Zombies of Mora Tau

Plot synopsis:
The movie opens with titles and credits over a pen and ink drawing of four zombies walking through the mist. There is a panning shot of the shoreline, then a car approaching on a dirt road at dusk. The driver, Sam (Gene Roth) is transporting Jan Peters (Autumn Russell) to her grandmother's house near Dakar on the African continent. It is a bumpy ride and Jan tells us it has been ten years since her last visit. On the highway a man blocks the road. Sam runs the man over and continues to drive like nothing happened. Jan is horrified and demands Sam stop the car. Sam explains, "It wasn't a man, it was one of them." They arrive and one of the headlights on the car shows sign of the collision. Waiting outside the house is Jan's grandmother (Marjorie Eaton). Mrs. Peters tells Jan, "There's no one on the road." Despite her protests, Sam and Mrs. Peters go on like nothing happened. They hear the horn of a ship offshore.Inside the main cabin of the salvage ship we meet: Dr. Jonathan Eggert (Morris Ankrum), their diver, Jeff Clark (Gregg Palmer), the financial backer of the salvage, George Harrison (Joel Ashley) and his wife, Mona Harrison (Allison Hayes). They talk about the salvage and what each will do with their share of, "a million bucks in diamonds." Mona is a gold digger and a flirt. She shows way too much interest in Jeff. While Jeff might like to reciprocate, fooling around with the wife of the boss is bad for business, and his health. The ship's captain tells Harrison the launch is ready to take them to shore. They go out on deck. A man in a striped shirt swims toward the boat. When a deck hand, Johnson (Mel Curtis) leans over he is grabbed by the swimmer and pulled overboard. Harrison shoots at the swimmer. When they recover Johnson's body they discover his neck was broken. Mrs. Peters' dog barks at something approaching their dock. Mrs. Peters sees it but pays it no attention. Jan confronts her. Mrs. Peters tells her granddaughter, "You wouldn't believe me, Jan." She tells Jan the renewed activity of salvage has brought "them" back. The launch lands and Mrs. Peters and Jan greet them. She tells them she was expecting them, and adds, "I wrote. I warned you of the danger." Mrs. Peters takes them on a tour of the graveyard. She shows them every salvage party grave, the date and their nationalities: 1906--British, 1914--German, 1923--British, 1928--Portuguese, and 1938--American. She tells them theirs is the sixth attempt and there are already graves dug for them. Mona manages to fall into an open grave, panics and becomes hysterical. Mrs. Peters puts them up for the night.Harrison and Jeff plan their salvage dive scheduled for the next day. Dr. Eggert talks to Mrs. Peters. He tells her he's spent twenty years researching the legend of the Susan B. He came for the story and to complete his book. Mrs. Peters shows Eggert a picture of Jeremy Peters, captain of the Susan B. and tells him she's seen him. She recounts the legend and how the diamonds were stolen from a temple, a fight, the ship scuttled in the bay, and the crew killed. The ten men including her husband, Captain Peters, are still guarding the diamonds. She tells Eggert she returned after his death, built the house, and intends to help her zombie husband, "return to dust, to find his eternal rest."In the bedroom, Mona and Jan are screaming at the approach of a zombie. Responding to the commotion, Jeff enters with Harrison and attempts to break the zombie's back. Failing in that, he hits it repeatedly in the face with no effect at all. His attempt to choke the zombie gets him thrown across the room. Mrs. Peters waves a torch at it and it departs. "Fire, that's the only way to fight them," she explains. She tells Jan that she will help the salvage group because, "only when the diamonds are destroyed will your grandfather be able to rest." Jan is dubious of her grandmother's plan having any chance of success, but she does tell Jeff he should abandon his plan to recover the diamonds. She tells Jeff about the drive to the house and the man they hit on the road. She asks Jeff to help her find out if the man is dead. They drive down the road and stop when Jan notices something. They find the remains of the broken headlight and some seaweed. They walk up the road looking for more clues. They decide to return the next morning and follow the footprints. While Jeff goes to the car for something, a zombie picks up Jan and carries her away. Jeff follows, the zombie doubles back, still carrying Jan and attacks Jeff. Jeff drives a knife into its neck, which has no effect. It carries Jan away, past the graveyard to a mausoleum. It places her on a bench, her screams waking the remaining zombies from their torpor. They get up out of their stone sarcophagi and approach Jan. Jeff shoots off a couple of flares to hold them back. Leading the pack outside is Captain Peters (Frank Hagney). The flares keep them at bay.At breakfast the next morning Jeff explains his and