Creature Of The Walking Dead (1965)
Creature Of The Walking Dead (1965)
Creature Of The Walking Dead, is really just an English language adaptation of the 1961 film La Marca Del Muerto (or Mark Of The Dead Man), but rather than remaking the film with an English language cast, as was once the practice, or even just re-releasing the film with English dubs or subs as was also a common practice, director Jerry Warren used mostly the original Mexican film, but then shot some scenes with an American cast, and the results were a jumbled up mess of a film. I think that there is actually a decent film somewhere in this mess, and honestly I would love to find the original 1961 film, and watch that instead. My first impression of the film was that it was much older than it actually was, I was expecting it to be from the 1930s or 1940s based on the tone and feel of the film, but then to find out that it is actually from 1965, makes the film feel like it was a weak film for its time period. I also thought that the voice track was off as I watched the film, until I later found out that it is instead a bad English dub over the Mexican actors parts. I am sure that the only reason that the film was remade, was to try to capitalize on the American film market, to try to make some money from a very low budget project.
Creature Of The Walking dead tells the story of Dr. Malthus who has found the secret to staying young forever, by stealing the blood of innocent women that he would abduct on the streets. But then he was caught and hanged for his crimes, but from some reason his grandson digs him up from the grave and resurrects him, at which point the doctor locks up his grandson and takes his place, until his grandson's fiance discovers the marks caused by the hangman's rope on his neck, and a police inspector closes in on him as a new spree of abducted women starts to happen.
Creature Of The Walking Dead was directed by Jerry Warren with a screenplay by Alfredo Varela Jr and a plot by Jose Maria Fernandez Unsain. The film is an English language adaptation of the 1961 Mexican horror film La Marca Del Muerto, directed by Fernando Cortes and written by Alfredo Varela Jr. The film was distributed by A.D.P. Pictures Inc in 1965, and was released to mostly negative reviews, and even in retrospective reviews holds a low score on sites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb.
To talk about the cast of the film is an interesting exercise, because first of all the film's credits don't credit the original Mexican actors who are actually the primary actors, then it makes up names like Rock Madson to make its cast list seem larger than it actually was. First of all the uncredited leads were Fernando Casanova as Dr John Malthus/Martin Malthus, George Mitchell Andre as the voice of Martin Malthus and the voice of the narrator, among other cast members from the original film. Then there is the American cast for the handful of shots filmed in the USA for the 1965 film, which include Bruno VeSota as Police Inspector, Robert Christopher as Det. Lt. Ed Jamieson, and Fred Hoffman as Detective Sergeant. To be honest there is more cast than this in the film, but really other than Dr Malthus and his grandson Martin Malthus there really isn't anyone that really matters all that much in the film. To their credit the Mexican actors are the best of the acting in the film, the US shot footage is throwaway crap, and adds nothing of value to the film whatsoever.
The best way to describe this film is to call it a hack job, because really that is what this film is. Jerry Warren made a career of hacking Mexican horror films to bits and re-releasing them as hack job messes. If you haven't seen Creature Of The Walking Dead, honestly I would recommend skipping it and finding the original film La Marca Del Muerto, because the only things that are actually good in this film are the original scenes reused from the original film. This is a bad film, no matter how you look at it, but at the same time, I would be lying if I were to say that I didn't enjoy this film. I don't know what it is about this film that appeals to me, but I have watched it a few times now, and I can't say that it was a bad experience, or time that I regret spending. Creature Of The Walking Dead is a low budget hack job of what was probably a great Mexican horror film. I don't think that this film is worth seeking out, however if you find it in a collection of public domain horror films, don't skip it, it is only 74 minutes, not a huge time commitment, and it is worth watching, but not worth hunting down a copy of, if that makes sense.
Also I found the trailer to the film a bit deceiving in how it describes the film.
Creature Of The Walking dead tells the story of Dr. Malthus who has found the secret to staying young forever, by stealing the blood of innocent women that he would abduct on the streets. But then he was caught and hanged for his crimes, but from some reason his grandson digs him up from the grave and resurrects him, at which point the doctor locks up his grandson and takes his place, until his grandson's fiance discovers the marks caused by the hangman's rope on his neck, and a police inspector closes in on him as a new spree of abducted women starts to happen.
To talk about the cast of the film is an interesting exercise, because first of all the film's credits don't credit the original Mexican actors who are actually the primary actors, then it makes up names like Rock Madson to make its cast list seem larger than it actually was. First of all the uncredited leads were Fernando Casanova as Dr John Malthus/Martin Malthus, George Mitchell Andre as the voice of Martin Malthus and the voice of the narrator, among other cast members from the original film. Then there is the American cast for the handful of shots filmed in the USA for the 1965 film, which include Bruno VeSota as Police Inspector, Robert Christopher as Det. Lt. Ed Jamieson, and Fred Hoffman as Detective Sergeant. To be honest there is more cast than this in the film, but really other than Dr Malthus and his grandson Martin Malthus there really isn't anyone that really matters all that much in the film. To their credit the Mexican actors are the best of the acting in the film, the US shot footage is throwaway crap, and adds nothing of value to the film whatsoever.
The best way to describe this film is to call it a hack job, because really that is what this film is. Jerry Warren made a career of hacking Mexican horror films to bits and re-releasing them as hack job messes. If you haven't seen Creature Of The Walking Dead, honestly I would recommend skipping it and finding the original film La Marca Del Muerto, because the only things that are actually good in this film are the original scenes reused from the original film. This is a bad film, no matter how you look at it, but at the same time, I would be lying if I were to say that I didn't enjoy this film. I don't know what it is about this film that appeals to me, but I have watched it a few times now, and I can't say that it was a bad experience, or time that I regret spending. Creature Of The Walking Dead is a low budget hack job of what was probably a great Mexican horror film. I don't think that this film is worth seeking out, however if you find it in a collection of public domain horror films, don't skip it, it is only 74 minutes, not a huge time commitment, and it is worth watching, but not worth hunting down a copy of, if that makes sense.
Also I found the trailer to the film a bit deceiving in how it describes the film.
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