Zombies On Broadway (1945)

Genre: Zombie, Comedy

Source: My Own Collection

Grade: B-

Zombies On Broadway is basically the Shaun Of The Dead of the 40s. Except unlike Shaun whose parodying  viscous flesh eating zombies from Dawn Of The Dead, Zombies On Broadway is a parody of the slower,and  traditional voodoo zombies of the movie I Walked With A Zombie. In the end however Zombies on Broadway achieves getting a couple laughs, provides some great Voodoo style sets, and really cool appearance of Bela Lugosi, but other than that its a bit slow and comes a little short of achieving a A list movie.

The story's about these two very "Abbott and Costello" like characters who get themselves in some hot water after they piss off there club owning/mobster boss and given in return the cast of going out to some creepy tropical islands and bringing back a REAL zombie for the nightclub. Along the way the cross paths with some unique characters like  Bela Lugosi's mad scientist character whose trying to cross science with dark voodoo magic, long story short; after a series of strange and silly events they get back to the club with a zombie only its not what you'd expect. The rest you'll just need to see yourself.

   The performances in this movie were pretty funny, or in the case of Bela Lugosi sinister as usual. Alan Carney had a very stooge style 40s comedy routine going on throughout the movie, not that am complaining or anything. Anne Jeffreys was also in the film as the seductive girl, I looked her up on IMDb and was amazed to see shes still alive and doing roles in movies! Finally Bela Lugosi was fun to watch as the mad scientist Professor Renault ( I wonder if his name as Renult is a nod or connection to the 30s mad scientist movie Dr.Renaults Secret?), though the only thing they're simply wasn't enough of was his character in the movie.

     Altogether I think this movie is probably not for everyone. On the other hand I personally had a good time watching it and laughed at a bunch of the gags and non offensive jokes. Now the DVD set this movie came in is one i`d really recommend to classic horror fans. Its called "Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics" it comes with four movies two of which are Frankenstein 1970 and The Walking Dead two of the best and most underrated Boris Karloff movies. All four of the movies are very well restored, though the only drawback is the special features are kinda skimpy, its just two trailers one for Frankenstein 1970 and the other for You'll Find Out. Then of course there are some commentaries on the DVDs. Oh well anyways Zombies On Broadway is a funny little zombie comedy from the 40s that if your curious enough to watch it i`d defiantly say check it out.