Jan's adventure with the zombies. Mona thinks Jeff was set up by Jan and the zombie ambush. Mrs. Peters joins Jeff, Harrison, Dr. Eggert and Mona at the breakfast table. She thanks Jeff for Jan's rescue. Jeff and Harrison renegotiate their partnership--it is now 50/50. They return to the boat and Jeff makes his first dive. He spots the ship wreck, but complains the helmet leaks. He walks along the bottom and up to the sunken ship. A zombie appears and walks towards the ship. Jeff enters the hold of the ship, but the zombie is right behind him. He spots the safe. The zombie attacks and dislodges his air and communication lines, but not before Jeff requests to be hoisted back aboard. Jeff is brought on board, barely alive. They take him back to Mrs. Peters' house where she and Jan nurse him back to health. Mona objects when Mrs. Peters tries to administer a stimulant to help him breathe. In fact everyone except her granddaughter suspects she is trying to poison Jeff. Jan drinks some. Jan gives Jeff some of the potion. While waiting for Jeff to recover, Harrison, Mona and Dr. Eggert play cards. Mona goes in to see Jeff. She and Jan argue until Harrison comes in and removes his wife, giving her a good slap. Angry and humiliated, Mona runs from the house. When Mona doesn't return by nightfall, Mrs. Peters is convinced the zombies have her.They take the car to the mausoleum. Jeff, Harrison, Eggert and two crewmembers, Art (Lewis Webb) and Johnny (Leonard P. Geer) walk through the jungle to the graveyard. Harrison finds Mona's bracelet. Jeff, Harrison and Eggert walk on to the mausoleum. Art and Johnny are told to stay at the graveyard. The men enter the mausoleum and find Mona on the floor. The zombies get up and approach the three. Harrison goes to retrieve his wife's body. Mona wakes and sits up. They all walk out and set a fire by the door to hold the zombies back. They drive back to the house. Jan notices Mona is cold to the touch. Harrison notes that she hasn't said a word. Mrs. Peters finally announces the obvious, "She's dead. Your wife is dead Mr. Harrison." Harrison insists they stay the night in the house. That night Mona gets up out of bed, grabs a knife and walks to the room next door. She stabs and kills Art who is sleeping. Johnny wakes in time to jump out of bed and call for help. Harrison and Jeff enter the room and disarm her. With candles they direct Mona back to her room and hold her there with more candles placed in a circle around the bed. Jeff concludes, "If fire'll work here, it'll work underwater, too."The next morning, Jeff and Harrison build a fire in front of the mausoleum. They think they will be able to work undisturbed if the zombies are bottled up. They return to the boat and prepare for their dive with acetylene torches. Jeff dives first, followed by Harrison. The plan is for Jeff to torch open the safe by cutting the hinges while Harrison uses his torch to hold off the zombies if any show up. Captain Peters and half a dozen zombies approach the men working on the sunken ship. There must have been another exit from the mausoleum. Jeff completes the work on the hinges and removes the cask of diamonds. The zombies are all over Harrison and he calls topside to be pulled up. Jeff holds off two zombies with his torch. Harrison makes it to the surface and is brought aboard the ship. Jeff makes it up with the diamonds and hands the cask to Eggert. The zombies are boarding the ship. They try to repel the attack with stick torches and kerosene, but end up barricaded in a cabin. Jeff makes a makeshift torch out of a pillow case and lighter fluid. He exits the ship with the diamonds. The zombies follow anyone with the diamonds. Jeff gets back to the house. Jeff and Jan stop in to see Mona. She's attracted to the diamonds but held in her bed by the candles. Jeff and Jan go to the living room and meet with Mrs. Peters. They open the box of diamonds. Harrison and Eggert arrive in the dinghy. They make straight for the house as the zombies swim ashore and also head for the house. Harrison confronts Mrs. Peters, Jan, and Jeff and demands the chest of diamonds at gun point. Harrison takes the chest and exits. What he doesn't know is that Jeff has them in a silk scarf. Harrison goes to get his wife using the chest to lure her outside and to follow him. Mona grabs the chest and hits her husband over the head with it, killing him. She takes the chest and she and the zombies return to the mausoleum. Jeff has the diamonds and wants Jan to leave with him. Mrs. Peters tells him if he scatters the diamonds where no man can recover them the zombies will stop. They leave the house and board the launch. The zombies, Mona and Captain Peters return when they discover the chest is empty. Jeff hands the diamonds over to Mrs. Peters. She sobs as she throws them into the sea. She tells her zombie husband, "At last, Jeremy Peters, at long last." Captain Peters disappears and his empty uniform falls to the ground. We close with Jeff and Jan kissing.

