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Hammer's only stab at the zombie genre, the film takes place in a small town where strange occurrences and the odd disappearance catches the eye of local doctor Peter Tompson (Brook Williams). To investigate further, he enlists the help of his old teacher Professor (and Sir!) James Forbes (Andre Morell) who arrives with his daughter Sylvia (Diane Clare). Soon strange sightings are seen of zombie-like creatures, and suspicion is aroused with the aggressive behaviour of a group of fox hunters and the reclusive Clive Hamilton (John Carson). Is this the work of black magic and voodoo, or scientific experimentation gone wrong?

This is probably Hammer's most shamelessly entertaining film. This doesn't have the cutting edge politics and satire of Romero's original zombie trilogy, or the over-the-top cheap gore of Raimi's Evil Dead films, but has the distinction of being a typically British film, only with zombies! It's predictable and silly but it's bloody good fun. It's also made with Hammer's high production standards, beautiful sets and a surprisingly sinister edge. These aren't zombies that will eat your brains, and to be honest they only properly turn up in the last twenty minutes or so, but the film moves fast and has a great lead performance in stiff-upper-lipped Andre Morell. Not bad for a film that was the supporting feature in a Hammer double bill.

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Sir James Forbes (André Morell) and his daughter, Sylvia (Diane Clare), are out of the blue requested to travel to a Cornish village by Sir James' former pupil, Dr. Peter Thompson (Brook Williams). The village has become a haven for mysterious deaths and Peter's believes that Sir James can shed some light on the matter. No sooner do they arrive when another victim surfaces and it's quickly becomes evident that something far more sinister than medical problems is at work here.

Hammer Horror tackles the zombie sub-genre with no little amount of success. Directed by John Gilling, The Plague Of The Zombies was filmed back to back with the equally entertaining The Reptile. Filmed out of fortress Hammer that was Bray Studios, the same sets that were used for The Reptile were also used here. With Bernard Robinson's Cornish Village again a treat for sore eyes. 1966 was the last year that Hammer used Bray Studios and it's fitting that it was a year that saw efficient and varying creepers filling out the Hammer Horror cannon. Peter Bryan's story, aided by some interesting imagery, delves into the dark world of witchcraft and voodoo, thus giving this particular "zombie" piece an extra dimension. This is not merely about zombies roaming the countryside and killing indiscriminately. Evil they are of course, but they have a purpose and being that comes to light as the story unfolds. There's also nods to tyranny and exploitation, wryly observed by the makers here, cheekily cloaked in a cloud of rotting flesh.

Technically it holds up rather well too. The effects are strong enough to carry the story, with the zombies eerie personified as they shuffle around all green flesh and grumbling away as we know they should. All captured in deluxe colour that comes out nice in High Definition. The cast are fine, with Morell standing out as he gives his usual classy and professional performance, while James Bernard's score is suitably at one with each and every change of pace. This is not just a fine and under appreciated part of the Hammer Horror output, it's also a worthy and most notable entry in the "zombie" genre. See it if you can. 7/10

This movie begins with a young woman by the name of "Alice Mary Tompson" (Jacqueline Pearce) awakening from what appears to be a bad dream. The scene then shifts to London where a gentleman named "Sir James Forbes" (Andre Morell) is handed a letter from his daughter "Sylvia Forbes" (Diane Clare). The letter just happens to come from the husband of Alice who goes by the name of "Dr. Peter Tompson" (Brook Williams) which details a mysterious ailment in the Cornish village where he and Alice live. Being a professor of medicine Sir James is intrigued and decides to travel to this village to check it out. Sylvia comes with him because she is anxious to see her good friend Alice. Anyway, when they get there they soon discover that this plague is unlike anything they have ever come across and they cannot seem to isolate the cause. Now rather than disclose any more and risk ruining the film for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this movie was certainly quite watchable. At least for me. I say this because I typically like most zombie movies. Not only that but I especially like movies bearing the "Hammer" trademark. So this film definitely had my interest and I was not disappointed. Having said that however, I think it's only fair to point out a couple of minor deficiencies. First, the zombies looked a bit goofy. But considering that this movie was made in the mid-60's I suppose one has to make some allowances. The other thing I noticed was that some of the acting was a bit mediocre at times. Not bad necessarily but a bit mediocre all the same. Be that as it may, I liked the performance of Diane Clare and I also thought the story flowed very smoothly from one scene to the next. In short, this was a fine "pre-Romero" zombie movie and I rate it as slightly above average.

