Black Zombie

“Turning someone into a zombie is like putting them back into slavery. Forever,” a Haitian voice says at the start of Maya Annik Bedward’s Black Zombie, a compelling and eye-opening investigation into the true story behind the pop culture monster. Combining clips from classic Hollywood horror films with fictional historic reenactments shot in dramatic B&W, the comprehensive doc, which opens in select theaters September 11th, also includes interviews with a diverse array of talking heads. Indeed, we hear from historians, Black and white alike; Vodou practitioners in Haiti, New Orleans and Montreal; and several zombie fans, including Zombie Walk founder Thea Munster and Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash. (John Russo, co-writer of George A. Romero’s 1968 cult flick Night of the Living Dead, and Romero’s makeup and special effects artist Tom Savini even make memorable appearances.) It all adds up to a thorough retracing of the modern zombie narrative back to its birth in Haitian Vodou, and in the process transforms the rapacious creature from a symbol of irrational evil to that of resistance against enslavement.

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