Tags: violence, murder

Review:
One of the many plot implausibilities in this enjoyably awful Sam Katzman-produced dreck occurs when Allison Hayes, she of the killer figure, is murdered by diamond-loving zombies and becomes one of the walking dead.
It seems every group of treasure-seekers that tries to steal the loot, end up dead, so good ole granny (who seems to be the only one who accepts these walking weirdos) takes it upon herself to have the grave sites pre-dug for their convenience....how charming...
This flick also provides us with our standard staple of "ear-piercing scream" from the helpless and unknowledgeable "Jan" The underwater sequence becomes quite amusing when the zombies casually stroll along the  bottom of the lake towards their sunken ship....I guess being dead prevents the burning of calories, thereby giving them that extra weight to stay down............happy viewing!.
Although slammed by most of the critics, this flick isn't a bad little time waster.A search party arrives at a plantation off of the coast of Africa.
It easily has creepy scenes that may have influenced later zombie movies.Decent late night viewing!.
A bunch of people go to the island of Mora Tau. Right off the coast of it, a ship sank with diamonds aboard and they want them.
There's nice guy Jeff Clark (Gregg Palmer), Dr. Eggert (Morris Ankrum), George Harrison (!!!) (Joel Ashley) and his slutty wife Mona (the immortal Allison Hayes).
What they don't know is that the ship is guarded by zombies who kill anyone who tries to take the jewels.Admittadely novel idea is almost completely destroyed by a silly script and some pretty bad acting.
It does have a little creepy scene when the zombies attack at the end and Hayes (a seriously under rated actress) is very good in a nothing role.
Zombies are guarding a sunken ship full of treasures in a lagoon on the outskirts of a sleepy, nearly-deserted Southern town.
Cardboard screamer shenanigans; sure, some of it is fun, and the sequence where the zombies walk out of the water is skillfully done, but Allison Hayes (as the sexy bad girl) still can't act!
ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU is certainly a juvenile, sometimes cardboard, horror movie, not least because zombie monsters were pretty juvenile after Victor Halperin and before George Romero.
During this time I had an obsession with 1950's science fiction or horror movies, big or small, good or bad, simply because they took me to a comfortable inner landscape which these films idealized.
Only now, these innocent movies emerge as places in which I attempt to retrieve that last youth.Now this behaviour may sound naive, but let's face it, so are a lot of these films that we escape to.
This film is disarming in its innocence which invites the willing into its simple world-- it still manages to deliver the goods with such simple means as a creepy scene in which candles surround someone with "zombie fever".
The only problem is that the treasure's being guarded by a small band of sleepwalking-style zombies (the original sailors who went down with the ship when it sank) and they've done a fine job so far of killing every other search party that has intervened over the decades.
The elderly wife of the zombified captain is still alive and wants the diamonds too, but only to destroy them so she may give rest to her husband's wandering soul.That description is much more interesting than the way the movie actually pans out, but at least we've got the stunning Allison Hayes to gawk at as she plays the bitchy babe with the killer figure.
