| Zombies of Mora Tau | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release half-sheet display poster | |
| Directed by | Edward L. Cahn |
| Screenplay by | Bernard Gordon (as Raymond T. Marcus) |
| Story by | George H. Plympton (as George Plympton) |
| Produced by | Sam Katzman |
| Starring | Gregg Palmer Allison Hayes Autumn Russell |
| Cinematography | Benjamin H. Kline |
| Edited by | Jack Ogilvie |
Production company | Sam Katzman Productions |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 69 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Zombies of Mora Tau (also known asThe Dead That Walk) is a 1957black-and-whitezombiehorror film directed byEdward L. Cahn and starring Gregg Palmer,Allison Hayes and Autumn Russell. Distributed byColumbia Pictures, it was produced bySam Katzman. The screenplay was written byGeorge H. Plympton andBernard Gordon.Zombies of Mora Tau was released on adouble bill with another Katzman-produced film,The Man Who Turned to Stone (1957).[1]
A team of deep sea divers, led by wealthy American tycoon George Harrison (Ashley), attempt to salvage a fortune in diamonds from the wreckage of a ship that had sunk 60 years earlier off the coast of Africa. When the team arrives, they discover that the ship is cursed and the diamonds are protected by the ship's undead crew, nowzombies, who are forced to guard the treasure until the diamonds are destroyed or the curse is finally lifted.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the film on DVD in October 2007 as part of a two-disc, four-film set of Katzman-produced films calledIcons of Horror Collection: Sam Katzman. The set containsZombies of Mora Tau,Creature with the Atom Brain,The Werewolf andThe Giant Claw.[2][3]
A 2021blu-ray release byArrow Films in the U.K. and USA grouped the same four films together alongside a few new extras in a box set calledCold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman.The film includes a commentary track by author and film critic Kat Ellinger.
David Maine ofPopMatters rated the film 6 out of 10 stars and described it as "pretty entertaining overall, and enlivened immeasurably by Ms. Eaton’s feisty grandma".[4]TV Guide rated it 2 out of 5 stars and called it "standard horror quality for grade-B films".[5] Writing inThe Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, academic criticPeter Dendle said, "This awkward and talentless movie is nonetheless surprisingly prescient in zombie film history, anticipating a number of motifs that would reappear in later decades".[6]Zombiemania: 80 Movies to Die For author Arnold T. Blumberg wrote that the film is "a fun late-night creature feature, but it's prone to boring passages and a low-rent production quality that never allows it to break out of the B-movie mold", adding that the film is "almost single-handedly saved by theMaria Ouspenskaya/Celia Lovsky stylings of actress Marjorie Eaton, who lends the film an impressive conviction as well as a wry approach to her already sharp dialogue".[7]