Admittedly, I had to skip a movie, The Mad Ghoul, because I couldn't find it anywhere. I could, of course, pay for it but, if I wanted to pay to get over my ambulothanatophobia, I'd just throw in the towel and go to a psychiatrist. Then ater months of yapping about myself and finally concluding that I shouldn't have watched Night of The Living Dead at 6 years old (I already know that) they'd somehow blame it all on my mother which would lead to many more years of therapy. I'd rather just skip the movies I can't find for free! The one thing I can tell you about the Mad Ghoul is that it was Universal Pictures first zombie movie and starred George Zucco as a mad doctor who, accidentally, creates a zombie that needs human hearts to survive. As with King of the Zombies, The Mad Ghoul teeters on the point that zombies desire human flesh and never pushes the audience's limits but settles on a series of heart transfusions instead.
On to Revenge of The Zombies which was a quickly made follow up to King of The Zombies. It sticks to the same basic storyline we keep seeing in the classics. Mad Dr. VonAlderman decides to create an "army of the living dead that doesn't need to be fed and can't be stopped by bullets" to fight for the Third Reich. This created a believable nemesis considering WWII was in full swing and the Third Reich was enemy #1 in the real world. It plays out a little boring because it is so predictable. There is no mystery to the Mad Doctor who reveals his intentions in the middle of the movie, spoiling any hope for a climax that existed up to that point. The characters split off into 4 different groups creating too many sub plots to follow and making the movie a little confusing. All while Jeff, the servant, is the only one to see any real zombie action.
Then we have Dr. VonAlderman's zombie wife who just doesn't like to follow orders and starts the "revenge" part of the story. It was nice to see the lady zombie as the hero because the rest of the film was pretty sexist. Who is this writer Edmond Kelso; first racism and now sexism? I'm not kidding, at one point the secretary states that her boss (VonAlderman) is very patient with her because shes not very competent. It was completely unnecessary dialogue and who would employ an incompetent secretary when they've got a zombie army to create? After a confused VonAlderman states "What greater destiny does my wife achieve than to serve me?", he's chased into a swamp by his zombie army led by his disobedient zombie wife to meet his doom. I actually enjoyed the ending although you knew exactly what was going to happen. Oh well. On a side note, if you're ever being chased by zombies, its probably not the best idea to run into a swamp.
Similar to King of The Zombies, this flick included both Mantan Moreland and Madame Sul-Te-Wan as servants. These two spent the majority of their careers playing the exact same characters they play in both of these movies. To top things off for him, Mantan Moreland's characters were more often than not a servant named Jeff. He was a very talented comedic actor but was, unfortunately, type-cast as the often hysterical servant. Audiences just wouldn't put up with that stereotype and his career came to a screeching halt during the civil rights movement.
The movie had some really funny moments when Jeff (Moreland) was in the scene. It was full of creepy music and eery shadows cast all over the place. There was a lot more zombie action in this movie than the others and I would have to say, probably the only one so far to make zombies the focus. Although, there were some love matches in the final scene which were completely nonsensical. The movie took place over the course of one evening and I have no idea how these people found time to fall in love. I would say you could probably skip this one but, like I mentioned before, its the only one to really focus on zombies and had some genuinely creepy (not scary) moments that might make it worth your while.
Stats for Revenge of The Zombies...
Style of zombie: Classic
Threat to humans: yes, when they are commanded
Dead or alive: dead
How they become zombies: potions of a Mad Doctor
Other: the zombies howl at each other to communicate
How to kill them: they can't be killed, only released from their spell
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