Someone has been stealing blood from the offices of Dr. Rufus Maynard (Charles Trowbridge). Maynard tells his associate Dr. Terry Evans (Robert Livingston) and his nurse Susan Drake (Lorna Gray) about the theft. Maynard and his assistant Fred Mays (Earle Hodgins) found the discrepancy. It’s the second one. This time ten pints of blood are missing.
After they leave Dr. Maynard is visited by a gaunt man wearing a cape and top hat. The man says he is Ormand Murks (Ian Keith). Maynard and Dr. Lucifer Garland (Wilton Graff) had once had Murks committed to an asylum. An operation on Murks went badly and he died. Or so Maynard thought. In reality Murks had a condition where he needed blood to survive. Once while in a voodoo ritual in a place called The Valley of the Zombies Murk took a potion that turned him into a living dead man. He requires the blood to counteract the condition. Maynard tells Murk that he doesn’t have any blood in his blood type so Murk kills him and takes his blood.
Murk’s brother is the assistant Fred Mays that works for Maynard. When he finds out that Murk killed Maynard he threatens to go to the police. He doesn’t mind stealing blood, but killing people is over the top for him. Murk kills him and stuffs his body in the fridge.
The police find Maynard’s body near a grave yard. Murk was interrupted before he could bury him. The police think Susan and Terry have something to do with the doctor’s death. When Fred’s body tumbles out of the refrigerator they are taken into custody and grilled. When the body of a cab driver turns up while Susan and Terry are in custody they are released.
Terry and Susan find a card at Maynard’s office that refers to Murks. It lists his address as an estate next to the graveyard. Terry and Susan go snooping.
“Valley of the Zombies” was released in 1946 and was directed by Philip Ford. It is a low budget “B” horror film produced by Republic Pictures. It’s only 56 minutes long and is rather obscure.
If you’ve ever heard anything about it then you know that there are no valleys and no Zombies here. The title is a reference to where the main evil guy got the serum that turned him into what is more like a vampire than a zombie. After that one reference there is no more mention of it.
The quality of the film is marginal. There are some skips and jumps and the sound is a little fuzzy. Still there is something about the movie that is a little on the fascinating side. It’s like watching a daytime soap opera about a monster.
It’s labeled as a horror movie, but it’s also a comedy. It ended up being quite amusing and all around charming. It’s short so everything is packed into it at a fast pace. It’s not a great movie but it was surprisingly entertaining. If you have an hour to kill, so to speak, and you want a little spooky atmosphere it’ll do the trick. After all it’s got everything you need. A strange crazy guy in a cape, dead embalmed people, a graveyard, a spooky old house, and lots of fog. It’s definitely something worth saving.
Kudos to Ian Keith’s performance as Murks. He really does look like a walking dead guy.