Betsy Connell, a young nurse from Canada is sent to the Caribbean to care for the wife of plantation manager Paul Holland. The wife, named Jessica, is suffering from a mental paralysis, following a fever. When Betsy falls for Paul, she decides to cure Jessica by any means, to give Paul what he wants, and turns to voodoo in order to save his wife.
I Walked with a Zombie is an RKO classic, with the tried-and-tested team of director Jacques Tourneur and producer Val Lewton following up the success of Cat People with another contemporary gothic. Its early depiction of zombies, and its cinematic interpretation of so-called ‘voodoo’, sets the scene and background for our day of blaxploitation horror.
