Although slammed by most of the critics, this flick isn't a bad little time waster.A search party arrives at a plantation off of the coast of Africa. They're looking for a sunken ship with a load of diamonds. The group laughs off the warning of the 10 man zombie crew unable to rest until the diamonds are destroyed. The zombies have wiped out every other expedition to date.The laugh is on the search party as they meet face to face with the walking dead. These bad boys even get around underwater!Will the zombies or the explorers win out? You need to see this for yourself and judge it on its own merits. It easily has creepy scenes that may have influenced later zombie movies.Decent late night viewing!
42 Reviews
Not good but fun in a silly sort of way
preppy-324 July 2007
A bunch of people go to the island of Mora Tau. Right off the coast of it, a ship sank with diamonds aboard and they want them. There's nice guy Jeff Clark (Gregg Palmer), Dr. Eggert (Morris Ankrum), George Harrison (!!!) (Joel Ashley) and his slutty wife Mona (the immortal Allison Hayes). What they don't know is that the ship is guarded by zombies who kill anyone who tries to take the jewels.
Admittadely novel idea is almost completely destroyed by a silly script and some pretty bad acting. The "underwater" scenes are actually pretty hysterical. They're obviously shot on a sound stage with the actors moving very slow and having bubbles pour out of their diving suits! Notice how the plants on the "ocean" floor never move.
Still I have a certain fondness for silly movies like this. It takes me back to my childhood where these popped up on Saturday afternoon TV constantly. It does have a little creepy scene when the zombies attack at the end and Hayes (a seriously under rated actress) is very good in a nothing role. Also I saw a nice, clean, letter-boxed (!) version of this on TCM. Silly but fun.
Admittadely novel idea is almost completely destroyed by a silly script and some pretty bad acting. The "underwater" scenes are actually pretty hysterical. They're obviously shot on a sound stage with the actors moving very slow and having bubbles pour out of their diving suits! Notice how the plants on the "ocean" floor never move.
Still I have a certain fondness for silly movies like this. It takes me back to my childhood where these popped up on Saturday afternoon TV constantly. It does have a little creepy scene when the zombies attack at the end and Hayes (a seriously under rated actress) is very good in a nothing role. Also I saw a nice, clean, letter-boxed (!) version of this on TCM. Silly but fun.
"Zombies don't smoke...They're afraid of fire!"
Zontar-225 August 2007
Adventurers tangle with zombies who can walk underwater. (Did George Romero ever catch this?)
The fifties were a fallow decade for the walking dead. Scary zombies may have roamed INVISIBLE INVADERS and CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN, but they were sci-fi generated. (PLAN 9, anyone?) MORA TAU more or less sticks to the hoodoo playbook, but its finale is unforgivably weak, and the underwater scenes, which should have been a highlight, are blatantly bogus. If the story were rewritten on land, it would have spared lots of trouble and unintended laughter.
On the plus side, quickie director Ed Cahn always aced day-for-night shots, and nearly all of the action here occurs in darkness. The film is free of stock wildlife footage and white dudes dressed as natives. The cast seems to appreciate scripter Bernard Gordon's snappy dialogue. Cult actress Allison Hayes pulls double duty as a shrewish moll and a zombie. Can't act worth stale jujubes, but still a treat to watch. There's also plenty of gaffe guffaws, my favorite being the portly zomb who "chases" victims down a staircase as he clutches the railing.
The fifties were a fallow decade for the walking dead. Scary zombies may have roamed INVISIBLE INVADERS and CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN, but they were sci-fi generated. (PLAN 9, anyone?) MORA TAU more or less sticks to the hoodoo playbook, but its finale is unforgivably weak, and the underwater scenes, which should have been a highlight, are blatantly bogus. If the story were rewritten on land, it would have spared lots of trouble and unintended laughter.
On the plus side, quickie director Ed Cahn always aced day-for-night shots, and nearly all of the action here occurs in darkness. The film is free of stock wildlife footage and white dudes dressed as natives. The cast seems to appreciate scripter Bernard Gordon's snappy dialogue. Cult actress Allison Hayes pulls double duty as a shrewish moll and a zombie. Can't act worth stale jujubes, but still a treat to watch. There's also plenty of gaffe guffaws, my favorite being the portly zomb who "chases" victims down a staircase as he clutches the railing.
The swimming dead take to land...BEWARE!
nicholas-141 February 1999
I can never resist a good Zombie movie, and this one gives that interesting twist ....the zombies appear to be amphibious! They are protecting their treasure resting at the bottom of the murky waters....and do so by scaring the treasure-seekers with their horrible looks! Ahhhh!! It seems every group of treasure-seekers that tries to steal the loot, end up dead, so good ole granny (who seems to be the only one who accepts these walking weirdos) takes it upon herself to have the grave sites pre-dug for their convenience....how charming... This flick also provides us with our standard staple of "ear-piercing scream" from the helpless and unknowledgeable "Jan" The underwater sequence becomes quite amusing when the zombies casually stroll along the bottom of the lake towards their sunken ship....I guess being dead prevents the burning of calories, thereby giving them that extra weight to stay down............happy viewing!
She's undead, you idiots!
marcslope23 July 2007
One of the many plot implausibilities in this enjoyably awful Sam Katzman-produced dreck occurs when Allison Hayes, she of the killer figure, is murdered by diamond-loving zombies and becomes one of the walking dead. She's clearly a zombie; Marjorie Eaton, trying to preserve her dignity as the Maria Ouspenskaya-like hideous matron, tells everyone she's a zombie; she walks like a zombie, and her face is even blanker than when she was alive. But the rest of the avaricious crew treats her like a real live girl, vowing to get her to a doctor as soon as possible for a diagnosis. That leads to plot extensions that add on another 20 minutes or so, though the entire nonsense clocks in at a little over an hour. A pretty high body count for '50s horror, direction and production values not far above the Ed Wood level, and hilarious "underwater" photography round out this Grade Z programmer, which is inept but not dull.
