I Walked with a Zombie may be the best movie with the dumbest title in motion picture history. Cranked out by b-movie horror unit at RKO pictures in 1943, this low budget gem is far better than you might expect.

This was the second in a strong of really good low-key horror movie produced under the supervision of Val Lewton, one of filmland’s most underappreciated artists.

RKO had two rules he had to follow. One, he had to produce his films on a small budget. Two, he had to use titles the studio’s marketing department had already dreamed up and tested. The studio didn’t care about the actual plots, as long as Lewton used the titles.

So after they saddled Lewton with The Cat People and he turned that title into a really great horror movie, they gave him an even sillier title for his follow-up.

I Walked with a Zombie concerns a young nurse (Frances Dee) who arrives at a sugar plantation on the Caribbean island of Saint Sebastian. She is to care for the invalid wife of the plantation’s owner, played by Tom Conway. The wife appears near catatonic and is given to taking silent, dreamlike walks at night. The local legend is that the wife is not sick, but actually dead and returned to life as a zombie by the island’s voodoo practitioners.

Even the biggest of American pop stars were nerdy teenagers at one time and had to pose for yearbook photos.

And so this is what Madonna looked like in her pre-Material Girl days.

As these photos prove, the make-up team on Back to the Future got things pretty close when it came to aging their stars (except Lea Thompson is far prettier than they made her appear).

Thomas Wilson and Crispin Glover are pretty darn close.

We'd have a Pepsi Free in their honor (if we could find one).

Okay, now here's an even more recent photo of Michael J. Fox, Thomas Wilson, Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson.

Richard Kiel the 7'2" actor best remembered for playing the villainous "Jaws" in 3 James Bond films has passed away just three days shy of his 75th birthday.

In addition to the Bond villains, Boomers will also remember Kiel as the giant alien in the classic Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man." He also menaced Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor in the film Silver Streak.

Like to enjoy a night at the movies with your sweetie without taking out a second mortgage? If you live in a major market area, there’s an easy way to access those free tickets the studios always make available for sneak preview screenings.

Just go to gofobo.com or getscreenings.com for a list of all the upcoming previews in your area as well as links that can qualify you for the freebies. You’re welcome.

Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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