
The film that gave the zombie genre its name — and its first truly iconic image. Bela Lugosi, fresh from Dracula, plays Murder Legendre, a Haitian sugar mill owner who uses voodoo to raise the dead as his personal slave workforce. When a young bride arrives on the island, Legendre is hired by a wealthy rival to zombify her, and the results are as creepy as early horror gets: dead-eyed workers marching in lockstep through the cane fields, Lugosi's hypnotic stare boring through the camera, and a pervasive atmosphere of tropical dread. Shot on the old Universal horror sets in just eleven days for almost nothing, the film overcomes its low budget through sheer visual ambition and Lugosi's commanding screen presence. It's the origin point for every zombie film that followed, from Night of the Living Dead to The Walking Dead, and it's still genuinely unsettling.
The film that gave the zombie genre its name — and its first truly iconic image. Bela Lugosi, fresh from Dracula, plays Murder Legendre, a Haitian sugar mill owner who uses voodoo to raise the dead as his personal slave workforce. When a young bride arrives on the island, Legendre is hired by a wealthy rival to zombify her, and the results are as creepy as early horror gets: dead-eyed workers marching in lockstep through the cane fields, Lugosi's hypnotic stare boring through the camera, and a pervasive atmosphere of tropical dread. Shot on the old Universal horror sets in just eleven days for almost nothing, the film overcomes its low budget through sheer visual ambition and Lugosi's commanding screen presence. It's the origin point for every zombie film that followed, from Night of the Living Dead to The Walking Dead, and it's still genuinely unsettling.

Bela Lugosi
Legendre

Madge Bellamy
Madeleine Short Parker

John Harron
Neil Parker

Robert Frazer
Charles Beaumont

Joseph Cawthorn
Dr. Bruner

Frederick Peters
Chauvin, a zombie
George Burr Macannan
Von Gelder, a zombie

Brandon Hurst
Silver

Clarence Muse
Coach Driver

Dan Crimmins
Pierre, the friendly witch doctor
John Printz
Ledot, a zombie
Claude Morgan
Zombie
John Fergusson
Zombie
Annette Stone
Maid
Velma Gresham
Maid
cinematographer
writer