The Dead One (1961) * (out of 4) Johnny (John McKay) and his new wife Linda (Linda Carlton) travel to a property that now belongs to him but once there he notices that a voodoo priestess is bringing a man back from the dead to kill for her.Barry Mahon was a filmmaker who dealt with a variety of subjects but the majority of his pictures were in the sexplotiation genre. He created some pretty bad movies and some rather bizarre ones but this one here is pretty darn boring from the opening scene to the closing one. With that said, it's interesting to see what he attempted to do with such an early zombie movie and one that most people haven't seen or haven't even heard of.The film was eventually released to DVD under the "new" title of BLOOD OF THE ZOMBIE and the zombie is about the only reason to watch the picture. It's interesting seeing another zombie movie made before NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD so this one here has more in common with WHITE ZOMBIE and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE. Once again we've got someone using voodoo to bring the dead back to life in order to do her killing.Everything about this movie shows it's "C" grade. Everything from the performances to the direction to the way the story is told. There's really not too much that happens in the 68 minute running time and usually all of the scenes are padded to the point where you might start laughing. Just check out the scene where the zombie is climbing up a flight of steps and moving incredibly slow. How anyone would get caught by this thing is just hilarious.

A vengeful voodoo priestess revives a hideous rotting zombie back from the dead so it can do her evil bidding. Sound good? Well, it just ain't. Boy, does this clunker strike out something stinky in every possible way: The flat (non)direction by Barry Mahon (who also wrote the excruciatingly talky and uneventful script), the sluggish pacing, the insipid acting from a lame no-name cast (only Monica Davis brings any true vigor to her role as the bitter and bitchy Monica), an alarming dearth of tension and spooky atmosphere, a minimal body count (only two folks get killed in this flick!), the meandering narrative, the static cinematography which makes numbing overuse of cruddy master shots, and the blah limply-staged conclusion all make this one a gruelingly tedious chore to endure. On the plus side, Darlene Myrick looks mighty sexy as ditsy exotic dancer Bella Bella, there's some flavorsome footage of the French Quarter in New Orleans, and the snazzy swinging jazz group The Joe Burton Trio make a neat appearance performing in a club. A real snorefest.

I did it again, i mean, watching a movie from the 60's. And again it came clear to me why i am not into movies coming from the fifties and the sixties. I can watch the old classics even flicks from the silent era without a problem but the era as stated is really nothing for me. It's the time they are trying to start with effects but they are so silly. This flicks was once a lost one and it popped up but never full uncut. This is the first full uncut release to see so I did but what should be the difference between cut and uncut here, I don't know. The movie clocks in just over one hour and still some scene's are way too long. When they shown some jazz clubs they show the musicians, but too long. I'm not wanted to see the jazz, I want to see horror...But it's the importance of this flick why you should have it. it's one of the early zombie flicks just before Night Of The Living Dead. I know, there are older ones but here it's more zombie than the early zombies flicks were it's all about voodoo. Here voodoo is also important but you see the zombie coming out of the grave. The zombie itself looks scary for the time being, but the storyline isn't that strong, it takes a while before things get started but the movie really has some followers due the history and as said, the importance in the story of zombie flicks.

Writer/Director/Producer Barry Mahon, who gave us Santa and the Three Bears, started out with cheesy flicks like this one, also known as Blood of the Zombie.Despite the low grade script by Mahon, and the Grade Z acting, this was a fascinating zombie picture, set appropriately in New Orleans.John MacKay may be investigating fellow cops on "Law & Order" but this baby is in his early career. His wife, Linda Ormond, was probably too ashamed to make another movie, as was the zombie, Uncle Jonas (Clyde Kelly), who was the perfect zombie. he had the clothes and the walk and the movement down pat. He should be in the Zombie Hall of Fame, if there is one.Good for a laugh and a look at the career work of Barry Mahon, an interesting character.