I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943)

Way before George Romero made zombies the flesh-eating ghouls we all know and love, the word “zombie” meant walking corpses working under the rule of a Voodoo priest. And of all the early horror movies dealing with zombies, this is one of the best. It’s all about this woman who is hired as a nurse to take care of the wife of a Caribbean sugar plantation’s owner. The wife is in a semi-comatose state, basically sleepwalking, supposedly due to a tropical fever. The nurse soon suspects that the wife has been cursed and is a living zombie. She tries to cure her, even though she’s falling for the husband the whole time. There’s also some intrigue with the husband’s brother, who is also in love with the zombie wife. Jacques Tourneur directs everything with a creepy atmosphere and his typical restraint, and the performances are all really convincing. Carrefour is scary as hell! If you’re tired of the flesh-ripping and gore-spouting zombie flicks of today, give this a shot.