Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.0

Valley of the Zombies Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 5, 2021

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the Silver Screams Cinema Collection.

With Halloween sneaking up on us all in just a few more weeks, some may be looking for some scary movies to fill the interim and properly set the mood. Imprint's Silver Screams Cinema Collection may not in fact offer any undiscovered masterpieces, but it's kind of a goofily fun time capsule which can transport willing viewers back to a simpler era when low budget (some may aver no budget) studios like Monogram and Republic churned out B movies with some kind of horror underpinning which were frequently utilized to fill out double feature bills. The six films aggregated in this set span the production years of 1944 to 1957, and if the films themselves are often unabashedly silly, they can at least intermittently offer some saving graces, and there are a ton of interesting trivia tidbits about some of the films included, some of which I'll mention in the individual reviews linked to below, which, when combined with some really enjoyable commentaries included for each of the films (including some multiple commentaries), may make this set a "must buy" for certain fans.

Some ardent film fans may be aware of an apparently sadly lost film starring Lon Chaney called London After Midnight, but I almost wondered if someone associated with The Vampire's Ghost had either actually seen the film, or at least been able to view stills from it, since the film's main villain, Ormand Murks (Ian Keith), is made up to look suspiciously similar to how Chaney evidently appeared in the film. While Murks is the titular "zombie" (albeit one more prone to traversing rooftops than valleys), the character really might be better described as a vampire, since he's one of the undead who has an appetite for blood, making this again something that parallels London After Midnight.

There's a brief exposition dump in an early interchange with Murks and his first victim (at least within the film), a doctor named Maynard (Charles Towbridge), where it's disclosed Murks had been a mental patient who was literally bloodthirsty, and who supposedly died, albeit without an autopsy. Two co-workers of Dr. Maynard, a doctor named Terry Evans (Robert Livingston) and a nurse named Susan Drake (Lorna Gray), are soon sucked into the intrigue when a number of victims start turning up. Kind of interestingly, the film, somewhat like The Phantom Speaks (though in a different way), almost goes in the same direction as some of the Dr. Mabuse films. In the case of The Phantom Speaks, it's more in terms of a telepathic connection between predator and prey, while here it also involves a tendency toward Murks being able to mesmerize victims to do his nefarious will.

Valley of the Zombies Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Valley of the Zombies is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Imprint and Via Vision Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. This, along with Return of the Ape Man, represents the lower end of the quality spectrum in terms of overall appearance. Whereas I found parts of The Phantom Speaks's transfer to be a bit on the bright side, this one struck me as too dark a lot of the time, though that may be a perception derived at least in part from the fact that vast swaths of the film take place in dimly lit environments, as can probably be gleaned from several of the screenshots accompanying this review. That said, I'd probably rate this transfer as a bit better than Return of the Ape Man, at least in terms of a consistent appearance. Contrast is secure throughout the presentation, and even some rather dark scenes can offer decent levels of fine detail. Grain resolves naturally throughout. My score is 3.25.

Valley of the Zombies Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Valley of the Zombies features an LPCM 2.0 Mono track that is, like several of the others in this set from this same general vintage, kind of inherently boxy sounding, but which provides capable support for dialogue, score and effects. There's a bit of background noise in some quieter moments, but I didn't encounter anything that struck me as a major issue. Optional English subtitles are available.

Valley of the Zombies Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Tim Lucas


• Audio commentary with horror / fantasy authors Stephen Jones and Kim Newman

Valley of the Zombies Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Valley of the Zombies offers Ian Keith a showcase (even if he hams it up to hyperbolic levels), but it breaks one of the cardinal rules of screenwriting by having characters talk about what has happened rather than depicting it. Now, some of that may have been dictated by censors of the time, but one way or the other Valley of the Zombies never really works up much in the way of scares. Video encounters some hurdles, but the two audio commentaries are very well done.