Review of The Walking Dead (1936) by Bob W — 12 Jan 2014
Not to be confused with the zombie television series of the same name, Boris Karloff portrays a man falsely accused of murder, sentenced to the death penalty and restored to life by a mad scientist. What is it about Boris Karloff being brought back to life by mad scientists?. It's basically a gangster film until the last half hour--then the scary stuff kicks in. The film is very short -- 70 minutes -- and moves quickly.
The film's best moments feature Karloff's zombie rampage which have a touch of irony about them - not least because of the way that every member of the gang dies by his own hand through accident rather than Karloff's. Stand-out scene is definitely the fantastic build up to Karloff's undeserved execution, as sad cello music plays and prison guards banter about baseball while a man's life hangs in the balance.
Edmund Gwenn is also effective in one of his earlier roles as the doctor who brings Karloff back to life after he is wrongly executed: obsessed by an urge to learn what goes on after death, he drives Karloff on but the latter's only concern is to get even with the corrupt gang which set him up (including Ricardo Cortez's shady lawyer, Barton MacLane as one of his associates and Joe Sawyer as a hit-man, the real murderer).
This review of The Walking Dead (1936) was written by Bob W on 12 January 2014.
The Walking Dead has generally received positive reviews.
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