I was going to start this by saying I did something exciting this weekend but I worry phrasing it that way will reveal how absolutely unexciting I am. But it was exciting for me. I have long deeply loved Hammer Horror, which for those who don't know are 52 movies made by Hammer Films, a British movie studio that went under in the mid 70's but for a 20 year stretch made some of the greatest Gothic Horror films ever made and were just reliable and making movies that even though they were low budget and rushed looked gorgeous due to amazing costuming and set dec and excellent crew members who could absolutely spin some magic with their strong work ethic and creative talents. It also gave us people like Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee who could hold your attention on screen like all the best. Great working class actors who were dynamic to watch.
I have seen many of these. My grandma liked them and I liked them and in the 90's they received a critical reappraisal as they went from B movie schlock to gorgeously crafted movies with more going on under the surface than you realized at first glance. Which meant they started to be shown on Turner Classic Movies a lot and I was in love. But I had never seen plague of the Zombies because I saw what was shown to me and then later on hunted down the big franchise stuff. I've seen all the Draculas, I've seen all the Frankensteins, I've seen all the Lesbian Vampire movies. You know, the classics. But this is their only Zombie movie and it was hard to find so I just never did. Until this weekend and it was so exciting because I LOVED it. Hammer always has an undercurrent about the oppression of the working class, which makes sense given the film industry was working class in England. We think of glamour now but it wasn't a profession for refined people in the 1950's, it was a working class thing, from acting to screen plays. It was low, common work in a country that still had a class system. But this movie really nails it because it's Haitian style Zombies. It's set in the Cornish countryside and a bunch of Rich White Dudes have culturally appropriated Voodoo (and appear to have brought along some black men with them who do not appear to be treated as anything other than slaves) and are using it to kill locals and bring them back as zombie slaves. See, there is a tin mine but it's so dangerous no one will work there, not for what the local lord wants to pay. This annoys him because it is his birthright to be very rich. So he decides that what's better than under paying people. Not paying them at all. Also, now you can whip them for fun if you're frustrated because there are no pesky laws that prevent you from whipping dead people. It's not subtle but it's so much fun. I loved it.
Which is a long way of saying I am posting Madeline Smith who was not in this movie at all but it had me thinking about the fact that I am only a few years away from the Vampire Lovers. I am watching every Hammer movie in chronological order. Slowly but getting there. It's 4 years way from Plague of the Zombies and I thought, "I know myself, I am posting Ingrid Pitt after I watch that". And I thought that was very unfair to Madeline Smith, who I also would like to post. She has nothing to do with Zombies, she loves Vampires you see, but she is attractive. I want you to know that since she's in a lesbian Vampire movie I got the opinion of a real life Lesbian. I showed my friend @wildflagsure pictures of her in the past and she said, "Ugh she's so hot" and "Fuck those tits". I think the second one is positive but who knows, maybe she was just really angry about boobs. She has never watched the movies because she said she doesn't need to see topless girls kissing. Well, need or not, it's on deck so I am posting Madeline Smith and no doubt this will all be revisited in a few months when I finally get to the Vampire Loves. Today I want to fuck Madeline Smith.
