Lewton always considered "I Walked With a Zombie" his favorite film despite the fact he hated the title. While "Cat People" was in production, RKO head Charles Koerner called the producer into his office to tell him his next project's title and that Universal horror screenwriter Curt Siodmark was going to write it. According to one of Lewton directors Mark Robson, he came out of the meeting "impossibly gloomy." The next day he came in more enthused and announced to his unit that they would make a "West Indies version of Jane Éyre." (Fearing the Dark: The Val Lewton Career. Bansak)
The original proposal was to adapt an article from "American Weekly" by Inez Wallace which described drug addicted Haitian slaves which only seemed zombie-like. Curt Siodmark would eventually leave the project and Lawton hired Ardel Wray to completely rewrite the script. Instead of a haunting love story about a plantation owner's possessiveness towards his wife who comes off as "in a living death," it was altered for the story to be told and experienced through a young nurse who is brought to the plantation.
"We were all plunged into research on Haitian voodoo, every book on the subject Val could find. He was an addictive researcher, drawing out of it the overall feel, mood, and quality he wanted, as well as some details for the actual production. He got a hold of a real calypso singer, Sir Lancelot [...] He, in turn, found some genuine voodoo musicians. [...] Everything had to be cheap because we really were on a shoestring. That was the thing about Val - a low budget was a challenge to him, a spur of inventiveness, and everyone around him caught the fever." (The Terror of Val Lewton. Siegel.)
Shooting started October 26 ran until November 19th, 1942 and reviews were mixed but the audiences approved through hype created from "Cat People" which was still in theaters. The New York Times, naturally, was a little more critical. "With its voodoo rites and perambulating zombie, "I Walked With a Zombie" probably will please a lot of people. But to this spectator, at least, it proved to be a dull, disgusting exaggeration of an unhealthy, abnormal concept of life." Variety considered it to "fail to measure up to its horrific title. Film contains some terrifying passages, but is overcrowded with trite dialog and ponderous acting." The film has actually aged well since 1943 ranking number 5 in Stylus Magazine's Best Zombie Movies of all time.
Watch it tonight on Turner Classic Movies at 12:30 CST/11:30 EST
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