Zombies of Mora Tau (1957) **
JoeKarlosi10 January 2005
One of the sillier 1950s fright night flicks, and directed with little imagination. An unlikable search party arrives at a small African plantation with hopes of retrieving a cargo of diamonds from the bowels of a ship that was sunk some 60 years earlier. The only problem is that the treasure's being guarded by a small band of sleepwalking-style zombies (the original sailors who went down with the ship when it sank) and they've done a fine job so far of killing every other search party that has intervened over the decades. The elderly wife of the zombified captain is still alive and wants the diamonds too, but only to destroy them so she may give rest to her husband's wandering soul.
That description is much more interesting than the way the movie actually pans out, but at least we've got the stunning Allison Hayes to gawk at as she plays the bitchy babe with the killer figure. There are some very weird underwater simulations when the divers are attacked by the dutiful zombies, who somehow are able to walk straight across the ocean floor without floating to the surface. ** out of ****
That description is much more interesting than the way the movie actually pans out, but at least we've got the stunning Allison Hayes to gawk at as she plays the bitchy babe with the killer figure. There are some very weird underwater simulations when the divers are attacked by the dutiful zombies, who somehow are able to walk straight across the ocean floor without floating to the surface. ** out of ****
B-grade monster fun
moonspinner5512 April 2001
Zombies are guarding a sunken ship full of treasures in a lagoon on the outskirts of a sleepy, nearly-deserted Southern town. Cardboard screamer shenanigans; sure, some of it is fun, and the sequence where the zombies walk out of the water is skillfully done, but Allison Hayes (as the sexy bad girl) still can't act! It's reassuring to see her cast as yet another femme fatale, but her line readings are robotic--she's zombie-fied. The underwater sequences are a joke, yet the picture provides a definite nostalgia for the days when monster movies were bereft of commercial pandering and noisy, humongous special effects. It's not in the same league as, say, "Creature From the Black Lagoon", but it does have some atmosphere. Whether it was intentional or not, some minor art comes through, along with a whole lotta bad acting. ** from ****
It's a B movie, get over it!
CurtM24 October 2012
For all of the critics who rated the film less than 5 stars, well... It is a campy example of 50's B movie making. It isn't supposed to be anything more than that! To its credit, the film has some atmospheric moments. The sets are pretty good and the acting is better than bad. Mona (Allison Hayes) steals the show with her good looks and crazy persona. There are not a lot of production flubs given the low budget. This film compares favorably with other B efforts of the 50's. Check out Allison in the 50 foot woman flick. This was her most famous science fiction role. My advice: watch 'Zombies' it and enjoy it for what it is...!
Beware of the guards of the sunken treasure.
michaelRokeefe27 May 2000
Not your typical zombie flick. This time the walking dead can also swim. A group of treasure hunters are searching for a sunken ship that went down off the coast of Africa. The sunken cargo of diamonds have lured many seekers; but all have been turned back by a crew of zombies.
This little movie is better than you think. This is another of those that are better viewed late at night. Can't say this flick is not worthwhile, because there is plenty a lot worse. This story is by George Plympton and stars Gregg Palmer, Allison Hayes, Morris Ankrum and Autumn Russell.
This little movie is better than you think. This is another of those that are better viewed late at night. Can't say this flick is not worthwhile, because there is plenty a lot worse. This story is by George Plympton and stars Gregg Palmer, Allison Hayes, Morris Ankrum and Autumn Russell.
standard Cahn zombie film
funkyfry17 October 2007
Warning: Spoilers
There's nothing particularly remarkable about "Zombies of Mora-Tau", but it isn't the worst way to pass about an hour of your life. Fans of Eddie Cahn will see the resemblance to his voodoo-themed "Four Skulls of Johnathan Drake" which are a strong contrast to his more modern (and influential) zombie/apocalypse films "Invisible Invaders" and "Creature with the Atom Brain." This places this film in the older tradition of zombie movies, some kind of descendant of "White Zombie" and "I Walked with a Zombie" (both of which are superior to the film in question). The zombies in this film are reanimated sailors who must guard a cursed treasure (remind anyone of any recent mega-hits?). They look pretty silly in their striped shirts; it doesn't look like anyone even thought to make them look a bit aged or anything like that.
The film's best asset is Allison Hayes and the scenes involving her character, including the memorable scene where she's clearly a zombie but nobody wants to believe it, so they lead her back to the house and surround her with candles at the old lady's (Marjorie Eaton) insistence. Shades of the old vampire movies and their garlic cloves here. Hayes is lovely and her acting adequate. None of the other leads are particularly memorable.
There are a few scenes that will draw unintentional laughter from a modern audience but not all that many. Probably the atmosphere in the film was intense enough to scare some young kids who saw it in the '50s. We have scenes of graveyards and so forth I think it's quite a nice effect when the old lady shows the group all those graves and when asked who they are for says "they're yours." But I can hardly imagine any person older than 5 who would be scared by this film in the 20th Century because it really doesn't even try that hard. Once you get to the scenes with the underwater treasure search you realize this is, like "Invisible Invaders", more of an action/adventure film than a horror film.
It's not nearly as inept as some posters here have said, but it's clearly a movie that didn't have high ambitions. Within the scope of its own goals I would say it is reasonably successful.
