Revolt of the Zombies

Rating:
Summary: Not As Good As I Expected
Review: this is supposed to be the sequel to "White Zombie" (1932 with Bela Lugosi). as i won't be seeing "White Zombie" for another week or so (i just ordered it), i can't compare the two. yet for quite some time, this "Fright Night" classic film has caught my eye simply by the title. well, here's the simple scoop on this plot:
a small group of researchers are attempting to figure out the ancient secret to becoming a zombie master. the main character has a love interest, yet she--on seeing another man--insists she loves him (well, later). it turns out that she and her present man (main character) must break up when he finds out she's been screwing around with this other guy. he insists he still loves her. he's the one with the weak heart, yet his friend's philosophy is to be roothless and get what you want no matter how much it hurts others (that also shows through with his ex-girl). so, with all pointing towards the idea that this selfish mindset actually brings you happiness, he ends up becoming roothless himself. he finds the ancient secret about half way through the movie, yet is fired soon after. so, he takes in the secret himself and builds an entire zombie army who are made to be his followers. he plans to take back his girl and kill the guy in the middle of their relationship (the girl's now soon-to-be husband). but instead he turns him into another zombie. well, near the end, the girl says that she would believe that he loved her if he let the zombies go and out of his control. he does, and the restored zombies kill him. the end. believe it or not, this movie is so to-the-point, i didn't leave out much detail about the plot (except there is one lugosi-style character in there who wants the secret, but is killed by one of the guys zombies). so just by this you can probably tell if you want to see it. sorry about it probably being confusing on who is who, but i forget the names. trust me, its just another love story in there and its not too interesting. by the way, new zombie fans, these are what one could call "real" zombies. these are live people which are hypnotized by a voodoo master--not the living dead.
well, i've typed too much on this already. the point is is that its not a great movie. but if you can rent it cheap, why not.

Rating:
Summary: Primarily Guilty of Not Being as Good as White Zombie.
Review: Three and a half stars. Not as bad as some would have you believe, but when it is compared to White Zombie (as it must be), it is found lacking.

The Good:
A lot is right about this movie. Halperin does another good job with a low budget and an exotic setting. While I doubt the crew ever went to SE Asia, the film does an admirable job of transporting the audience to the mysterious time and place of what would be Viet Nam in the years World War One.
In the plot, a meek British soldier in love with a girl who loves his friend discovers the secret to controlling minds. The doomed romance angle explored in Revolt is intelligent, even interesting, building as it does on some of the themes present in White.
It just isn't handled in a very thrilling manner. Which leads me to...

The Bad:
There is not much action in this movie. There is quite a lot of talk. A predictable outcome. Uneven performances. No Lugosi. And only two or three brief scenes possessing the surreal horror which infused White with such atmospheric, dreamlike menace.
Too much of the film is taken up by the young lovers, making this less like White Zombie and more like White Christmas.

The Ugly:
Plus, the audience is left with no one to root for. Certainly you can't root for the guy turning men into murdering zombies. But I can't find it in my heart to root for his callous "friends," either, who drove him to such lengths by toying with his heartstrings. But maybe that's just me, the romantic monster film fan.

The Extras:
The extras on the disc are spare but amusing, including a trivia game. For correct answers you are treated to footage of a zombie being bludgeoned in Night of the Living Dead. For wrong answers you are mocked with a clip of this movie's villain laughing in your face. Nice.