6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
American tycoon George Harrison, his beautiful wife, Mona, and deep-sea diver Jeff Clark are off the coast of Africa hoping to salvage a fortune in diamonds at the bottom of the sea near the voodoo-haunted island of Mora Tau, and are joined by an English girl named Jan. The treasure is reported to be guarded by Zombies, walking dead-men doomed to roam the earth until men stop trying to find the sacred treasure. Here, they are walking the sea-bottom, and there is a large conflict of interest between them and the treasure-seekers...
Starring: Gregg Palmer, Allison Hayes, Autumn Russell, Joel Ashley, Morris AnkrumHorror | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as a part of Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman.
Sam Katzman's name may frankly not be held in the same general esteem as some other famous Golden Era producers like David O. Selznick or
Adolph Zukor, but for sheer number of films produced and perhaps especially in cost to profit ratio, Katzman might eclipse more ostensible
luminaries
than you
might expect. While Zukor, as the head of Paramount Pictures, got literally hundreds of "presents" credits, his actual producing credits (according
to
the IMDb) number fewer than a hundred, and Selznick logs in with even fewer than that. Of course both Selznick and Zukor tended to
enjoy much more fulsome budgets and more glittering marquee stars than Katzman, a hardscrabble guy who started working in the film industry
when he was barely a teenager, and who then climbed the ranks to work at a number of studios, including "poverty row" centers like Monogram,
but
also 20th Century Fox, Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Columbia, ending up with (again according to the IMDb) 239 credits as producer. The four
Katzman
produced efforts Arrow Video has aggregated in this appealing
collection may arguably not be from Hollywood's "real" Golden Era, with, as the title of the collection may hint at, these films all emanating a mid-
fifties ambience that sought to attract younger viewers in particular away from the hypnotizing influence of that confounded television invention,
often
courtesy of plots that included science fiction and/or horror.
Zombies of Mora Tau is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Arrow actually provides two insert booklets with this release, but there's very little information granted about the transfer, other than that "restored masters were produced by Sony Pictures". Of course Sony has long been one of the more reliable curators of even its less well known catalog, and while there's nothing major to complain about here, Zombies of Mora Tau may arguably not have quite the luster of some of its siblings in the Katzman set, if only by degrees. Part of this perception may be due at least in part to the rather large swaths of this film that play out in murky darkness, where fine detail levels in particular can ebb pretty noticeably (see screenshot 6). That said, this is another very nicely organic looking presentation that boasts a generally well resolved grain field and some very appealing fine detail levels on everything from some of the female character's hair to elements like fabrics and props. This is another presentation in this set where there can be intermittent slight downturns in overall clarity for a moment or two in selected scenes when compared to the bulk of the presentation (see screenshot 7). My score is 3.75.
Zombies of Mora Tau offers a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix that provides good support for the film's often goofy dialogue and some of the sound effects, which are relatively numerous given this film's obviously very low budget. Once again the score seems to have been cobbled together from stock libraries, but sounds fine and surprisingly consistent. I noticed no issues with regard to any major age related wear and tear. Optional English subtitles are available.
Zombies of Mora Tau is a good, old fashioned programmer, and if the likes of Allison Hayes gives the film some inherent seductive allure, it's actually the wizened old woman portrayed by Marjorie Eaton which gives the film a lot of its most distinctive flavor. Video is arguably just a little less satisfying overall than some of the other presentations in Arrow's Katzman set, but audio is fine, and as usual with Arrow releases, the supplementary package is very enjoyable, for those who are considering making a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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