The film's best asset is Allison Hayes and the scenes involving her character, including the memorable scene where she's clearly a zombie but nobody wants to believe it, so they lead her back to the house and surround her with candles at the old lady's (Marjorie Eaton) insistence. Shades of the old vampire movies and their garlic cloves here. Hayes is lovely and her acting adequate. None of the other leads are particularly memorable.
There are a few scenes that will draw unintentional laughter from a modern audience but not all that many. Probably the atmosphere in the film was intense enough to scare some young kids who saw it in the '50s. We have scenes of graveyards and so forth I think it's quite a nice effect when the old lady shows the group all those graves and when asked who they are for says "they're yours." But I can hardly imagine any person older than 5 who would be scared by this film in the 20th Century because it really doesn't even try that hard. Once you get to the scenes with the underwater treasure search you realize this is, like "Invisible Invaders", more of an action/adventure film than a horror film.
It's not nearly as inept as some posters here have said, but it's clearly a movie that didn't have high ambitions. Within the scope of its own goals I would say it is reasonably successful.
"You old hag! You're dead already. You just don't have sense enough to lie down!"
utgard1427 November 2014
Fortune hunters try to recover diamonds from a shipwreck at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Africa. They don't have much luck thanks to the seaweed-covered zombies that guard the treasure. They spend most of the movie on the island of Mora Tau with an old lady who tells them that the diamonds must be destroyed to put an end to the zombies.
Fun B movie from producer Sam Katzman. I don't see why it gets so much flack. Sexy Allison Hayes is always a treat to watch. One of my favorite B movie queens. She plays the trampy bad girl here and steals every scene. Marjorie Eaton is good as the old woman. Cutie Autumn Russell plays the bland female lead. The men in the film are mostly a forgettable lot but fine for the parts they play. For a 70-minute movie it's fairly effective. It's got a decent plot and reasonable atmosphere. It isn't going to scare you but it is entertaining as a time-passer. Don't expect too much and just enjoy it for what it is.
Fun B movie from producer Sam Katzman. I don't see why it gets so much flack. Sexy Allison Hayes is always a treat to watch. One of my favorite B movie queens. She plays the trampy bad girl here and steals every scene. Marjorie Eaton is good as the old woman. Cutie Autumn Russell plays the bland female lead. The men in the film are mostly a forgettable lot but fine for the parts they play. For a 70-minute movie it's fairly effective. It's got a decent plot and reasonable atmosphere. It isn't going to scare you but it is entertaining as a time-passer. Don't expect too much and just enjoy it for what it is.
An enjoyable 50's zombie horror picture
Woodyanders4 January 2008
Warning: Spoilers
A zombie captain and crew guard the treasure of a sunken ship. A motley assortment of scavengers risk their lives to retrieve the fortune in diamonds hidden inside the vessel. Competently directed by Edward L. Cahn, this endearingly hokey low-budget horror flick moves along at a reasonable clip and offers a fair amount of creepy atmosphere. The underwater scenes are especially tense and gripping. The excellent cast of familiar 50's B-movie faces adds greatly to the silly fun: Gregg Palmer as hunky, stalwart diver Jeff Clark, Allison Hayes as the snippy Mona Harrison, Morris Ankrum as the sage, friendly Dr. Jonathan Eggert, Autumn Russell as the sweet Jan Peters, Joel Ashley as the gruff George Harrison, Marjorie Eaton as the wise Grandmother Peters, and Gene Roth as Sam the chauffeur. Benjamin H. Kline's dark, moody cinematography and Mischa Bakaleinikoff's shuddery'n'spooky score are both solid and effective. An entertaining fright feature.
Obscure but pretty good
Johan_Wondering_on_Waves3 October 2015
Warning: Spoilers
I had no idea what to expect from this movie. Given that it takes place in Africa I expected it that it would be about zombies driven by voodoo rituals such as White Zombie and I walked with a zombie. This movie has a different take though on the zombie phenomenon. Rather than driven by a ritual from some witch doctor they are cursed men. They do not age, cannot be killed, don't feel pain and they can hardly be wounded. They don't have a will of their own their only purpose protecting a treasure of jewels laying at the bottom of the sea near the wreck of a ship. The zombies are fearless with only fire keeping them at a distance. It's all explained in the movie by an old lady what can be done to stop them and remove the curse. That's right these zombies are more like restless souls than evil flesh eating monsters they would become in later zombie movies. Yes the action scenes look cheap even though the underwater scenes look very nice. With a running time under 70 minutes everything was explained and the motivations of the protagonists all cleared. Too many movies spend too much time sidestepping focusing on things who don't really matter. Not this movie, straightforward right from the start until the end.
'Horror Movie Illogic' has sunken to a new low
Death_to_Pan_and_Scan14 August 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Some amateur reviewers will excuse anything in a movie and give 5 stars minimum simply for the crew having been able to load film-stock into a camera without exposing it to sunlight. After sitting through all 69 minutes of Mora Tau (that I will never have back) I began to really wish that this bad movie had somehow become a 'lost film' instead of films I'd actually like to see -- such as "London After Midnight" starring Lon Chaney or the original 9 hour version of von Stroheim's silent film classic "Greed".
