Trailer—Zombies of Mora Tau

source: Zombies of Mora Tau

Zombies of Mora Tau (1957) * 1/2 (out of 4) Silly horror film from Columbia about zombies guarding some diamonds on the bottom of the sea. This little set up should have made for an interesting film but the poor direction makes this film quite hard to get through. Even at 70-minutes the film moves way too slowly without too much life anywhere to be found. The only good features are a few items, which seem to have influenced Romero. Allison Hayes co-stars. Now available on DVD through Columbia.

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.

Any zombie film is a blast to watch, there is just something about them that is so cool. Well the film starts out in Africa were a young girl goes off to live with her grandmother. At the same time treasure hunters are searching for a lost treasure. The zombies come in as previous treasure searchers searching for the treasure, who were cursed when they failed. So the zombies are below average but the fact that they're zombies, is the only reason it doesn't completely suck. The acting is average, and the story is above average interesting. All the ridiculous stereotypes are included, fear of fire, walking under water, the usual. It's not a horrible film just poor, but if you love Zombies it's perfect for you. 3/10

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.