MACUMBA LOVE (1960)
Article 2288 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-30-2007
Posting Date: 11-17-2007
Directed by Douglas Fowley
Featuring Walter Reed, Ziva Rodann, William Wellman Jr.

A researcher investigates a voodoo cult, and finds himself and those around him threatened by the local voodoo priestess.

Actually, this is probably one of the better voodoo movies out there from the era, but it really wasn’t a great time for voodoo movies. On the plus side, its shock moments certainly work well enough. It also feels quite unlike the other voodoo movies I’ve seen, at least partially because it was shot in Brazil (they apparently wanted to shoot in Haiti but couldn’t due to lack of cooperation). The voodoo sequences are effective enough, and there’s some lively calypso music to enliven things, including “Dance Kalinda”, a song in which two people perform a dance together under the tails of parrots (must be a funky Brazilian version of Russian Roulette). The story is okay, but the acting is pretty uneven throughout. The worst problem I had with the movie may be a problem only with my print; though shot in Eastman color, everything has a strong yellowish tint to it which makes everything look more than a little unpleasant (especially the swimming scenes). This was the sole directorial effort of Douglas Fowley, who mostly worked as an actor.