Script review – “I Walked with a Zombie” by Curt Siodmak and Ardel Wray

Val Lewton’s take on Jane Eyre, set in the Caribbean – which makes total sense since Mrs Rochester in the book came from the West Indies. There have been some changes: the nurse (Betsy) is hired to look after the crazy wife, Jennifer. The brother (Wesley) is the Rochester figure’s brother. There’s also a mum – a missionary’s wife who’s becomes sympathetic to voodoo to get her work done.

 

Not an ounce of fat on it – maybe it could have done with more fat. Betsy falls in love with Paul (the apparently attractive brooding brother) very quickly – and we miss the big scene of Wesley refusing to pack Jennifer off to the insane asylum. 

 

I also feel we miss something in the character of the mother – when all’s said and done she’s a bit crazy to have turned her daughter-in-law into a zombie. And now I’m nitpicking we could have done more building up to Wesley’s (the brother’s) actions at the end, setting Jennifer free so he can kill her. Maybe this was more in the original script – I read a transcript. 

 

Still, highly intelligent and thoughtful, especially in it's treatment of voodoo, and enough walks by Betsy through windswept gardens and beaches at night to be scary even on the page.