The sunken cargo of diamonds have lured many seekers; but all have been turned back by a crew of zombies.This little movie is better than you think.
Arriving at a small African community, a group of diamond searchers find the area guarded by reanimated zombies raised by voodoo and try to enlist a local couple to combat the creatures and get away alive.This is a decidedly decent early effort in the zombie genre.
As well, there's the low-budget nature of the film does have some getting over as the make-up work in non-existent on the zombies beyond contact lenses, the sets are minimal and repeatedly utilized while keeping the action relegated to a few small, short set-pieces that are found throughout here.
The showcase here, though, is undoubtedly the underwater retrieval sequences which features not only the underwater battle with the creatures as well as the centerpiece attack on the ship itself where the creatures come on-board to force battles and barricading tactics that are far more traditionally-inspired which allows for a lot of great fun in the film.
They spend most of the movie on the island of Mora Tau with an old lady who tells them that the diamonds must be destroyed to put an end to the zombies.Fun B movie from producer Sam Katzman.
Among the people on this trip are pragmatic hero Jeff Clark (Gregg Palmer), Dr. Eggert (Morris Ankrum), a professor who's writing a book, George Harrison (!) (Joel Ashley), ostensibly the man in charge, and Georges' wife Mona (Allison Hayes).
The cast gives the proceedings very straight faced performances; Palmer is a decent hero, Autumn Russell is pretty as his leading lady, Ashley is an amusing jerk, Hayes (otherwise known as the 50 foot woman) is hilariously bitchy in her part, and Ankrum as always is a delight to watch.
It's a hoot to note the fact that these particular zombies are like Frankensteins' monster and have an aversion to fire.Overall, this is deliciously daft horror, guided by prolific B director of the era Edward Cahn, that at least only goes on for a fairly trim 69 minutes.
While in no way a classic film, "The Zombies of Mora Tau" is an important one in the development of the genre of "living dead" cinema.It would take another ten years for a young director named George A.
Romero to perfect the zombie film with "Night of the Living Dead", but the roots of that legendary film can easily be traced back to this production(and the Edward Cahn's other living dead flick, "Invisible Invaders").The film wastes no time getting underway and is paced pretty well throughout.
The special effects are dismal, especially in the supposed underwater scenes, but only add to the charm of the overall film.The pedestrian acting does become grating in places.
Allison Hayes, who was amusingly over the top in the 1950's classic, "Attack of the 50ft Woman", stumbles through the movie as though she wasn't aware of where she was half of the time.
(Again - something not unusual in these B-pictures from yesteryear).All in all, "The Zombies of Mora Tau" is a fun and nostalgic film, perfect for late night viewing with the lights off with a bowl of popcorn on your lap.
Funded by a very wealthy man, a group of people head to the coast of Africa in search of treasure - diamonds.
This film is not all that bad - it's a fun to watch type of horror with a little bit different twist to zombie films since a deep sea treasure hunt adventure is involved.
Cahn directed this horror thriller that stars Gregg Palmer and Allison Hayes, who lead a group of treasure-hunters to an isolated African coast where there lies a sunken ship which is reputed to hold a huge cache of diamonds.
Other expeditions have met with death, but that doesn't deter this current group, who learn that the sunken ship is guarded by its undead crew, zombies who will stop at nothing to preserve the diamonds.
A group of American divers arrive off the coast of Africa to search for a ship that sunk many years before carrying a treasure of valuable diamonds.
But that's about the only inconvenience to living in this extremely remote corner of the world (I mean, aside from the undead who wander around incessantly, which would be a bit inconvenient at times I suppose.)I also chuckled at both Mona (Allison Hayes) - the wife of the expedition's leader - and Jan (Autumn Russell) - who's the granddaughter who makes Grandma Peters a grandma.
50's beauty and B movie star, Allison Hayes, played the moll and also a zombie in a creepy scene with candles.Not a bad flick to get you in the Halloween spirit..
