Universal Studios "Zombies"?

[PNGwynne]

So, the other zombie thread, & my thoughts about a Mad Monster Zombie, have me wondering why Universal didn't do zombie films.

Sure, the studio's The Mad Ghoul pretty much a zombie film, and the earlier White Zombie (a favorite of mine) is in the studio's style. But no "classic" zombie film?

Then it struck me: the Kharis mummy films are zombie films. If Imhotep is a reworking of Dracula, then lumbering Kharis can be seen as a zombie:

*houngan becomes high-priest

*voodoo becomes ancient Egyptian rite

* Haitian drugs/hypnosis becomes tana leaf brew

Imhotep is powerful and self-willed, but Kharis is controlled by the priest yet liable to run amuck, like a traditional zombie.

What do you think--has anyone else thought of this?

[hedrap]

Dracula, Mummy and Frankenstein are the foundations for current zombies, and those were built upon Nosferatu, Der Golem and Caligari.

Universal didn't make one simply because the current zombie form didn't exist. White Zombie was the conceptual norm of a zombie at the time.

Consider NOTLD is a rip on I Am Legend, which was originally a world of vampires. Romero made them closer to Mummy/Frankenstein's in action. We then see the savagery usually with werewolves cross into zombie films because of the advent of make-up/special effects, with Amerian Werewolf the most overt blending.

You can breakdown a lot of 70's/80's horror into the master classifications. Jason/Michael Myers are mummys, Freddy is a vampire, Evil Dead is vampire/werewolf. Hellraiser is a ghost story, etc...

[PNGwynne]

^Yes, but I mean a classic (folkloric) zombie, not a "current" cannibalistic one. The later mummy movies have most of the tropes of zombie films as laid out in WZ--why did Universal do Mummy films instead, and "reinvent" Imhotep as a less formidable version? You would see the golem as inspiration for the mummy as opposed to Frankenstein's monster?

The only other zombie film I know of is Lewton's I Walked with a Zombie.

[ubermanx]

I think a modern take on the zombie lacks character and would not have been successful back in the Universal Monsters era.

Most zombie movies feature a host of them and no single zombie stands out unlike Frakenstein's monster or Dracula. There is just no identity to a zombie.

You make a movie with zombies in them while you make "a Dracula" movie.

There is no doubt in my mind however that movies like The Mummy influenced the future development of a cinema zombie.

- Marty

[Werewolf]

But no "classic" zombie film?

My guess, it didn't really fit with their gothic style and atmosphere. Vampires and Werewolves are deeply ingrained in European folklore and they likely went with Mummies over Zombies because of the intense public fascination of Mummies at the time. Stoker's Jewel of the seven Stars was probably also of influence.

[hedrap]

^ Public fascination is exactly right.

Tut's tomb was discovered in '22, but they didn't finish the excavation until '32. During this time, the Curse legend had taken hold.

IIRC, this was either mentioned on the Mummy DVD audio commentary or a Uni horror book.

[thunderbolt]

White Zombie works pretty well as a Universal type movie. There was another that I can't think of right now that would work, too. King of the Zombies fits the mold sort of, it was just made a bit later.