What It's About:

Val Lewton double feature on a single DVD includes two of the producer's landmark films: first, director Jacques Tourneur's "I Walked A Zombie" (1943), about nurse Betsy Connell (Dee), hired by handsome, mysterious Paul Holland (Conway) to care for his wife on his remote Caribbean plantation. It seems Mrs. Holland suffers from some severe mental distress which keeps her in a perpetually zombified state. Could the island's mysterious voodoo rituals be responsible for her condition? The second entry, Robert Wise's "The Body Snatcher" (1945) takes us back to the late nineteenth century, when a shortage of cadavers forces Doctor MacFarlaine (Henry Daniell) to employ sinister grave-robber John Gray (Karloff) to keep him adequately supplied. Soon the doctor's protégé Russell Wade (Donald Fettes) discovers this dirty little secret, and this, combined with Gray holding MacFarlaine's crimes over him, brings matters to a violent head.

Why I Love It:

These titles are two of Lewton's best, with "Zombie" a stand-out, due to its sublimely creepy atmosphere, a literate script (reputedly based on "Jane Eyre"!), and charismatic turns by both Dee and Conway. Exploration of voodoo practices adds spice as well. "The Body Snatcher" is also a grabber, with excellent character actor Daniell in top form, and Karloff riveting as the sneering, cold-blooded Gray, a role that displays the star's impressive acting chops without all the Frankenstein make-up. "Snatcher" also includes a secondary role for Bela Lugosi as MacFarlaine's servant Joseph. Sadly, Bela's career was on the wane at this point, and this would mark Karloff and Lugosi's last screen outing together.