I thought "Plan 9 from Outer Space" was the worst black and white b movies schlock I had ever seen, but "Zombies of Mora Tau" would be right there with it.
The story line consists of two adventurers searching for some lost diamonds on a boat that had sunk 60 years earlier....funny how they run into the "zombies" as the film title says that are wearing t shirts, polo shirts and long sleeve shirts and showing no ill effects of age....the makeup dept did not even try to make the zombies scary looking...ugh!!!!
Want more,...there is a 90 year old lady with white hair who keeps advising the heroes to beware of the zombies and that there is a curse on the diamonds.....she was the former wife of one of the zombies....wow, this movie is total schlock.....definitely drive in material for the late 1950s as the second run feature on a twin bill..
This is the only title I had not yet checked out from Columbia's ICONS OF HORROR: SAM KATZMAN Box Set. As expected, being a pre-Romero zombie flick, the monsters in this one are of the voodoo (rather than flesh-eating) variety; still, their being guardians of the deep was an interesting novelty, looking forward to both the "Blind Dead" entry THE GHOST GALLEON (1975; albeit the least in the series) and John Carpenter's underrated THE FOG (1980)!
Into the picture now step a handful of adventurers after buried treasure: as it happens, the captain of the zombie conglomerate (who sleep in hidden coffins like vampires?!) happens to be the old woman's deceased husband (at one point, she almost takes pride in the fact that, unlike her, he has retained his looks – she does not seem to mind the skin discoloration that goes with death, not to mention the extra decomposition that inevitably sets in through the effect of sea-water on his flesh?!).
As some of you may know, I am not much of a fan of zombie movies and never found them scary: this load of ghouls, then, barely have any make-up on to suggest they are indeed the living dead – the film-makers simply slapped some seaweed on them, believing it would do the trick!
1st watched 9/28/2014 -- 2 out of 10(Dir-Edward Cahn): Idiotic plot holes and storyline make this one of the worst zombie movies I've seen -- especially since it was put out by a major studio.
Basically the movie put's Hollywood hotties with a paranoid old woman in the hunt for treasure in Africa that happens to be guarded by the living dead.
Zombies of Mora Tau (1957) * 1/2 (out of 4) Silly horror film from Columbia about zombies guarding some diamonds on the bottom of the sea.
There's nothing particularly remarkable about "Zombies of Mora-Tau", but it isn't the worst way to pass about an hour of your life.
The zombies in this film are reanimated sailors who must guard a cursed treasure (remind anyone of any recent mega-hits?).
They look pretty silly in their striped shirts; it doesn't look like anyone even thought to make them look a bit aged or anything like that.The film's best asset is Allison Hayes and the scenes involving her character, including the memorable scene where she's clearly a zombie but nobody wants to believe it, so they lead her back to the house and surround her with candles at the old lady's (Marjorie Eaton) insistence.
We have scenes of graveyards and so forth  I think it's quite a nice effect when the old lady shows the group all those graves and when asked who they are for says "they're yours." But I can hardly imagine any person older than 5 who would be scared by this film in the 20th Century because it really doesn't even try that hard.
Once you get to the scenes with the underwater treasure search you realize this is, like "Invisible Invaders", more of an action/adventure film than a horror film.It's not nearly as inept as some posters here have said, but it's clearly a movie that didn't have high ambitions.
ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU is proof positive that Cahn was a very capable filmmaker in his own right and is worth a look by fans of the genre..
Now, people who aren't accustomed to "old-style zombies" may not like or appreciate this film too much.
After all, it's in black and white and the zombies are nothing like what we currently see in the movies today.
But this was what horror films looked like back in the 50's and while it isn't necessarily "scary" by today's standards, it does have some suspense and creepiness all the same.
A zombie captain and crew guard the treasure of a sunken ship.
The excellent cast of familiar 50's B-movie faces adds greatly to the silly fun: Gregg Palmer as hunky, stalwart diver Jeff Clark, Allison Hayes as the snippy Mona Harrison, Morris Ankrum as the sage, friendly Dr. Jonathan Eggert, Autumn Russell as the sweet Jan Peters, Joel Ashley as the gruff George Harrison, Marjorie Eaton as the wise Grandmother Peters, and Gene Roth as Sam the chauffeur.