As a devoted fan of zombie films who has seen more than 70 films in the genre from the brilliant to the downright awful, even I must admit that most voodoo zombie movies aren't very good -- aside from Halperin's White Zombie and Gilling's Plague of the Zombies (for Hammer Studios) and to a lesser extent, the entertaining if somewhat offensive 1941 Mantan Moreland minstrel show that is King of the Zombies. Even by that guideline for diminished expectations, Mora Tau is probably one of the worst of the voodoo zombie genre and might make me think better of Halperin's 1936 followup disaster Revolt of the Zombies. Zombies of Mora Tau is so insultingly stupid and lame that it almost made me long for the 'good ole days' of the 1940s when Abbott and Costello were busy ruining the Universal Monsters franchise (though A&C enthusiasts still refuse to admit how unfunny those films were). If you want a good underwater horror film from that era watch any of the three 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' films instead or maybe even (horror of bad TV horrors) the Godzilla Power Hour cartoon with Godzookie. If you want underwater zombies, try Wiederhorn's 'Shockwaves' instead. This film is a reminder that not all old black and white films are 'classics' and I can think of any of a number of cheesy 50s horror films that are 10 times more entertaining. The atomic age sci-fi silliness of Invisible Invaders is another better recommendation than Zombies of Mora Tau. Maybe the 3 stars out of 10 that I gave Mora Tau was too generous. I'm now glad there wasn't a DVD of this for me to buy and that TCM showed it to me for free.
PLOT: The basic plot sounds like something the "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" might have pilfered some basic ideas from: There is a sunken treasure of $1 million of uncut diamonds that has attracted treasure hunters for decades and lead to the demise of many a diver. It seems that the original thieves of the treasure all met an untimely demise and 10 zombies now guard said treasure (though why they live in 10 lined up coffins in a cave like Snow Whites dwarfs is anyone's guess) and will not rest until said treasure is 'destroyed' as the old lady says. The sailors dream of riches and ignore her warnings and try to get the treasure anyway...
These are also among the least scary voodoo zombies I've seen in a movie. If all the reels of this film were at the bottom of the sea, I think I'd voodoo up some zombies to guard them and ensure that they were never retrieved so that movie audiences would be spared the horror of seeing this film.
**SPOILERS**
I have several issues with this film and its lazy writing:
*The dive crew/sailors are too dumb to realize that the woman is not 'ill' but now has become one of the zombies and is exhibiting all the same traits. These characters are obviously much dumber than your average horror movie morons.
*Sure the old lady claims the zombies are indestructible, but that doesn't stop the sailors from using knives and other weapons on them ineffectively. None of the sailors/divers ever thinks to try lighting a zombie aflame after they display an obvious fear of fire? You've gotta be kidding me. Maybe it wouldn't destroy them, but you'd think someone would at least try it.
*Don't establish rules for the zombies and then proceed to break those rules later in the film when it seems convenient to do so.
*So the diamonds must be 'destroyed' for the zombies to rest, right? So why does dumping the diamonds into a couple feet of water not 10 feet from the shore of old lady's property count as 'destroying them' and end the curse? It's as if the writers forgot that someone could just bend down and pick retrieve the diamonds 5 minutes after the 'zombies' dematerialize out of their clothes.
As a devoted fan of zombie films who has seen more than 70 films in the genre from the brilliant to the downright awful, even I must admit that most voodoo zombie movies aren't very good -- aside from Halperin's White Zombie and Gilling's Plague of the Zombies (for Hammer Studios) and to a lesser extent, the entertaining if somewhat offensive 1941 Mantan Moreland minstrel show that is King of the Zombies. Even by that guideline for diminished expectations, Mora Tau is probably one of the worst of the voodoo zombie genre and might make me think better of Halperin's 1936 followup disaster Revolt of the Zombies. Zombies of Mora Tau is so insultingly stupid and lame that it almost made me long for the 'good ole days' of the 1940s when Abbott and Costello were busy ruining the Universal Monsters franchise (though A&C enthusiasts still refuse to admit how unfunny those films were). If you want a good underwater horror film from that era watch any of the three 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' films instead or maybe even (horror of bad TV horrors) the Godzilla Power Hour cartoon with Godzookie. If you want underwater zombies, try Wiederhorn's 'Shockwaves' instead. This film is a reminder that not all old black and white films are 'classics' and I can think of any of a number of cheesy 50s horror films that are 10 times more entertaining. The atomic age sci-fi silliness of Invisible Invaders is another better recommendation than Zombies of Mora Tau. Maybe the 3 stars out of 10 that I gave Mora Tau was too generous. I'm now glad there wasn't a DVD of this for me to buy and that TCM showed it to me for free.
PLOT: The basic plot sounds like something the "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" might have pilfered some basic ideas from: There is a sunken treasure of $1 million of uncut diamonds that has attracted treasure hunters for decades and lead to the demise of many a diver. It seems that the original thieves of the treasure all met an untimely demise and 10 zombies now guard said treasure (though why they live in 10 lined up coffins in a cave like Snow Whites dwarfs is anyone's guess) and will not rest until said treasure is 'destroyed' as the old lady says. The sailors dream of riches and ignore her warnings and try to get the treasure anyway...
These are also among the least scary voodoo zombies I've seen in a movie. If all the reels of this film were at the bottom of the sea, I think I'd voodoo up some zombies to guard them and ensure that they were never retrieved so that movie audiences would be spared the horror of seeing this film.
**SPOILERS**
I have several issues with this film and its lazy writing:
*The dive crew/sailors are too dumb to realize that the woman is not 'ill' but now has become one of the zombies and is exhibiting all the same traits. These characters are obviously much dumber than your average horror movie morons.
*Sure the old lady claims the zombies are indestructible, but that doesn't stop the sailors from using knives and other weapons on them ineffectively. None of the sailors/divers ever thinks to try lighting a zombie aflame after they display an obvious fear of fire? You've gotta be kidding me. Maybe it wouldn't destroy them, but you'd think someone would at least try it.
*Don't establish rules for the zombies and then proceed to break those rules later in the film when it seems convenient to do so.
*So the diamonds must be 'destroyed' for the zombies to rest, right? So why does dumping the diamonds into a couple feet of water not 10 feet from the shore of old lady's property count as 'destroying them' and end the curse? It's as if the writers forgot that someone could just bend down and pick retrieve the diamonds 5 minutes after the 'zombies' dematerialize out of their clothes.
