Zombies of Mora Tau (1957)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

Edward L. Cahn

Writers (WGA):

George H. Plympton (story)
Bernard Gordon (screenplay) (originally as Raymond T. Marcus)

Release Date:

March 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

ZOMBIES OF THE AFRICAN VOODOO COAST! (original poster - all caps)

Plot:

Zombie-like, dead crewmen of a sunken ship have always prevented salvagers from claiming the wreck's legendary box of diamonds, but will a new group of treasure hunters succeed?

Plot Keywords:

Treasure | Diamond | Legend | Sailor | Africa

Cast

Gregg Palmer	...	Jeff Clark
Allison Hayes	...	Mona Harrison
Autumn Russell	...	Jan Peters
Joel Ashley	...	George Harrison
Morris Ankrum	...	Dr. Jonathan Eggert
Marjorie Eaton	...	Grandmother Peters
Gene Roth	...	Sam, the chauffeur
Leonard P. Geer	...	Johnny - a Crewman (as Leonard Geer)
Karl 'Killer' Davis	...	First Zombie - in Roadway (as Karl Davis)
William Baskin	...	Zombie
Ray Corrigan	...	Sailor
Mel Curtis	...	Johnson - Crewman in Launch
Frank Hagney	...	Capt. Jeremy Peters - a Zombie

Also Known As:

The Dead That Walk (UK)

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - 301 N. Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, California, USA

Company:

Clover Productions

Trivia:

Columbia Pictures released this film on a double bill with The Man Who Turned to Stone (1957) with the tag line: "Warning - This is the Most Shocking Horror Bill Ever Shown!"

Goofs:

Continuity: The first freighter seen on screen has two masts. But when we look back again, it now only has one mast.

Quotes:

Sam, the chauffeur: [after hitting a particularly deep pothole] Sorry, Miss Jan.
Jan Peters: Sam, I think by now you'd know every hole in this road.
Sam, the chauffeur: I know all the holes, Miss Jan, but on this road there's no place to go but in them.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Middleman: The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation (#1.8)" (2008)

Zombies of Mora

I thought "Plan 9 from Outer Space" was the worst black and white b movies schlock I had ever seen, but "Zombies of Mora Tau" would be right there with it. This film must have been made on a $25000 budget or less.....incredibly lousy acting and zero special effects equal a b flick disaster. The story line consists of two adventurers searching for some lost diamonds on a boat that had sunk 60 years earlier....funny how they run into the "zombies" as the film title says that are wearing t shirts, polo shirts and long sleeve shirts and showing no ill effects of age....the makeup dept did not even try to make the zombies scary looking...ugh!!!! Even more abysmal is our two heroes adorn diving helmets and go into the deep supposedly to find the boat with the diamonds...it is very apparent they weren't even in the water!!! The screen suddenly turns very black and dark and all you can see is the divers faces in the steel helmets. Looks like the producers did not want to hire any underwater photographers.....ugh!!! Then there is a scene when one of the divers appears on the top of the water and two zombies are fighting with him and a guy with a Flash Gordon ray gun shoots one of them and both roll over and die!!! One shot kills two guys at the same time!!! Allison Hayes is the gal to admire and she is as wooden as a tree. Want more,...there is a 90 year old lady with white hair who keeps advising the heroes to beware of the zombies and that there is a curse on the diamonds.....she was the former wife of one of the zombies....wow, this movie is total schlock.....definitely drive in material for the late 1950s as the second run feature on a twin bill.