Rating: 4.5/5
Hooptober 9.0 | 8/34 | Decades 2/8 | 1940s
Zombies do not speak, cannot fend for themselves, do not even know their names. Their fate is enslavement. — Alexander Nemerov, Icons of Grief: Val Lewton's Home Front Pictures
A doctor calls in Betsy Connell (Frances Dee), a nurse, to interview her. He asks her if she believes in witchcraft. She laughs it off, but he persists. He offers Betsy a job as a nurse for Jessica Holland, the wife of a sugar plantation owner named Paul Holland. She would need to live with them on the island of St. Sebastian.
On the island, Betsy learns that the Afro-Caribbean population of St. Sebastian all descend from slaves brought over by Mr. Holland’s ancestors.
The islanders practice Vodou, performing services at a houmfort hidden in the sugar fields.
Betsy sees a woman in a flowing gown walking the garden paths that night. Curious, she follows her into a tower. The light on the stairwell leads Betsy upward, her hands against the shadows on the wall. From the shadows comes the woman, her sunken eyes gazing nowhere as she approaches Betsy. Betsy screams, alerting the others. This is Jessica Holland, the woman for whom she will be caring.
Everything good dies here, even the stars.
Jessica’s condition drove Paul’s half-brother, Wesley, to drink.
Betsy overhears a song detailing Wesley and Jessica’s affair. They planned to leave the island, but Paul locked her in the tower. From there, Jessica developed a fever that irreparably damaged her spinal cord.
Betsy’s endeavors to bring Jessica back to Paul are unsuccessful. Paul’s mother suggests that Betsy take Jessica to see the hougan at the houmfort.
According to the island population, Jessica is a zombie.
The lighting in this is immaculate. Groups of people each get key lighting, settings lush with stretching shadows and darkness.
The film’s finale sent a chill up my spine — one of the greatest horror endings I’ve seen.
Symbols of racial violence are the specters that haunt this island, personified in Carrefour, the black zombie walking the island.
Likewise, the garden includes the statue of St. Sebastian, once the masthead of the slave ship. Water pours like sweat and tears, arrows piercing his body, suffering in silence.