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White Zombie

 White Zombie
type
TVTItem
 White Zombie
label
White Zombie
 White Zombie
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WhiteZombie
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White Zombie is a 1932 horror film directed by Victor Halperin and starring Bela Lugosi. Based on the 1929 book The Magic Island by William Seabrook, this was the very first film to bring zombies to the silver screen, predating Night of the Living Dead by 36 years.Unhappy that Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy), the woman he loves, is marrying someone else, Haitian plantation owner Charles Beaumont (Robert Frazer) turns to the local Witch Doctor, "Murder" Legendre (Lugosi) to have things his way. Legendre uses his voodoo skills to have Madeleine seemingly die. After she's whisked away from her grave by Legendre and Beaumont, her husband Neil Parker (John Harron) learns the truth about her condition from missionary Dr. Bruner (Joseph Cawthorn) and together they set out to rescue her.The film is in the public domain, which means it can easily be found either online or included in almost any home video release containing public domain movies, though the versions found through said methods are of questionable quality. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Kino (their release contains both a heavily DNR-ladened version of the film and an uncleaned version) and by VCI Entertainment (their release has a version falling somewhere in between).James Rolfe highlighted this movie in the 2009 edition of Cinemassacre's Monster Madness, and he eventually did a three-part commentary on it with Mike Mattei.Followed in 1936 by Revolt of the Zombies, a loose unofficial sequel made by Victor Halperin with a different cast.Not to be confused with the band White Zombie, though this is where they got the name from.
 White Zombie
fetched
2024-04-28T00:17:41Z
 White Zombie
parsed
2024-04-28T00:17:41Z
 White Zombie
isPartOf
DBTropes
 White Zombie / int_1522d74
type
Technically-Living Zombie
 White Zombie / int_1522d74
comment
Technically-Living Zombie: Madeleine's condition as the eponymous "white zombie". The missionary Dr. Bruner implies that all of Legendre's victims are this, and that the idea of them being living corpses is superstitious nonsense.
 White Zombie / int_1522d74
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 White Zombie
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 White Zombie / int_1f6983f7
type
Ambiguous Situation
 White Zombie / int_1f6983f7
comment
Ambiguous Situation: The carriage driver in the opening scene states that the zombies are the corpses of men who Legendre killed and reanimated from the grave. Dr. Bruner maintains that Legendre's victims are alive, just having lost their minds, and that he gave them the illusion of death so he could kidnap them. Madeline seems to be the latter, as Legendre's death and possibly The Power of Love are enough to make her come to her senses. This also appears to be the case with Beaumont.
 White Zombie / int_1f6983f7
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 White Zombie / int_2317bc85
type
Tampering with Food and Drink
 White Zombie / int_2317bc85
comment
Tampering with Food and Drink: Legendre poisons Beaumont's glass of wine to turn him into a zombie.
 White Zombie / int_2317bc85
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 White Zombie / int_3a8ac552
type
All in the Eyes
 White Zombie / int_3a8ac552
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All in the Eyes: Hey, it wouldn't be a Lugosi flick without this.
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 White Zombie / int_454e6cf5
type
Hypnotic Eyes
 White Zombie / int_454e6cf5
comment
Hypnotic Eyes: When Beaumont orders Silver to attack Legendre, he hypnotizes him and he is helplessly carried away by his zombies.
 White Zombie / int_454e6cf5
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 White Zombie / int_4712bc4f
type
Exact Eavesdropping
 White Zombie / int_4712bc4f
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Exact Eavesdropping: Beaumont has his butler Silver eavesdrop on his guests.
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1.0
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 White Zombie / int_504a1991
type
Body Horror
 White Zombie / int_504a1991
comment
Body Horror: Much of this movie doesn't age well, but this trope is used for a thoroughly chilling moment. While Madeleine fell directly into her non-death after taking a full dose of Legendre's potion, Beaumont realizes what's up after taking only a sip of the poisoned wine. The result for him is even worse—he changes into a zombie slowly, while being awake and aware the whole time, but unable to talk. The scene where a twitching, wild-eyed Beaumont just manages to extend a hand in supplication to Legendre, only for Legendre to brusquely brush it away, is quite disturbing.
 White Zombie / int_504a1991
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 White Zombie / int_52488c54
type
Drowning My Sorrows
 White Zombie / int_52488c54
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Drowning My Sorrows: After Madeleine's "death" and burial, Parker hits the bar.
