Voodoo Black Exorcist

Also Known As

• France - La vengeance du zombie
• USA (dubbed version) - Voodoo Black Exorcist

Tagline

• This dude means business, so watch out when your nerves start to shatter!

Main Details

• Released in 1974
• Color
• Running Time: 88 min | 84 min (DVD)
• Production Co: Mingyar P.C.
• Distribution Co: Chamartín (1973) (Spain) (theatrical) | Horizon Films (1974) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)

Cast and Crew

• Directed by Manuel Caño
• Written by Santiago Moncada
• Starring Aldo Sambrell, Tanyeka Stadler, Alexander Abrahan, Alfredo Mayo, Eva León, Ricardo Rodríguez, Enrique del Río, María Antonia del Río
• Produced by José Antonio Pérez Giner
• Music by Fernando García Morcillo
• Cinematography by Roberto Ochoa
• Film Editing by Antonio Ramírez de Loaysa, Frederic Vich

Film Review

A stellar example of exploitation cinema—low budget, a cast of unknowns, nudity, sexual situations, National Geographic-like primitive ceremonies, violence and “gore,”—Voodoo Black Exorcist is both a semi-engaging time piece and a look at foreign-made (Spanish) perceptions of “black,” horror, and mystery.

In the lead as Gatanebo, a centuries old “African” sarcophagus that occasionally comes to life, Aldo Sambrell keenly displays both his football player-like frame as well as his peeling, creepy (when re-incarnated) ancient skin. Tanyeka Stadler plays Kenya (in early “African” scenes white actors Sambrell and Stadler appear in blackface!) is both Gatanebo’s lost black love and a re-incarnated modern day white secretary whose charms are powerful enough to drive Gatanebo to beheading, crushing or strangling the people who get in his way.

Part Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, part The Mummy, part The Poseidon Adventure (the main action takes place aboard a cruise ship) Voodoo Black Exorcist is crude (that papier mache severed head!) but, at the same time, refreshing. Given the total lack of genuine scares or even suspense, that’s a pretty good recommendation.

The compendium of film character cliché’s include an overweight, oversexed meat plant owner, a cheating, too inquisitive for his own good doctor, a tacky tarot card-reading blonde American housewife, and a silicone enhanced, fire-breathing on-deck “entertainer”. Add a string of fire-lit flashbacks whose focal point is a band of “native” topless dancers, a voodoo ceremony, and a human sacrifice—make that two!—and you’ve got a Grindhouse curiosity whose clumsy title—(Voodoo Black Exorcist?! Really?!)—is an accurate representation of the disjointed ideas, images and sounds (a soaring operetta!) found within. (See it in its entirety on You Tube.)

Reviewed by Josiah Howard - 10/25/13