“His heart’s been cut out.” “No lion could have done that.” “No, only a human being.”
Tom Maxwell (Paul Burke), Norman Adams (Joel Marston) and Joe Lawson (Robert Christopher) are on a photographic safari in Africa when Joe is mauled by a lion. Since their jeep is disabled their native guide Gogi (Paul Thompson) takes them to the jungle compound of Dr. Karl Metz (John Wengraf). While doctor Metz works on Joe, Tom and Norman are introduced to Metz’s much younger wife Tonda (Allison Hayes).
Tonda is a Voodoo Queen and will seduce, or kill anyone who she thinks can either do something for her, or stands in her way. This includes Metz’s servant Suba (Dean Fredericks) or Metz himself. Tonda, more than ready to trade her older husband in for a younger model, takes a liking to Tom.
When Joe’s wound magically heals no one realizes that the reason is the Voodoo ceremony Tonda performed the night before. Part of the ritual entailed killing the unfortunate Suba, removing his heart and transferring his soul to Joe. The rest of it consists of the voluptuous Tonda doing a little gyrating and throwing a dead chicken around. When Joe wakes up he is zombified. He sees Tom kissing Tonda and tries to kill him. Tom blames Metz for turning Joe into a zombie. Tonda promotes that belief.
Tom offers to take Tonda with him when he leaves. She agrees, but she wants Tom to kill her husband first. Tom refuses. But Tonda is not taking no for an answer.
“The Disembodied” was released in 1957 and was directed by Walter Grauman”. The movie is basically a big soap opera and Allison Hayes is in the middle of it. Now, it’s not a great movie, nor is it a really good movie, unless you are an Allison Hayes fanatic. Then you’ll love it.
Hayes is at her sensual best. Everything she does or says exudes sexuality. Her every move is purposeful and cat-like. Except for the Voodoo dance. That’s the only area where they didn’t exploit her too much. Don’t expect a lot of gyrating there. Everything else she does is for the sole purpose of getting what she wants. She seduces just about anybody and everybody.
Outside of that there isn’t much to this movie. Critics weren’t nice to it. I can understand that to a certain extent, but the movie didn’t really warrant as much criticism as it got. It wasn’t that bottom of the barrel. The acting was actually good. It was just kinda boring. Although I will say it wasn’t as boring as I though it would be. Perhaps because my expectations were so low.
I would recommend this movie for anyone who absolutely hates stock footage since there is none in the movie. Even the lion that supposedly attacked Joe is offstage. There are absolutely no other animals in it. Not even a mosquito since everything is done on a sound stage. Well, except for the dead chicken. The actors don’t even walk through the jungle. They just walk into and out of various clearings. Of course if you like jungle movies or at least movies that look like they might be in a jungle you may like it. Of course if you are an Allison Hayes fan you probably already have it.