Andre Morell's character, Dr. Forbes, makes a very unusual house call at the opening of "The Plague of the Zombies." His old student, now practicing in a small (Victorian era) Cornish village, is mystified by the recent outbreak of deaths in that town, and even his wife, Alice, is starting to exhibit some strange lethargy. After Forbes arrives to help, he and his friend uncover a mix of voodoo, grave robbing and the undead, in this lesser known Hammer title that certainly deserves a greater renown. And thanks to the fine folks at Anchor Bay, this film's popularity may soon spread beyond its current cult reputation. "Plague" features an intelligent script, fine acting, solid photography and great atmosphere. Andre Morell's doctor makes for a very reassuring action hero, despite the actor's age (he was 57 at the time this picture was made). The film boasts three very chilling scenes: the first, nighttime appearance of a zombie on a hillside; the much-celebrated dream sequence; and Alice's rising from her grave. The smile on actress Jacqueline Pearce's face in this last scene is just haunting. Though marred by a somewhat disappointing finale, the film remains a minor horror masterpiece and one of the scariest works that I've yet seen from the House of Hammer. This movie would make a wonderful double feature with the similarly themed "White Zombie" (1932), or with another Hammer film made that same year (1966), "The Reptile," featuring Pearce again and the same director, John Gilling. Any way you watch it, though, the film is a real winner.

One of the numerous 'period' horror movies to come out of Hammer Film Productions in the late '50s and '60s, "Plague of the Zombies" is pretty typical of the genre (excepting the absence of perennials Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee). Unwelcome newcomers arrive in a rural village that clearly has some dark secret, get warned away, refuse to leave, and ultimately get sucked into the evil goings-on. While the zombie make-up leaves something to be desired (by current standards), the script and story is quite good as is the acting. The film was shot concurrently with "The Reptile", sharing sets, cast members (including the lovely Jacqueline Pearce, perhaps best known as the slinkily evil Servalan in "Blake's Seven") and to some extent, plot*. While far from being the first Zombie film, "Plague of the Zombies" was highly influential: much of the current zombie aesthetic is a mashup of this film and the following year's "Night of the Living Dead". Recommended for aficionados of vintage horror films; however, modern fans, used to the gore and graphic decomposition in, for example, "The Walking Dead", may find the zombies a bit silly, which will pretty much kill the mood. (*also shared are comments in my reviews)

This is an above average Hammer Studios film from 1966. It was filmed back to back with The Reptile, another above average Hammer production, using chiefly the same crew and much of the same cast.

The story is that there is a mysterious plague killing people in a small Cornish village. Dr. Forbes (André Morell) travels there to investigate and is accompanied by his daughter, Sylvia Forbes (Diane Clare), who uses it as an excuse to visit her childhood friend Alice Tompson (Jacqueline Pearce). Alice's husband is the local doctor and has been unable to figure out why people have been dying. His wife Alice has also been acting strange lately, somewhat withdrawn and lifeless, which has been the main symptom before the locals died.

There is a local gang of privileged ruffians who are headed by the local nobleman, Squire Clive Hamilton. Hamilton more or less runs the village and he also owns the old abandoned mine near town. He is of course approached by Dr. Forbes but cannot provide any help as to the cause of deaths. But soon he doctor begins to suspect the truth: That the Squire is actually a practicing Voodoo priest who has been turning locals into zombies to work in his mine!

Before too long Alice Tompson dies and her distraught husband has her buried in the local cemetery. We get to watch as she rises from the grave to report to the mine for duty! There are lots of cool shots of zombies lumbering around and rising from graves

In this film the whole town is shrouded in mist and there is a constant sense of dread among the population. Michael Ripper does a great job as the local constable who is trying to solve the mystery along with Dr. Forbes. Tightly put together with a fast pace for most of the movie, this is a great release from Hammer. It is also the only zombie movie they ever put out which is too bad as this one turned out so well.

This release from Anchor Bay is another notch in their cap for the fine picture (1.85:1 anamorphic) and sound. There are a couple of trailers and a World of Hammer Episode: "Mummies, Werewolves & the Living Dead". It retails for $30, but it can be found for less. I am glad I own this dvd and I will watch it many more times over the years.

Though I'm a big Hammer fan from first time around, incredibly I missed this when it came out (actually, I was a bit young), and never caught up with it on TV. A pal of mine , gave me the DVD, so I was finally able to see it.

PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES isn't the front rank of Hammer movies. I saw THE MUMMY right after and it's plain that Hammer weren't spending much money on ZOMBIES, compared with the earlier film, but though it was obviously made by the Hammer B-team on a b- movie budget, ZOMBIES does everything that it was intended to do.

Great to see a very young Jacqueline Pearce as the doomed friend of the heroine. I met Jacqueline a few times during the 1980s when she was in BBC's BLAKE'S 7, and she was a very funny, sometimes outrageous person. But you'd never know it from this fairly thankless role.

Anyway, not Hammer's best, but fun nonetheless. Worth a look if you ever get the chance to see it.

In 1860, Sir James Forbes (André Morell) and his daughter Sylvia (Diane Clare) receive a letter from his former brilliant student Dr. Peter Tompson (Brook Williams), who is married to an old school friend of Sylvia, Alice (Jacqueline Pearce). In this letter, Peter tells that mysterious deaths are happening in the area where he is the local doctor. Sir James decides to visit the friends with Sylvia and to help Peter to find out what is happening. There, he realizes that the bodies of the new dead are disappearing from their graves. A further investigation shows them the existence of zombies in that location.

"The Plague of the Zombies" is a 1966 creepy film of zombies by Hammer, with great story, screenplay, characters and performances. There are few good movies of zombies, the best is probably the 1968 classic "The Night of the Living Dead" and the two sequels by George Romero, "Dawn of the Dead" and "Day of the Dead". "The Plague of the Zombies" is also an excellent movie of the genre, and if the viewer pays attention, he or she will notice that it was made BEFORE the 1968 "The Night of the Living Dead". Therefore George Romero's movie is not the first important horror film to explore the zombie theme, and this 1966 Hammer's movie came first. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Epidemia de Zumbis" ("Zombie Epidemic")

This was the one and only zombie movie that the British horror kings Hammer Films ever put out. It might seem quite odd to some modern viewers in that there are no flesh-eating ghouls to be found here at all. The reason for this is quite simple, this movie came out two years before George A. Romero's legendary classic Night of the Living Dead (1968) which effectively was a year zero moment for the modern, more grotesque zombie. In this one the undead are almost tragic beings who are slaves to an evil human. This isn't so strange, as Hammer had made a habit of going back to the 30's and making modern versions of the horror classics of that decade. To this end Plague of the Zombies could be considered a new version of the zombie films of those earlier years when the conception of the undead was wrapped up in Haitian voodoo, with the zombies themselves slaves to occult masters. A film that looks to have been particularly influential here is the Bela Lugosi poverty row cult item White Zombie (1932), which featured all those things plus the idea of the undead being used to work tirelessly in a mill, an idea revisited here also. What was also noticeable to me was that this one looked like a second-tier Hammer film financially, with none of their big stars in it. In fact, it seems to have been made as a support feature for Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), with the funny trailer for this double-bill saying that boys will be handed out Dracula fangs and girls will be given zombie eyes! It also seems to clearly have been made back-to-back with The Reptile (1966) which also shares the same filming location as well as some acting personnel. But the interesting thing is, that despite the lower profile that Hammer gave it, this remains one of their strongest 60's movies.

A couple of physicians investigate a series of unexplained deaths and vanishing corpses in a small Cornish village. The local squire appears to be involved in some way. One chief strength is the atmosphere which is helped quite a bit by the great locations. The slightly odd looking antiquated village is very distinctive, while the old mill is quite haunting. The zombies themselves make only selective appearances but they make for interesting shambling creatures, dressed in sack cloths. One of the highlights of the movie as a whole has them rise from the earth in a graveyard and attack one of the central characters in a sinister dream sequence. Even better is a scene just prior to it where the doctor's dead wife comes out of her grave and advances directly towards him with an intense relentless look on her face. This scene was the highlight of the film for me. It was shot very well and acted perfectly by Jacqueline Pearce who also put in a very memorable performance in The Reptile. On the whole, this has to go down as one of the best Hammer films from its period on account of its more original material and well-crafted moments. It was maybe also the very last of the old-school zombie movies too before Romero changed the sub-genre forever more, and for this reason too it is worth seeing.

