Zombies of Mora Tau

(1957) **1/2



Also taken from the recently released Sam Katzman collection, this one is noteworthy because the zombies differ from both the voodoo slaves of yore (White Zombie, Revolt of the Zombies) and the flesh eaters that we all know and love today.

It begins with a hit and run on an isolated road near the coast of Africa. Jeff the passenger is appalled that his driver left the body on the side of the road but she calmly explains “he wasn’t a man, he was one of them."

Flash back to 1894 when an expedition of ten explorers raided a native temple and stole precious diamonds. By the time they returned to their ship, a curse transformed them into mindless zombies. They attacked their shipmates and sank the ship and treasure to the bottom of the sea. In the 60+ years since, the zombies have remained in the water to protect the diamonds from anyone foolish enough to search for them. A cranky old bitty named Mrs. Peters explains all of this to the latest bunch of diamond seekers. This group remains undeterred despite seeing the graves of past intruders as well as freshly dug graves ready to receive their own bodies. Some people just need to learn things the hard way.

I love the concept of the underwater zombie and would pay to see more of them. (The only other one I can think of is the zombie that took a bite out of a shark in Fulci’s Zombi 2.) Though Zombies of Mora Tau is generally considered to be an overachiever, the zombies guarding a sunken ship concept would have been infinitely more exciting had they been able to afford underwater cameras. The lack of a budget forced them to crawl out of the water and pull their victims into the sea.

There's no good reason to go out of your way to see this movie but if you stumble into it, there's no need to panic.