Dracula is clearly echoed when the caped Murks falls on Maynard). Given that he succeeded in becoming undead, his claims to be immortal (if he has regular blood transfusions) may not be unfounded. However, aside from Murks himself, the genre elements are only backstory: his endeavours "in the valley of the Zombie" take place before the film begins, where they do not strain the budget. The film we actually see is a disappointingly slight crime thriller with mild Horror and some romantic comedy (see Humour) elements. There are a couple of well-lit scenes, Keith gives a good performance as Murks, and the use of a broken radio to locate him is interesting even if far fetched; but there is little tension and the ending is rushed and anti-climactic. [SP]
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