Zombies of Mora Tau is so insultingly stupid and lame that it almost made me long for the 'good ole days' of the 1940s when Abbott and Costello were busy ruining the Universal Monsters franchise (though A&C enthusiasts still refuse to admit how unfunny those films were).
It seems that the original thieves of the treasure all met an untimely demise and 10 zombies now guard said treasure (though why they live in 10 lined up coffins in a cave like Snow Whites dwarfs is anyone's guess) and will not rest until said treasure is 'destroyed' as the old lady says.
The sailors dream of riches and ignore her warnings and try to get the treasure anyway...These are also among the least scary voodoo zombies I've seen in a movie.
If all the reels of this film were at the bottom of the sea, I think I'd voodoo up some zombies to guard them and ensure that they were never retrieved so that movie audiences would be spared the horror of seeing this film.**SPOILERS**I have several issues with this film and its lazy writing:*The dive crew/sailors are too dumb to realize that the woman is not 'ill' but now has become one of the zombies and is exhibiting all the same traits.
These characters are obviously much dumber than your average horror movie morons.*Sure the old lady claims the zombies are indestructible, but that doesn't stop the sailors from using knives and other weapons on them ineffectively.
Zombies of Mora Tau. A crew seeking diamonds in an African watery tomb, encounter the zombie sailor thieves who once stole it not willing to allow their treasure into others' hands even after death.
An elderly woman, Grandmother Peters(Marjorie Eaton) who lives in a home nearby, whose husband was the skipper of that unfortunate voyage and her reason for relocating roots in Africa, warns the crew that death will be their only reward for removing the diamond chest from it's underwater crypt.
Gregg Palmer is Jeff Clark, the flawed heroic sailor on the voyage, who often goes underwater to retrieve the treasure box despite zombie resistance.
Sam Katzman's "Zombies of Mora Tau" is a decent film.
It has a good cast(Morris Ankrum, Gregg Palmer and Allison Hayes), tight direction and a chilling musical score.
They are guarded by the Zombies and anyone attempting to retrieve them meets a horrible death or in the case of Allison Hayes, turns into a Zombie as well.
I'm not into Zombie movies but this was fun to watch if not a bit hokey in some parts.
This was a gem from 1957, before Romero ripped off Richard Matheson and ruined the Zombie forever.The crew of a ship has been cursed to guard treasure, bringing death to any who try to salvage the diamonds.
Now on land and sea these Zombies are determined to prevent anyone from getting their hands on the diamonds and have killed scores of diamonds hunters over the last 50 or so years in trying to find them.When Jan Peters, Autumn Russell, came to visit her grandmother Gradma Peters, Marjorie Eaton, at her West African estate that things really started popping, from under and over the waves, in the movie.
It's when Jan came on the scene together with a group of diamond hunters headed by the non-Beatle George Harrison, Joel Ashley, and his crew together with his sexy busting out of her bra wife Mona, Allison Hayes, handsome underwater diver Jeff Clark, Greg Plamer, and African historian Dr. Jonathan Eggart, Morris Ankrum, you just knew that the Zombie weren't that far behind.Sure enough the Zombies as soon as their diamond treasure was to be discovered came out of the shadows in full force to stop anyone who came within ten yards of it.
It was Grandma Peters the late Captain Jeremy Peters wife who warned her grand daughter Jan together with her scavenger hunting party that it's bad if not deadly news for them to mess with the Zombies and their diamonds.
It's in that action the Zombies lead by Grandma Peters' husband Capt Jeremy Peters will finally find their eternal peace and stop walking the earth like dead men on super steroids with strings attached to them.
The strange thing about all that is that Grandma Peters dumped the diamonds in what looks like a ten foot deep lake or pond, not the vast and at some places five mile deep Atlantic Ocean, where the Zombies can easily recover them!.