The Plague of the Zombies

Year: 1966

Director: John Gilling

Written by: John Elder, Peter Bryan

Threat: Zombies

Weapon of Choice: Shovel

Based upon: Original

IMDb page: IMDb link

      The Plague of the Zombies

Other movies in this series:
None

The tyranist's thoughts
I find these Hammer films to be very refreshing while slogging through the piles of crap that we sometimes encounter in viewing movies for this page. They are stately and elegant where most horror movies are merely trying to entertain you long enough to get your buck and then don't care for the art at all.
A doctor and his daughter go to a country town to visit one of her school chums and the doctor that she married. There is a strange plague infesting the town and there have been 12 unexplainable deaths in the last year. Add to that the strange squire of the town, and maybe there's more here than meets the eye.
Shot at the same location (and time) as The Reptile, the setting contributes almost as much to the movie as the actors do. The fact that it features outstanding zombie make-up for such an early film doesn't hurt either. The plot is tense, but never suspenseful and the actors do a fine job. Really, it is just a top notch zombie movie that makes more sense than most. I would highly recommend checking this one out. You might find that you enjoy it.

Total Skulls: 6

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare skull
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence skull
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead skull
Killer wears a mask skull
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading skull
Blood fountain
Blood hits camera
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives skull
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?