The innocence of youth fumbles towards the dark abyss of adulthood.
madsagittarian10 September 2003
I react to movies the same way people react to music. In other words, when people hear an old song on the radio it takes them back to a time and place when they first heard the music, or its sounds evoke some private memories based on its atmosphere or tone. When I think of a film, above and beyond recalling the emotions it gave me, I also think of what was going on in my life at the moment of that screening. And if you've actively sought a title like this on this site, perhaps you do too.
ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU is certainly a juvenile, sometimes cardboard, horror movie, not least because zombie monsters were pretty juvenile after Victor Halperin and before George Romero. However this effort was made to please the juvenile within someone of any age. Why this film affects me is that I happened to watch it during the time in which I was preparing to leave my home town (and simply, my home) to go to school in the city. This was on a Thursday night just before the last true weekend of my youth, in which I was severing some ties while still grasping onto others. What I often did in this not-endless summer when I had the house to myself was take the VCR upstairs and hook it up to my little black-and-white TV in my bedroom-- having my own space, yet still being dependent on a bigger unit to do it. During this time I had an obsession with 1950's science fiction or horror movies, big or small, good or bad, simply because they took me to a comfortable inner landscape which these films idealized. The world still felt safe and unthreatening, and my youth still felt innocent before seeing "the real world" which existed outside my mind or my own little world. Perhaps subconsciously, this too explains why I have felt the need to re-visit these films again over the past few years. Only now, these innocent movies emerge as places in which I attempt to retrieve that last youth.
Now this behaviour may sound naive, but let's face it, so are a lot of these films that we escape to. Whether they're good or bad, big or small, these genre efforts of a bygone era can be now viewed as moving testaments to a safe place that we want back, yet nonetheless acknowledge we cannot have. It may also sound naive to subscribe such psychological stuff to a flick that's titled ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU, but there is a beautiful poetry at work in this movie if the viewer is willing to meet it on its own terms.
Despite that this movie somewhat lumbers to the adult within us, it still speaks to the child in that same body. I saw this film at a time when current horror films of the day attempted to scare people with blood and guts. This film is disarming in its innocence which invites the willing into its simple world-- it still manages to deliver the goods with such simple means as a creepy scene in which candles surround someone with "zombie fever". Plus, teenage boys of all ages still had a crush on Allison Hayes even 30 years after her films were made. Not for nothing did she become the fifty foot woman.
Having to return this 99-cent rental back to the country grocery store before it closed, I was in my car driving through the night, with the lights of the town behind me, pushing forward in the darkness. It was then that I realized that this sly metaphor encapsulated my life at that moment. And I also learned that because I had a soft spot for movies like this, that I was still trying to hang onto was receding in the background of my life. There was a wealth of memories, a state of being, that I admit I could not and cannot relive, but then as now, they remain as vital pieces of my human baggage.
ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU is certainly a juvenile, sometimes cardboard, horror movie, not least because zombie monsters were pretty juvenile after Victor Halperin and before George Romero. However this effort was made to please the juvenile within someone of any age. Why this film affects me is that I happened to watch it during the time in which I was preparing to leave my home town (and simply, my home) to go to school in the city. This was on a Thursday night just before the last true weekend of my youth, in which I was severing some ties while still grasping onto others. What I often did in this not-endless summer when I had the house to myself was take the VCR upstairs and hook it up to my little black-and-white TV in my bedroom-- having my own space, yet still being dependent on a bigger unit to do it. During this time I had an obsession with 1950's science fiction or horror movies, big or small, good or bad, simply because they took me to a comfortable inner landscape which these films idealized. The world still felt safe and unthreatening, and my youth still felt innocent before seeing "the real world" which existed outside my mind or my own little world. Perhaps subconsciously, this too explains why I have felt the need to re-visit these films again over the past few years. Only now, these innocent movies emerge as places in which I attempt to retrieve that last youth.
Now this behaviour may sound naive, but let's face it, so are a lot of these films that we escape to. Whether they're good or bad, big or small, these genre efforts of a bygone era can be now viewed as moving testaments to a safe place that we want back, yet nonetheless acknowledge we cannot have. It may also sound naive to subscribe such psychological stuff to a flick that's titled ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU, but there is a beautiful poetry at work in this movie if the viewer is willing to meet it on its own terms.
Despite that this movie somewhat lumbers to the adult within us, it still speaks to the child in that same body. I saw this film at a time when current horror films of the day attempted to scare people with blood and guts. This film is disarming in its innocence which invites the willing into its simple world-- it still manages to deliver the goods with such simple means as a creepy scene in which candles surround someone with "zombie fever". Plus, teenage boys of all ages still had a crush on Allison Hayes even 30 years after her films were made. Not for nothing did she become the fifty foot woman.
Having to return this 99-cent rental back to the country grocery store before it closed, I was in my car driving through the night, with the lights of the town behind me, pushing forward in the darkness. It was then that I realized that this sly metaphor encapsulated my life at that moment. And I also learned that because I had a soft spot for movies like this, that I was still trying to hang onto was receding in the background of my life. There was a wealth of memories, a state of being, that I admit I could not and cannot relive, but then as now, they remain as vital pieces of my human baggage.
With such lousy acting and poorly written dialog, it's sometimes hard to tell which ones are supposed to be the zombies!
planktonrules26 November 2014
Years ago, a ship sunk and it contained a chest filled with diamonds. However, each expedition that attempted to recover the treasure was eliminated by zombies who guard the wreck! can a new expedition manage to salvage the diamonds once and for all? Or, will they all soon become zombie chow?
