I Walked with a Zombie

Re-examining Val Lewton’s 1943 low-budget classic

Two months before Cat People opened in 1942, the cameras started to roll on producer Val Lewton’s second film. RKO Pictures had tested and approved the title I Walked with a Zombie, and now wanted a movie based on the title.

Zombie is a movie loved by most critics in spite of its failures and gaping plot holes. It works because it is about mood and atmosphere rather than horror itself. It’s about voodoo, mental illness and alcoholism. It may eve...