Movie Review: King of the Zombies (1941)

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Synopsis: A transport plane carrying three passengers crash lands on a remote Caribbean island after picking up a radio signal believed to be from a missing admiral. The men discover and take refuge in a mansion owned by Dr. Miklos Sangre. 

Sangre is hospitable but also suspicious and the men soon learn he is both hiding a radio and has been creating an army of zombies that includes his wife, Alyce.

Who's in it? The movie stars Dick Purcell, Joan Woodbury, Mantan Moreland, Henry Victor and Marguerite Whitten


Review: It's been a while since I last watched a zombie-themed movie, so I decided to give King of the Zombies a chance this morning. After watching it, I would describe it as a film with promise that proved to be a disappointment in no small part because it seemed to have a hard time picking a genre.

As far as the main plot goes, it was OK albeit far from original. The island setting, with no apparent means of escape, worked for the zombie theme and I thought the decision to have Sangre (Victor) also be a foreign spy was a nice touch. There was also a bit of a mystery surrounding the zombies themselves, including a question about if they really were zombies brought back from the dead or just people Sangre had hypnotized into that zombie-like state.

The problem with this film is it didn't seem to know if it was supposed to be a suspenseful horror movie or a comedy. The plot would suggest the former, but Mantan Moreland dominates the screen time and there are a lot of jokes/lighthearted moments as a result. I love Moreland's comedy, but it just didn't seem to fit, at least in such a large dose.

Having his Jeff Jefferson be the main character by default, despite not giving him top billing, also left a whole lot of questions, including why, instead of killing him and turning him into a real zombie, Sangre just chose to hypnotize him (poorly) into believing he was one when there seemed to be zero benefit for showing that kind of mercy.

I thought the film's ending was OK, though I also didn't think it tied up things in a way that fully explained Sangre's motivations. This, like many others from the era, is a film that might have benefited from a 90-minute length rather than a 60-minute runtime just so it could flesh out some of the concepts and not feel as rushed at the end.

Final Opinion: Mantan Moreland is very funny, but the rest of the film just doesn't seem to be the right fit for that comedy and would have been better as a serious horror film.

My Grade: C

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Here are some reviews of other zombie movies:

Movie Review: Zombie Tidal Wave (2019)

Movie Review: Hell of the Living Dead (1980)

Movie Review: Pro Wrestlers vs Zombies (2014)

Movie Review: The Dead Don't Die (2019)

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