This is an odd film, as not only do the extras playing zombies act like the living dead but some of the actors playing non-zombies seemed to think they were zombies as well! The acting, in some cases, was simply horrible. My favorite was when one of the women was supposed to be afraid. My daughter and I couldn't tell if this was the case or if she was just having an asthma attack! It also didn't help that the dialog was simply horrible as well. While this could have been a fun little horror film, it's really just an un-fun little horrible film! Dull and rather stupid. So, despite this coming from a respectable studio (Columbia), it looks every bit as bad as a film from an earlier poverty row studio like PRC or Grand National.
This is an odd film, as not only do the extras playing zombies act like the living dead but some of the actors playing non-zombies seemed to think they were zombies as well! The acting, in some cases, was simply horrible. My favorite was when one of the women was supposed to be afraid. My daughter and I couldn't tell if this was the case or if she was just having an asthma attack! It also didn't help that the dialog was simply horrible as well. While this could have been a fun little horror film, it's really just an un-fun little horrible film! Dull and rather stupid. So, despite this coming from a respectable studio (Columbia), it looks every bit as bad as a film from an earlier poverty row studio like PRC or Grand National.
Odd, but entertaining zombie film from the 1950's!
greg-54423 November 2008
While in no way a classic film, "The Zombies of Mora Tau" is an important one in the development of the genre of "living dead" cinema.
It would take another ten years for a young director named George A. Romero to perfect the zombie film with "Night of the Living Dead", but the roots of that legendary film can easily be traced back to this production(and the Edward Cahn's other living dead flick, "Invisible Invaders").
The film wastes no time getting underway and is paced pretty well throughout. There's not much in the way of make-up, but some of the zombie sequences are fairly creepy. The special effects are dismal, especially in the supposed underwater scenes, but only add to the charm of the overall film.
The pedestrian acting does become grating in places. Allison Hayes, who was amusingly over the top in the 1950's classic, "Attack of the 50ft Woman", stumbles through the movie as though she wasn't aware of where she was half of the time. She does wear a very tight sweater however.
The rest of the cast seems to be on auto-pilot, reading their lines but without any real sense of urgency or importance. (Again - something not unusual in these B-pictures from yesteryear).
All in all, "The Zombies of Mora Tau" is a fun and nostalgic film, perfect for late night viewing with the lights off with a bowl of popcorn on your lap. Worth a look for serious horror buffs as well, especially those who are interested in the history and development of the zombie genre.
5 out of 10.
It would take another ten years for a young director named George A. Romero to perfect the zombie film with "Night of the Living Dead", but the roots of that legendary film can easily be traced back to this production(and the Edward Cahn's other living dead flick, "Invisible Invaders").
The film wastes no time getting underway and is paced pretty well throughout. There's not much in the way of make-up, but some of the zombie sequences are fairly creepy. The special effects are dismal, especially in the supposed underwater scenes, but only add to the charm of the overall film.
The pedestrian acting does become grating in places. Allison Hayes, who was amusingly over the top in the 1950's classic, "Attack of the 50ft Woman", stumbles through the movie as though she wasn't aware of where she was half of the time. She does wear a very tight sweater however.
The rest of the cast seems to be on auto-pilot, reading their lines but without any real sense of urgency or importance. (Again - something not unusual in these B-pictures from yesteryear).
All in all, "The Zombies of Mora Tau" is a fun and nostalgic film, perfect for late night viewing with the lights off with a bowl of popcorn on your lap. Worth a look for serious horror buffs as well, especially those who are interested in the history and development of the zombie genre.
5 out of 10.
Zombies of Mora Tau
Scarecrow-8827 October 2007
Warning: Spoilers
A crew seeking diamonds in an African watery tomb, encounter the zombie sailor thieves who once stole it not willing to allow their treasure into others' hands even after death. An elderly woman, Grandmother Peters(Marjorie Eaton) who lives in a home nearby, whose husband was the skipper of that unfortunate voyage and her reason for relocating roots in Africa, warns the crew that death will be their only reward for removing the diamond chest from it's underwater crypt. She believes that if the diamonds are dispersed throughout(preferably over an ocean, each individual diamond separately)then the undead crew's souls will be at rest. These zombies are afraid of fire, but can not be harmed by any form of weaponry. In a hilarious turn of events, George Harrison(Joel Ashley)who is commissioning this new voyage, loses his wife, the lecherous crude beauty, Mona(Allison Hayes)to the undead. Gregg Palmer is Jeff Clark, the flawed heroic sailor on the voyage, who often goes underwater to retrieve the treasure box despite zombie resistance. He wishes to retire from the low-income position of sailor and the allure of the diamonds puts his life in often peril. He and Grandmother Peters' granddaughter Jan(Autumn Russell)fall in love during the movie..Jeff actually saves Jan from being "zombie-fied" when captured by one of the undead.
This zombie crapfest has to be seen to be believed. Quite a stupid premise isn't lifted by the cast's unbelievably moronic behavior. You have this threat..if anything, burn their bodies! Eliminate the threat the only reasonable way available. How the undead crew became zombies is never explained. How the film ends with them being released from their supposed curse is laughable. And, why Mona, no matter how mad she might be(..and, really, the situation she explodes in anger about is so silly it's hard to fathom why she'd cause such a scene), could run off into the forest with the zombie threat so present is beyond explanation. Just a really terrible zombie movie..might be worth watching for a couple of isolated laughs, at the filmmakers' expense. Certain to gain a following.
