Zombie Strains

Our old friend Bela Lugosi makes his return to the Zombie Strains laboratory… this time with a laboratory of his own! He’s concocting a desperate plan to bring his beloved wife back from the dead by stealing the life essence of innocent young women. Can he be stopped?! And more importantly, is there a new strain of zombie here? Join John, Andy, and Producer Brad as they enter the tangled web of the Voodoo Man!

US release date: February 21, 1944

Movie Poster

Horror movies from 1944

1945 Academy Awards

Theme music composed by Neil Dube.

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More Nazi zombies! The elite of the German army have been on ice since the end of WWII. Doctor Norberg must perfect his technique of reanimating his zombicles before his plans are foiled by his… niece? Join the Zombie Strains crew as they encounter animated body parts! Talking severed heads! Attempted murder by potted plant! Can they survive The Frozen Dead? BONUS: Stay tuned to the end where John and Andy sneak into the sub-sub-sub cellar of the Zombies Strains Lab to analyze The Last of Us.

US Theatrical release date: November 15, 1967

US Theatrical movie poster.

1966 Box Office

1967 Academy Awards

Theme music composed by Neil Dube.

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John, Andy, and Producer Brad travel deep into the swamps of Louisiana hot on the trail of a new zombie strain: The Nazi Super Soldier! Revenge of the Zombies has it all - Mad science, German spies, switched identities, and (best of all) podcast favorite Mantan Moreland. But there’s more! If you listen closely you’ll hear the first cinematic instance of brains being the key to a zombie’s existence.

Pack a snack and join us on our journey to uncover the next step in zombie evolution.

SHOW NOTES:

US Theatrical release date: September 17, 1943

Poster

1943 Box office results

1943 Horror films

Theme music composed by Neil Dube.

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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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