I've been watching horror films since before I could walk and this is the first time I have viewed this. Story is about a doctor named Sir John Forbes (Andre Morell) who receives a letter one day from a former pupil who is asking for help because people in his village are dying under strange circumstances. Sir John and his daughter Sylvia (Diane Clare) head to the village and they find his former pupil Peter Tompson (Brook Williams) and his wife Alice (Jacqueline Pearce) who explain the problem at hand. Alice looks pale and sick and has a bad cut on her arm but she insists that she is fine. Sir John asks what the autopsies revealed and Peter tells him that the village Squire would not allow any autopsies due to religious practices. The village Squire is Clive Hamilton (John Carson) and he has many men who work for him and are very obedient and one day he comes to visit Sylvia. A glass breaks and Sylvia ends up with a cut finger and when she isn't looking he takes some of her blood and keeps it. Then one night Alice leaves her home and ends up dead. Peter is heartbroken and Sir John suggests that they dig up some bodies in the cemetary and when they do they discover that all of the coffins are empty! Sir John figures out that Squire Hamilton has practiced black magic and can make the dead rise up as zombies and make them work in his underground mine. But he has to hurry because the Squire has put a spell on Sylvia and plans on using her next! This was directed by John Gilling who along with Terence Fisher was very popular especially with fans of these films by Hammer Studios. Gilling filmed this and then went right ahead a week later to direct "The Reptile" back to back and some of the sets can be seen in both films. I think one of the reasons that this doesn't get mentioned much when people speak of Hammer films is because it lacked real recognizable faces in the cast. The whole cast is good and veterans of these types of films but here in America how many people knew who John Carson was? I think most viewers were accustomed to seeing Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in the leads and if they weren't than maybe they got pushed by the wayside over the years. The special effects are not bad and it was pretty eerie seeing Alice rise up out of her grave. But I did laugh at some of the scenes in the mine where some of the men were flogging the zombies with whips to make them work. I guess good workers are hard to find! What's the world coming to if you can't get a zombie to put in a decent days work? But this is an effective film and one of the few that Hammer made that dealt with Zombies. Creepy atmosphere and a good cast make this a fun film to view.

This is one of the few good horror movies about zombies that I've ever seen. It has wonderful acting, mystery, intrigue, a great plot, and, of course, scary zombies. I wish modern horror movie makers would create more movies in the vein of this 1966 classic, rather than continually pumping out the tripe that we see so much of today. This film is a respectable addition to any horror lover's personal movie collection.

Sir James Forbes (Andre Morell), a respected doctor, receives a rather cryptic letter from an old pupil, Peter Tompson (Brook Williams) about strange, mysterious deaths in Tompsons' Cornish village. He and his headstrong daughter Sylvia (Diane Clare), who went to school with Tompsons' wife Alice (Jacqueline Pearce), pay the young medic a visit. James comes to the realization that some person has begun resurrecting the recently dead for some unknown purpose.

Although not as great as some titles in the Hammer filmography, "The Plague of the Zombies" is a solid shocker and Hammers' only attempt at a zombie picture. Director John Gilling and screenwriter Peter Bryan keep up anticipation throughout, and once the zombies show up, they don't disappoint. Given appropriate visages by Hammer makeup effects ace Roy Ashton, they're subtly creepy and amusing. Best of all is the set piece that kicks off the final third, a parade of the dead returning to life in a churchyard.

The music, sets, photography, etc. are all exemplary, and handled by some talented Hammer regulars. Bryans' screenplay isn't airtight, but it's reasonably intelligent as it takes its distinguished men of medicine and presents them with a nightmare scenario. It leads up to a fiery, exciting finale that doesn't give the heroes much room to breathe.

Morell, 57 at the time, is a delightful sardonic curmudgeon at first, but you just know that he's going to be an efficient hero who will connect all the dots and work to solve the problem.

There are engaging performances all around - John Carson as the cagey Squire Hamilton, Alexander Davion as thuggish young man Denver, and Marcus Hammond as the angry Tom Martinus. But the true delight for Hammer devotees is seeing its most frequent repertory player, Michael Ripper, in one of his best Hammer roles as a tough-talking sergeant. Sexy brunette Pearce does seem to thoroughly enjoy her one big scene.

This precedes George Romeros' legendary "Night of the Living Dead" by two years, and it's too bad Hammer couldn't have capitalized on the great success of that American classic with further forays into the zombie sub genre.

Recommended for any lover of old British horror.

Seven out of 10.

I remember seeing Plague of the Zombies when it first came out in the 60's and was instantly impressed.