This zombie crapfest has to be seen to be believed. Quite a stupid premise isn't lifted by the cast's unbelievably moronic behavior. You have this threat..if anything, burn their bodies! Eliminate the threat the only reasonable way available. How the undead crew became zombies is never explained. How the film ends with them being released from their supposed curse is laughable. And, why Mona, no matter how mad she might be(..and, really, the situation she explodes in anger about is so silly it's hard to fathom why she'd cause such a scene), could run off into the forest with the zombie threat so present is beyond explanation. Just a really terrible zombie movie..might be worth watching for a couple of isolated laughs, at the filmmakers' expense. Certain to gain a following.
Producer Sam Katzman is not Val Lewton
searchanddestroy-19 October 2021
That's definitely not the best of Edward L Cahn aka Edward L Can't.... I guess this idiocy on screen was made this way on purpose, destined to an accurate audience of teenagers in saturday night drive-ins, while they were busy, aboard cars, to do more interesting things. It is funny if you watch it very closely, with this old lady speaking as if she was from the early talkies. Try not to fall asleep only to enjoy Allison Hayes, one of the queens of B pictures of this period. And Producer Sam Katzman could not have avoided to meet one day or another Edward L Cahn, Both were made to meet each other, as Tod Browning and Lon Chaney. But in terms of zombie or supernatural atmosphere, Sam Katzman is not Val Lewton. No folks !!!
A fun romp with the zombies
lastliberal26 October 2007
This film was interesting in a lot of respects.
First, I immediately thought of Zombie Lake when I see the zombies going underwater. That shouldn't be surprising as zombies can't breathe anyway.
Secondly, the story may have inspired Pirates of the Carrebean, as the premise is that the zombies are the crew of a sunken ship loaded with a million dollars worth of diamonds, and they can't go to eternal rest as long as the diamonds can be taken. This is the story of another expedition to find those diamonds, and, of course, they have to fight the zombies for them.
Lastly, I have not seen the stereotypical moll in a zombie movie. 50's beauty and B movie star, Allison Hayes, played the moll and also a zombie in a creepy scene with candles.
Not a bad flick to get you in the Halloween spirit.
First, I immediately thought of Zombie Lake when I see the zombies going underwater. That shouldn't be surprising as zombies can't breathe anyway.
Secondly, the story may have inspired Pirates of the Carrebean, as the premise is that the zombies are the crew of a sunken ship loaded with a million dollars worth of diamonds, and they can't go to eternal rest as long as the diamonds can be taken. This is the story of another expedition to find those diamonds, and, of course, they have to fight the zombies for them.
Lastly, I have not seen the stereotypical moll in a zombie movie. 50's beauty and B movie star, Allison Hayes, played the moll and also a zombie in a creepy scene with candles.
Not a bad flick to get you in the Halloween spirit.
A little flawed, but acceptable early zombie effort
kannibalcorpsegrinder17 April 2015
Arriving at a small African community, a group of diamond searchers find the area guarded by reanimated zombies raised by voodoo and try to enlist a local couple to combat the creatures and get away alive.
This is a decidedly decent early effort in the zombie genre. One of the biggest issues here is the fact that this one is clearly still unsure of the traditional zombie format yet so this one is completely off-the-mark in terms of how they're portrayed. Still in league with the slave-like behavior back then, they're unblinking nature and invulnerability in fights or weaponry tactics to guns or weapons might be too much for those looking for more familiar surroundings in a zombie movie. As well, there's the low-budget nature of the film does have some getting over as the make-up work in non-existent on the zombies beyond contact lenses, the sets are minimal and repeatedly utilized while keeping the action relegated to a few small, short set-pieces that are found throughout here. These here hold this one down a little, but not completely to off- set the few good parts to this, mostly all of which is based on the attacks and interactions with the zombies. There's some pretty fun scenes here with this one dealing with the beings in their mausoleum hideout where the scenes of them emerging from their coffins en-mass while going for their victim in the room and a second scene to retrieve a fallen comrade, while there's other fin scenes here with them attacking in the house and the attempts to repel them gives this one some rather intriguing action. The showcase here, though, is undoubtedly the underwater retrieval sequences which features not only the underwater battle with the creatures as well as the centerpiece attack on the ship itself where the creatures come on-board to force battles and barricading tactics that are far more traditionally-inspired which allows for a lot of great fun in the film. This here is enough to make this one overcome the few films into a decent-enough effort.
Today's Rating-Unrated/PG: Mild Violence.
This is a decidedly decent early effort in the zombie genre. One of the biggest issues here is the fact that this one is clearly still unsure of the traditional zombie format yet so this one is completely off-the-mark in terms of how they're portrayed. Still in league with the slave-like behavior back then, they're unblinking nature and invulnerability in fights or weaponry tactics to guns or weapons might be too much for those looking for more familiar surroundings in a zombie movie. As well, there's the low-budget nature of the film does have some getting over as the make-up work in non-existent on the zombies beyond contact lenses, the sets are minimal and repeatedly utilized while keeping the action relegated to a few small, short set-pieces that are found throughout here. These here hold this one down a little, but not completely to off- set the few good parts to this, mostly all of which is based on the attacks and interactions with the zombies. There's some pretty fun scenes here with this one dealing with the beings in their mausoleum hideout where the scenes of them emerging from their coffins en-mass while going for their victim in the room and a second scene to retrieve a fallen comrade, while there's other fin scenes here with them attacking in the house and the attempts to repel them gives this one some rather intriguing action. The showcase here, though, is undoubtedly the underwater retrieval sequences which features not only the underwater battle with the creatures as well as the centerpiece attack on the ship itself where the creatures come on-board to force battles and barricading tactics that are far more traditionally-inspired which allows for a lot of great fun in the film. This here is enough to make this one overcome the few films into a decent-enough effort.
Today's Rating-Unrated/PG: Mild Violence.
