The Undead is a 1957 American horror film in which a beautiful woman is sent back in time via hypnosis to the Middle Ages where she finds she is suspected of being a witch and subject to being executed.
Directed by Roger Corman from a screenplay written by Charles B. Griffith – which he originally wrote in iambic pentameter and says Corman loved it initially but then got cold feet.
The movie stars Pamela Duncan, Richard Garland, Allison Hayes and Val Dufour.
The film was inspired by an interest in supposed reincarnation inspired by the best-selling book The Search for Bridey Murphy by Morey Bernstein was made into a film in 1956. This prompted The She-Creature in 1956. However, by the time The Undead was being made, the popularity of reincarnation was starting to dwindle. Therefore Corman decided that they needed to mix it up a little and added the time travel elements of Quintis and a title change.
The movie was filmed in a converted supermarket and was completed in just six days. Its original title was The Trance of Diana Love. The bats that the imp and witch continually change into were leftover from another Corman movie, It Conquered the World.
Writer Charles Griffith later elaborated: “I separated all the different things with sequences with the devil, which were really elaborate, and the dialogue in the past was all in iambic pentameter. Roger got very excited by that. He handed the script around for everybody to read, but nobody understood the dialogue, so he told me to translate it into English. The script was ruined.”
Actor Mel Welles said “it was a wonderful script and it probably would have been the cult film rather than Little Shop of Horrors had it been shot that way. But either Roger or someone at American International Pictures didn’t think it was commercially viable to do it that way and at the last minute a decision was made to rewrite the script without that.”
Mel Welles called his role of Smolkin “one of the best characters I ever played. I played him kind of insane and what was wonderful was the one of my reviews compared me to Stanley Holloway in one of his Shakespearean gravedigger roles.”
AIP’s special effects artist Paul Blaisdell was drafted to play the corpse in the coffin in the graveyard scene, which he said was a lot of fun. His eyes however were supposed to remain open and staring throughout the scene, and he said it was difficult because little particles of the coffin lid kept falling into them like dust.
The movie was the first of several Devon made with Corman. However he did not enjoy The Undead, saying:
(Corman)’s temper was really quite awesome. On The Undead, someone had left one of my speeches out of the script, so naturally I couldn’t learn what wasn’t there. And he was not just upset, he was maniacal. Anything that cost a penny over his minuscule budget turned him into a monster… He was just screaming his head off. Everybody was telling him that it could be rectified, and I said [calmly], “Roger, it’s all right, don’t worry about it. We’ll get somebody to write it out on a card or something and I’ll read it.” So one of the prop guys wrote it out on a little cardboard box and I read it. We did it in one take, and that was it.”
Devon also recalled that “Mel Welles just played everything off the top of his head and he came out all right, but it was difficult to keep from looking foolish. Pamela Duncan pressed very hard, and Dick Garland worked hard, too. but everything was against them as far as the dialogue was concerned. It was just coming down around their ears. Everybody that was on the show was quite professional and they really tried. They really put forth an effort.”
Plot [contains spoilers]:
Quintus, a psychic researcher who has spent seven years in Tibet, wants to send someone back in time into a past life via hypnosis. He hires (for $500) a street walker, Diana Love, and plans to send her into a trance over 48 hours so she can access her past life. Quintus’ former professor is present to witness it.
Quintus puts Diana into a trance and sends her back into the Middle Ages, where she shares the body of her past self, Helene, who is in prison, sentenced to die at dawn under suspicion of being a witch. That night is the witches’ Sabbath and, as tradition dictates, the townsfolk must kill any woman suspected of witchcraft to be safe for the rest of the year.
In her head, Helene can listen to Diana’s voice. It advises her to seduce the cell’s guard until she is able to knock him out with her chains and escape. The plan works out, and Helene escapes prison, earning the attention of Livia (the witch for whose crimes Helene has been blamed) and of Satan himself. Livia is in love with the knight Pendragon, who only has eyes for Helene. Jealous, Livia constantly tries to get Helene captured without Pendragon knowing.
Back in the professor’s office, Quintus discovers that Diana has changed the past. However, this creates a new complication, because if Helene evades execution, her future selves, including Diana, will never come into existence. As a proof of that, bruises start appearing on Diana’s body. To save her, Quintus uses the psychic link between Diana and Helene to physically go back in time. However, once in the past, he starts getting tempted by the idea of being able to witness the results of history changing by Diana’s decision.
Meanwhile, Helene tries to survive through the night, knowing that if she succeeds, she will have a whole year to prove her innocence, as the witches’ Sabbath occurs once every twelve months. Among the people helping her is Pendragon, the good witch Meg-Maud and the madman Smolkin. Moments before dawn, Quintus manages to reach her and explain the consequences of her continuing to live. Not knowing what to do, she tells Quintus to use his powers of suggestions to make her able to speak with her future selves. All of them have fulfilling lives and wish to keep on existing.
After listening to them, Helene accepts her fated death and runs to the local executioner. Pendragon goes after her but is stopped by Livia, who tries to convince him to let Helene die. Enraged, Pendragon kills Livia and tries to save Helene but arrives too late. Moments before dawn, Helene dies at the hands of the executioner. Diana wakes up from her trance, having fully recovered. However, now that her link with Helene has disappeared, Quintus is left physically stranded in the past, much to Satan’s amusement.
Critical reception in 1957:
The Los Angeles Times called The Undead “a better than usual horror film… a rather imaginative yarn… for this type picture the acting is quite good… Corman has turned out a good product.”
Variety said “The pacing Is slow and the thrills at a minimum… Pamela Duncan [is]… capable of giving substance to better material than provided here… others have a hard time with the material. Lensing by William Sickner, special effects, background score and other technical aids are okay for the budget and quick shooting schedule.”
Choice dialogue:
Smolkin – the gravedigger: Merry, Merry, more to bury, how does my garden grow? With marble stones, and ankle bones, and relatives all in a row!
Smolkin, the Gravedigger: Hickory dickory dorse / My guest is dead, of course / The clock struck two / He’s turning blue / With little or no remorse.
Smolkin, the Gravedigger: [singing] Three Witches have heads / But they’ll sever them all / The head of Helen is the third that must fall / All the Kings horses and all the Kings men cannot put the witches together again.
Gobbo – the Jailer: Look on me. Am I not ugly? Am I not the rancid bottom of a fetid swamp?
Cast and characters:
Pamela Duncan as Diana Love/Helene
Richard Garland as Pendragon
Allison Hayes as Livia
Val Dufour as Quintus Ratcliff
Mel Welles as Smolkin
Dorothy Neumann as Meg-Maud
Billy Barty as The Imp
Bruno VeSota as Scroop
Aaron Saxon as Gobbo
Richard Devon as Satan
Dick Miller as The Leper
Paul Blaisdell as the corpse in the coffin
Budget:
$70,000 (estimated)
Locations:
Some exteriors were shot at a location known as “The Witch’s House”, a storybook house in Beverly Hills.
Tech specs:
1h 11m (71 min)
Black and white
Mono
Trailer:
Free online on YouTube with ads:
Discover more from MOVIES & MANIA
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
