Bela Lugosi plays the sinister zombie-maker Murder Legendre in White Zombie.
Released in 1932, White Zombie is widely regarded as the first feature-length zombie film. Lugosi was already internationally famous for playing Count Dracula in the 1931 film Dracula, and his presence helped give the low-budget production a strong horror identity. Murder Legendre is not a conventional graveyard zombie; he is a mysterious Haitian-style sorcerer who uses supernatural control to turn living people into obedient workers.
The film was directed by Victor Halperin and produced independently by brothers Edward and Victor Halperin. Its story follows Madeleine Short, whose wedding plans are disrupted when Legendre becomes obsessed with her. The movie drew on contemporary Western popular culture’s fascination with Haiti and “voodoo,” ideas that were often sensationalized and distorted by Hollywood.
White Zombie is sometimes confused with later George A. Romero films, but its zombies differ substantially. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead helped establish the modern flesh-eating undead, while White Zombie focuses on enslavement and hypnotic control.