From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1957 film by Edward L. Cahn
Zombies of Mora Tau
(also known as
The Dead That Walk
) is a 1957
black-and-white
zombie
horror film
directed by
Edward L. Cahn
and starring Gregg Palmer,
Allison Hayes
and Autumn Russel. Distributed by
Columbia Pictures
, it was produced by
Sam Katzman
. The screenplay was written by
George H. Plympton
and
Bernard Gordon
.
Zombies of Mora Tau
was released on a
double bill
with another Katzman-produced film,
The Man Who Turned to Stone
(1957).
[1]
Plot
[
edit
]
A team of deep sea divers, led by wealthy American tycoon George Harrison (Ashley), attempt to salvage a fortune in diamonds from the wreckage of a ship that had sunk 60 years earlier off the coast of Africa. When the team arrives, they discover that the ship is cursed and the diamonds are protected by the ship's undead crew, now
zombies
, who are forced to guard the treasure until the diamonds are destroyed or the curse is finally lifted.
Cast
[
edit
]
Home media
[
edit
]
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
released the film on DVD in October 2007 as part of a two-disc, four-film set of Katzman-produced films called
Icons of Horror Collection: Sam Katzman
. The set contains
Zombies of Mora Tau
,
Creature with the Atom Brain
,
The Werewolf
and
The Giant Claw
.
[2]
[3]
A 2021
blu-ray
release by
Arrow Films
in the U.K. and USA grouped the same four films together alongside a few new extras in a box set called
Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman.
The film includes a commentary track by author and film critic Kat Ellinger.
Reception
[
edit
]
Drive-in
advertisement from 1957 for
Zombies of Mora Tau
and co-feature,
The Man Who Turned to Stone
.
David Maine of
PopMatters
rated the film 6 out of 10 stars and described it as "pretty entertaining overall, and enlivened immeasurably by Ms. Eaton’s feisty grandma".
[4]
TV Guide
rated it 2 out of 5 stars and called it "standard horror quality for grade-B films".
[5]
Writing in
The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia
, academic critic
Peter Dendle
said, "This awkward and talentless movie is nonetheless surprisingly prescient in zombie film history, anticipating a number of motifs that would reappear in later decades".
[6]
Zombiemania: 80 Movies to Die For
author Arnold T. Blumberg wrote that the film is "a fun late-night creature feature, but it's prone to boring passages and a low-rent production quality that never allows it to break out of the B-movie mold", adding that the film is "almost single-handedly saved by the
Maria Ouspenskaya
/
Celia Lovsky
stylings of actress Marjorie Eaton, who lends the film an impressive conviction as well as a wry approach to her already sharp dialogue".
[7]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]