Idiotic plot holes and storyline...
dwpollar4 October 2014
1st watched 9/28/2014 -- 2 out of 10(Dir-Edward Cahn): Idiotic plot holes and storyline make this one of the worst zombie movies I've seen -- especially since it was put out by a major studio. Basically the movie put's Hollywood hotties with a paranoid old woman in the hunt for treasure in Africa that happens to be guarded by the living dead. The living dead in this movie are composed of the original treasure hunters that died in their quest and now are forever in the position to make sure no "live" people get to it. The old woman -- played by Gene Roth -- knows this fact and is the wife of one of the original. She stays in this locale while her dead husband roams --- hoping that the loot is found and destroyed --- reversing the curse and bringing the zombies to their final resting place. The movie is predictable, slow-moving and is hard to get thru even at it's measly 69 minutes!! The acting is fine but the screenplay makes the players do too many idiotic things, and the finale doesn't even make any sense. Gregg Palmer and Autumn Russell play the main couple stars destined for each other if they don't get killed by the zombies. Allison Hayes is the buxom typical adversary that all of these type of movies have to have. This movie is a waste of money by the studio apparently trying to capitalize on the zombie fad. Clearly made studio sets make up where the zombie's lie that's supposed to be a cave (this is hilarious). The print I watched is very clean so Columbia studios must have used their money to keep this film alive -- for some reason. I see very little merit in this movie -- maybe it was the studio's very early attempt at the genre so they restored it for historical reasons. More money wasted on an extreme mess -- skip this one.
Capable direction...
poe-4883319 April 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Much maligned but unjustly so, director Edward Cahn proves with ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU that, given the right tools to work with, he was as capable a director as anyone toiling in the Hollywood vineyards of the 1950s. Allison Hayes as "a feisty broad" shoulders (...) her share of the burden in aid of. The zombies of the title might well have shambled out of WHITE ZOMBIE or even I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE: they're of the laid back, unhurried variety often found in early Twentieth Century Fright Films (and even manage to "remind" one of the ghosts in John Carpenter's classic Fright Film, THE FOG). ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU is proof positive that Cahn was a very capable filmmaker in his own right and is worth a look by fans of the genre.
1950s zombie nonsense.
Hey_Sweden16 August 2014
An expedition is launched to loot the treasure of a sunken ship off the African coast. But what the participants don't know is that their expedition is just the latest in a long line of failed attempts to obtain these highly coveted diamonds. The ships' long undead crewmen now exist as zombies and will kill anyone who comes near. Among the people on this trip are pragmatic hero Jeff Clark (Gregg Palmer), Dr. Eggert (Morris Ankrum), a professor who's writing a book, George Harrison (!) (Joel Ashley), ostensibly the man in charge, and Georges' wife Mona (Allison Hayes). Area local Mrs. Peters (Marjorie Eaton) knows the score, but George and company are just too stubborn to listen.
To start with, this viewer agrees that it's stupid how the surviving characters remain pretty clueless about the fate of one of them, despite Mrs. Peters' words. And those "underwater" sequences aren't exactly convincing. But otherwise, this is "good" goofy fun for lovers of silly schlock from this era. It might not have enough action for some audience members, but it has an irresistible midnight movie appeal and a sufficient amount of low budget black & white atmosphere. The zombies themselves are never too threatening. The cast gives the proceedings very straight faced performances; Palmer is a decent hero, Autumn Russell is pretty as his leading lady, Ashley is an amusing jerk, Hayes (otherwise known as the 50 foot woman) is hilariously bitchy in her part, and Ankrum as always is a delight to watch. It's a hoot to note the fact that these particular zombies are like Frankensteins' monster and have an aversion to fire.
Overall, this is deliciously daft horror, guided by prolific B director of the era Edward Cahn, that at least only goes on for a fairly trim 69 minutes. Ray Corrigan, who played the alien in Cahns' well regarded "It! The Terror from Beyond Space", appears here as a sailor.
Seven out of 10.
To start with, this viewer agrees that it's stupid how the surviving characters remain pretty clueless about the fate of one of them, despite Mrs. Peters' words. And those "underwater" sequences aren't exactly convincing. But otherwise, this is "good" goofy fun for lovers of silly schlock from this era. It might not have enough action for some audience members, but it has an irresistible midnight movie appeal and a sufficient amount of low budget black & white atmosphere. The zombies themselves are never too threatening. The cast gives the proceedings very straight faced performances; Palmer is a decent hero, Autumn Russell is pretty as his leading lady, Ashley is an amusing jerk, Hayes (otherwise known as the 50 foot woman) is hilariously bitchy in her part, and Ankrum as always is a delight to watch. It's a hoot to note the fact that these particular zombies are like Frankensteins' monster and have an aversion to fire.
Overall, this is deliciously daft horror, guided by prolific B director of the era Edward Cahn, that at least only goes on for a fairly trim 69 minutes. Ray Corrigan, who played the alien in Cahns' well regarded "It! The Terror from Beyond Space", appears here as a sailor.
Seven out of 10.
The Swimming Dead.
AaronCapenBanner30 October 2013
Edward L. Cahn directed this horror thriller that stars Gregg Palmer and Allison Hayes, who lead a group of treasure-hunters to an isolated African coast where there lies a sunken ship which is reputed to hold a huge cache of diamonds. Other expeditions have met with death, but that doesn't deter this current group, who learn that the sunken ship is guarded by its undead crew, zombies who will stop at nothing to preserve the diamonds. Can this voodoo curse be stopped? Fondly remembered schlock is quite silly, if not downright absurd, with an illogical and shallow plot, yet it is so bad that it's still strangely watchable, and certainly an example of old-fashioned filmmaking.
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