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I Walked With a Zombie

Play trailer Poster for I Walked With a Zombie 1943 1h 9m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
85% Tomatometer 40 Reviews 74% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Canadian nurse Betsy Connell (Frances Dee) is hired to care for Jessica Holland (Christine Gordon), a woman on a Caribbean sugar plantation, who has a bizarre condition. The mysterious affliction baffles Betsy but when she falls for Jessica's husband, Paul (Tom Conway), she is determined to make him happy by curing his wife. However, in her quest, Betsy is drawn into the island's dark culture of voodoo and zombies and begins to uncover the Holland family's sinister secrets.
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I Walked With a Zombie

I Walked With a Zombie

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Critics Consensus

Evocative direction by Jacques Tourneur collides with the low-rent production values of exploitateer Val Lewton in I Walked with a Zombie, a sultry sleeper that's simultaneously smarmy, eloquent and fascinating.

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Critics Reviews

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Chuck Bowen Slant Magazine 10/21/2024
Controversial issues imbue the gothic hugger-mugger of this film and The Seventh Victim with intimacy and intensity. Go to Full Review
John L. Scott Los Angeles Times 09/28/2022
Tourneur apparently has that art of generating the "mystic atmosphere," which is so important in these eerie film plays. Go to Full Review
Wanda Hale New York Daily News 09/28/2022
2.5/4
It's good "escape" stuff, this RKO Radio production... A most dramatic beginning is offset by the confusion in the ending, but it will still give you the creeps, pretty nearly all the way through. Go to Full Review
Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Dec 30
3.5/4
A film that’s as poetic and dreamlike as it is suspenseful. Go to Full Review
Ed Kowalewski Buffalo News 09/28/2022
As a pure shocker, I Walked with a Zombie has its moments. Weird lighting effects and the Calypso music and singing of Sir Lancelot heighten the eerie illusion. Go to Full Review
Vance King Motion Picture Herald (Exhibitors Herald) 09/28/2022
Its many ingredients, most of them calculated to tingle the spine, are woven by producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourner in such fashion as to make them agreeable to the fans seeking thrills. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Ollie W @RT90619198 4d Very different from what would become the typical zombie movie. It is spooky in places but is a character-driven love story as much as a horror film. Good acting, an interesting location, and a charming time capsule of a time gone by. See more Homu L @AkemiLord May 3 Fantastic movie. I really enjoyed watching this. Great film! See more DanTheMan 2 @DanTheMan2150AD Oct 5 A rather existential, darkly poetic tale of undying love and sappy romantic melodrama, woven with Caribbean folklore, I Walked with a Zombie creeps along with eerie tread, a kind of Jane Eyre meets the undead, if you will. This slow, devastating, dark thing attempts to balance its many ingredients with a mystic atmosphere, but sadly ends up overcrowded with hokey dialogue and ponderous acting. The evocative direction of Jacques Tourneur clashes poorly with the low-budget production values and a thoroughly unengaging love story that takes centre stage, rendering this film a sultry sleeper, despite its promise of voodoo zombies roaming the plantation. The lighting, shadows, exotic setting, and music all contribute to the disconcerting atmosphere, but its slow pace and demand to be taken seriously do not align with the film's own internal logic; the two distinct narrative threads feel grossly misaligned with one another. It even offers multiple explanations for the events depicted without definitively endorsing any of them, which results in an immensely dissatisfying viewing experience. While there are a few creepy moments, mainly the fleeting appearances of the towering Carrefour, I Walked with a Zombie didn't do enough to engage me. It ultimately feels woefully underdeveloped as a horror film and painfully formulaic in its portrayal of human relations, even if it is quite fascinating from a production perspective. See more Lau S @LaurainSilentill 07/29/2025 I love this horror movie! Damn great! See more Madoka A @RT95510435 06/23/2025 Fantastic. Spooky. Funny. Great product! Really good! See more Robson C @RT82519826 06/09/2025 Uma enfermeira é contratada para cuidar da esposa de um rico fazendeiro no Caribe. A esposa comporta-se como uma zumbi, o que leva a enfermeira tentar usar o vodu para curá-la. Quem espera ver um filme de terror como os atuais, pode se decepcionar. Na verdade, ele encara uma produção B de Hollywood, porém com uma belíssima fotografia, um ambiente de mistério e tensão e uma história de amor. Um romance gótico e noir em pleno Caribe. O terror está em toda a ambientação das práticas vodu que, com certeza, deve ter amedrontado o público da época. Porém o personagem Carrefour ainda impressiona. É o típico romance onde temos uma mulher disputada por dois irmãos e, logo depois, surge uma outra, causando mais tensão. É uma produção classuda e atemporal. See more Read all reviews
I Walked With a Zombie

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Movie Info

Synopsis Canadian nurse Betsy Connell (Frances Dee) is hired to care for Jessica Holland (Christine Gordon), a woman on a Caribbean sugar plantation, who has a bizarre condition. The mysterious affliction baffles Betsy but when she falls for Jessica's husband, Paul (Tom Conway), she is determined to make him happy by curing his wife. However, in her quest, Betsy is drawn into the island's dark culture of voodoo and zombies and begins to uncover the Holland family's sinister secrets.
Director
Jacques Tourneur
Producer
Val Lewton
Screenwriter
Charlotte Brontë, Inez Wallace, Curt Siodmak, Ardel Wray
Production Co
RKO Pictures
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 8, 1943, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 1, 2009
Runtime
1h 9m
Sound Mix
Mono
Aspect Ratio
35mm
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