Brit film makers Hammer had a reputation for churning out a succession of cheap and cheerful hammy horror films, often back to back using the same sets. One or two were good, most were mediocre, and some were awful. Hammer often used experienced actors like Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, but also used reasonably well known British character actors, and also gave many young actors and actresses a start in films. This is certainly one of their best efforts and it has a couple of genuinely scary moments.

It is well made, well directed, photography is excellent, actors are competent. No complaints.

George Romero might have breathed life back into the zombie sub-genre with his classic 'Night Of The Living Dead' (1968), but I think he possibly owes a debt to Hammer's 1966 movie 'Plague Of The Zombies': his infamous flesh-eating cadavers bear a remarkable resemblance to Plague's (admittedly less ravenous) mouldy, shuffling corpses.

In Hammer's effective little shocker, André Morell is Sir James Forbes, a professor of medicine who travels to Cornwall (in the company of his daughter, Sylvia, played by Diane Clare) after receiving a strange missive from ex-student Peter Tompson. Now working as a GP in a remote part of the West country, Peter is completely baffled as to why his patients have suddenly started dropping like flies.

After investigating matters in the Cornish town, Sir James discovers that the victims are being killed and returned to life (through the power of voodoo) by nasty landed gent Squire Hamilton (John Carson), who is using the rotting automatons to work his supposedly abandoned tin mine.

Although it was originally released as a support feature for 'Dracula, Prince Of Darkness', Plague Of The Zombies is easily one of Hammer's finest efforts and essential viewing for fans of the living dead. The talented cast give some excellent performances (Morell, in particular, is great as the open-minded man of science who is quite prepared to embrace the notion of witchcraft), whilst director John Gilling ensures that the film rattles along at a fair pace, managing some pretty chilling set-pieces in the process: a creepy dream-sequence that sets the standards for corpses crawling from their graves; a shocking scene in which we meet our first walking dead; and a truly memorable moment that features the decapitation of a zombie by spade (come to think of it, maybe Mr. Raimi also owes a little of his success to this film).

After hearing so much good about it, I finally watched PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES last night, the Anchor Bay widescreen release, and wow, how boring can a movie get? POTZ was excruciatingly slow, even for movies of that period. And I usually don't mind slow movies, like the original version of SOLARIS. But this most definitely overrated "horror" film was a chore to sit through. The problem with watching Hammer movies these days is that they basically look like average episodes of THE AVENGERS or any other TV series made in the UK in the 1960s, but stretched to a very unforgiving 90 minutes. I expected Emma Peel to pop-in at any given moment while watching POTZ.

Everything about Hammer movies screams "penny-pinching film-making": Zero style. Cheap sets, which look all the same in every Hammer movie. Cheap costumes. Mostly unknown actors who aren't very good at acting. Very little action or violence but lotsa stilted expositionary dialogue. Underdeveloped scripts with many dumb characters, like Dr. Thompson. The only good scene was when Sylvia was hounded by the men on horseback. But the fact that this scene was the best moment in a movie with zombies shows how boring and not scary the rest was.

Even though this movie has zombie in its titles, the zombies in the movie aren't very important to the main story. The zombies are just "slaves" used by an aristocrat for his underground mine. The silly film even shows the zombies being whipped into servitude even though zombies are supposed to be dead and therefore can't feel pain, which makes the use of a whip pretty funny.

Not scary, cheap looking, badly acted and very slow, with very little understanding of the whole concept of zombies (see my point about the whip), PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES is not worth your time at all.

Admission: I view this one through rose-tinted spectacles, not blind to its many faults but mentally papering and glossing over the cracks. I'm afraid that POTZ is one my favourite Hammer films, mainly because I think it has reasonable production values and a credible atmosphere in portraying a slightly different and incredible story. People killed to be turned into the Undead to work in a Cornish tin mine for no wages! Never mind Metropolis, this is the more likely future!

Andre Morell, John Carson and Michael Ripper do their usual sterling jobs with the material even though some of the other actors and actresses unwittingly glorify Zombieism. The "actual" zombies in POTZ must be ciphers representing the true state of affairs for ordinary workers under British capitalism in Victorian times, and are not the more familiar Romero types that were to follow. It's these latter-day ghouls that nearly all teenagers have tried to partially emulate in their free time since 1968... myself included at one time.

The climax is a bit rushed, and reminiscent of The Time Machine's Morlocks and Frankenstein's windmill, but is vaguely satisfying.