11 December 2024
Zombies on Broadway (1945)
69 min.
Directed by Gordon Douglas.
With Wally Brown, Alan Carney, Bela Lugosi, Anne Jeffreys, Sheldon Leonard, Frank Jenks, Russell Hopton, Joseph Vitale, Ian Wolfe, Darby Jones.
Tame but enjoyable horror spoof, also known as Loonies on Broadway.

Ex-gangster Ace Miller (Leonard) is turning entrepreneur and opening up a new nightclub called "The Zombie Hut."

As part of the featured act, he needs a real, live zombie.

So, he sends Jerry (Brown) and Mike (Carney), his two press agents, down to the tropical island of San Sebastian to locate one eccentric Dr. Paul Renault (Lugosi) who's done extensive research on the living dead.

But Renault is certifiably insane. He'll provide Ace with an authentic zombie, all right...by turning his own press agents into undead stiffs!

Surprisingly, this 1945 RKO horror-comedy is a lot of fun. The comedy gags are well placed, and dutifully timed.

More to the point, Brown and Carney are an amusing duo, and do their best not to irritate with their antics.

Lugosi is a sport, delivering another mad scientist performance with just the right dose of fiesty zeal.

And Darby Jones (from Val Lewton's 1943 I Walked with a Zombie) turns in another memorable zombie routine.

Don't be so serious, and give this one a whirl.

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