After the cinematic high of I Walked with a Zombie it was inevitable that the pendulum would swing in the opposite direction. Specifically in the direction of 2002's Ritual, a loose remake of I Walked with a Zombie that stars Tim Curry, Jennifer Grey, and... the Crypt Keeper. How do the nuanced themes of the 1943 original interact with the salacious direct-to-DVD horror of this Tales from the Crypt production? Your intrepid zombie reporters John, Andy, and Brad are on the scene.

US Home theater release date: May 2, 2006

Movie poster

2002 US box office

2002 US horror box office

Theme music composed by Neil Dube.

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Based on Charlotte Bronte’s lyrical Jane Eyre and directed by legendary French director Jaques Tourneur, I Walked with a Zombie is a beautifully shot melodrama about… Wait what the hell is going on here?! Have John and Andy stumbled into the wrong podcast?! Or have they stumbled into… a good movie? Join us to discover what it is like when an auteur enters the zombie-verse!

Theme music composed by Neil Dube.

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US theatrical poster

1943 US Box Office

AFI Archive's file on I Walked with a Zombie

Inez Wallace original I Met A Zombie article

Article on Val Lewton

What is this? Bowery at Midnight stars Bela Lugosi as a kindly man running a soup kitchen for the down-and-out residents of the Bowery? Can you believe it !? Haha, no. We couldn't believe it either. As Bela builds his crimal empire, one of his henchmen secretly introduces one of the most critical Zombie Strains yet! Join John and Andy as they analyze the movie and share the startling results.

US theatrical release date: October 30, 1942

US theatrical release poster

1942 US box office

Theme music composed by Neil Dube.

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King of the Zombies is the next mini-boss for our intrepid zombie adventurers, John and Andy. This film has the increasingly familiar mad scientist mixed with voodoo mash-up. But King of the Zombies adds a twist…Not just a mad scientist, but a Nazi mad scientist... using his zombies to uncover American military secrets. Will his foul plan succeed?! Or will he become a victim of his own machinations? Tune in to find out!

US theatrical release date: May 14, 1941

US theatrical poster

AFI Archive

1942 Academy Award winners (for movies released in 1941)

Horror movies released in 1941

Theme music composed by Neil Dube.

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John and Andy get reckless and jump all the way to the present with The Gorge (2025) starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller. It is an action movie! And a love story! But is it a zombie movie? Join us as we try to figure out what The Gorge is trying to tell us about zombies today.

Movie Poster

2024 US Domestic Box Office

2024 US Horror Films Box Office

Interview with writer Zach Dean

Theme music composed by Neil Dube.

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Last episode, John and Andy watched the first zombie comedy, The Ghost Breakers (1940). This episode John and Andy watch the best zombie comedy. Like an oasis from the future in the desert of the 1940s, Shaun of the Dead arrives to remind us why we fell in love with zombie movies in the first place.

Original U.S. one sheet poster

2004 Box Office

2004 Horror Box Office

Edgar Wright's early influences

Theme music composed by Neil Dube.

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We have a new Strain of zombie movie! Our first zombie comedy, starring Bob Hope(!?), Paulette Goddard, and Willie Best. Released in 1940, it is one of the first horror comedies. Dan Akroyd even cites it as a huge influence on Ghostbusters! Join Andy and John in the lab to analyze all of these new zombie developments. Producer Brad tells the tale of how he met Bob Hope decades ago. Don’t miss it!

US Theatrical Release Date: October 30, 1942

Poster

Dan Ackroyd cites The Ghost Breakers as inspiration.

Top Grossing films of 1940

AFI Archive

Theme music composed by Neil Dube.

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Revolt of the Zombies (1936) is our fourth and final zombie film from the 1930s. Set in Cambodia during World War I, it was intended to be a sequel to White Zombie (1932). It trades Haitian voodoo zombies for ancient Asian zombies. It starts off with a collection of generals fearful that zombies will disrupt the balance of world power. In the end, this is another love story about a boy, standing in front a girl, asking her to love him, and using his zombie powers to make it come true.

US Theatrical Release Date: June 4, 1936

1947 Re-release Poster

AFI Archives

Movies released in 1936

Dean Jagger in Game of Death

Tere Shimado as Osato

History of Yamashiro restaurant

Rhodes, Gary D. White Zombie: Anatomy of a Horror Film. McFarland, 2006

Theme music composed by Neil Dube.

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After watching Maniac (1934), John and Andy are praying that the next zombie movie on their list, Ouanga (1936), is a return to the horror movies they love. What looked like another run-of-the-mill “voodoo” zombie movie contained an unexpectedly amazing performance. What other secrets does Ouanga hold?! Listen on your podcast app!

US Theatrical Release Date: 1942

Ouanga poster

Link to view restored version with discussion hosted by UCLA.

Theme music composed by Neil Dube.

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John and Andy take an unexpected turn on their zombie journey and stumble into Maniac (1934), an early exploitation flick. The film’s poster promises “dynamic sex lectures” and “strange loves exposed”, but the movie delivers mad scientists, murder, a cat named Satan and maybe one zombie.

US Theatrical Release Date: September 11, 1934

US One Sheet Poster

Theme music composed by Neil Dube.

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