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 White Zombie / int_5a23602
type
Big Ol' Eyebrows
 White Zombie / int_5a23602
comment
Big Ol' Eyebrows: Sported by Chauvin, one of Legendre's zombies.
 White Zombie / int_5a23602
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1.0
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 White Zombie / int_5bdcc85a
type
Disney Villain Death
 White Zombie / int_5bdcc85a
comment
Disney Villain Death: Legendre dies when Beaumont uses his last ounce of will to push him over a ledge to the rocks below.
 White Zombie / int_5bdcc85a
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1.0
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White Zombie / int_5bdcc85a
 White Zombie / int_60fa92ac
type
Names to Run Away from Really Fast
 White Zombie / int_60fa92ac
comment
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: MURDER Legendre.
 White Zombie / int_60fa92ac
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 White Zombie / int_720e0c25
type
Grave Robbing
 White Zombie / int_720e0c25
comment
Grave Robbing: After her burial, Madeleine's body is stolen from her grave by Legendre's zombies.
 White Zombie / int_720e0c25
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1.0
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White Zombie / int_720e0c25
 White Zombie / int_915242d3
type
Pstandard Psychic Pstance
 White Zombie / int_915242d3
comment
Pstandard Psychic Pstance: Legendre employs his hypnotic powers by hand gestures, usually by clenching them together.
 White Zombie / int_915242d3
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1.0
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 White Zombie / int_b1346878
type
Fate Worse than Death
 White Zombie / int_b1346878
comment
Fate Worse than Death: Parker's initial reaction when Bruner informs him that Madeleine may not actually be dead.
 White Zombie / int_b1346878
featureApplicability
1.0
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 White Zombie / int_b47d95be
type
No OSHA Compliance
 White Zombie / int_b47d95be
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No OSHA Compliance: One of the Undead Laborers at the sugar mill is shown tripping over and falling into the sugar cane grounder, and is crushed to death by the machine's uncaring operators.
 White Zombie / int_b47d95be
featureApplicability
1.0
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 White Zombie / int_cf0e23dd
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TrillingRs
 White Zombie / int_cf0e23dd
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Trilling Rs: Legendre is fond of this:
 White Zombie / int_cf0e23dd
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 White Zombie / int_d9d8fd35
type
Battle Butler
 White Zombie / int_d9d8fd35
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Battle Butler: Silver tries to attack Legendre after Beaumont calls on him for aid. Legendre promptly mesmerizes him into immobility and has his zombie servants dispatch him.
 White Zombie / int_d9d8fd35
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1.0
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White Zombie / int_d9d8fd35
 White Zombie / int_dd234c2f
type
Hallucinations
 White Zombie / int_dd234c2f
comment
Hallucinations: After drinking little too much, Parker starts seeing visions of Madeleine around the bar.
 White Zombie / int_dd234c2f
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1.0
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 White Zombie / int_f1731583
type
Wheel of Pain
 White Zombie / int_f1731583
comment
Wheel of Pain: Legendre's sugar mill runs on such contraption, which is operated by his tireless zombies.
 White Zombie / int_f1731583
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1.0
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 White Zombie / int_f769e261
type
Anything but That!
 White Zombie / int_f769e261
comment
Anything but That!: Beaumont's reaction when he realizes what is coming up to him after Legendre poisons him.
 White Zombie / int_f769e261
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1.0
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 White Zombie
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 White Zombie / int_f9f2c33
type
Running Gag
 White Zombie / int_f9f2c33
comment
Running Gag: "Excuse me, please. Have you got a match?"
 White Zombie / int_f9f2c33
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 White Zombie / int_ffc3ced9
type
Voodoo Zombie
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Voodoo Zombie: Legendre's slaves are classic voodoo zombies—either living people or reanimated corpses that have been enslaved by voodoo magic to serve a master. The later idea of zombies as monsters out to eat people was basically invented by George A. Romero in Night of the Living Dead (1968) over thirty years after this movie.
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 White Zombie / int_name
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White Zombie

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 White Zombie
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Anything but That! / int_54b0bff5
 White Zombie
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B-Movie / int_54b0bff5
 BelaLugosi
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White Zombie
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Hollywood Voodoo / int_54b0bff5
 White Zombie
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Pstandard Psychic Pstance / int_54b0bff5
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Undead Laborers / int_54b0bff5
 White Zombie
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Voodoo Zombie / int_54b0bff5
 White Zombie
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Wheel of Pain / int_54b0bff5