I Walked with a Zombie / The Seventh Victim: Produced by Val Lewton 4K UHD Review

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Criterion Collection brings together two Val Lewton-produced B horror movies, I Walked with a Zombie and The Seventh Victim, both from 1943. The former was directed by Jacques Tourneur and the latter by Mark Robson. If you are familiar with the Universal horror films of the era like Dracula or The Wolf Man, then re-calibrate your idea of horror from that time. These Val Lewton productions have strong influences from numerous genres beyond horror, such as film noir and German expressionism. The cinematography of both Nicholas Musuraca (The Seventh Victim) and J. Roy Hunt (I Walked with a Zombie) evokes often dreamlike, surreal imagery, such as a scene in I Walked with a Zombie where Frances Dee and Christine Gordon whisk their way through tall grasses at night.

Both films deal with the supernatural and mysteries in some way. Zombie, set on a Caribbean island, follows a nurse (Frances Dee) who is hired to care for the ailing wife (Christine Gordon) of a wealthy sugar plantation owner (Tom Conway). But the wife seems catatonic and the locals on the island, the Black plantation workers who practice voodoo, whisper that she may be a zombie. In Seventh Victim a woman (Kim Hunter) leaves her school to search for her missing sister (Jean Brooks) in New York City. When her sister appears to her mysteriously then vanishes in the apartment a psychiatrist (Tom Conway) leads her to, she investigates and uncovers what seems to be a satanic cult in Greenwich Village.

Both of these films belie their low budgets with their visual flair and atmospherics, forgoing the creatures and makeup of the typical B horror of Universal and Fox, instead creating mood and mystery. Neither of these films is perfect and I Walked with a Zombie in particular suffers from some awful racial and ethnic stereotypes about Haitians and Caribbeans more broadly, but they are both creepy, eerie, and very scary.

Purchase I Walked with a Zombie / The Seventh Victim: Produced by Val Lewton (The Criterion Collection) 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on Amazon.com

The Video

These new 4K restorations were created from the 35mm nitrate original camera negatives. According to Criterion, the negative for The Seventh Victim had large amounts of mold damage for which extensive digital restoration helped to mitigate, but some mold residue is still in the picture. Even with the mold damage, to my eyes The Seventh Victim comes across looking a bit better overall than I Walked with a Zombie, but both films look amazing in their 1.37:1 HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) SDR encodements. They have natural, organic layers of grain and very minimal damage left in the picture. The grain and detail do waver, but mostly in transitional scenes where a dupe was used for crossfades, which is to be expected. The contrast is excellent, even without HDR. We can see inky blacks and nuanced shadows in the noir-esque cinematography, good sheen on objects, like light reflecting off a black telephone, just as an example. The films were restored at Resillion by the Criterion Collection and mastered by NexSpec.

The Audio

The original mono soundtracks were remastered from a 35mm safety composite fine-grain for I Walked with a Zombie and a 35mm original soundtrack positive for The Seventh Victim. They are each provided in LPCM 1.0 on disc. The sound is good for films from the era, offering clear dialogue and sound effects with little noise or hiss.  

The Supplements

Bonus Features:

A booklet with essays by Chris Fujiwara and Lucy Sante, plus credits and information on the transfer is included. The booklet also includes individual artwork for each film on opposite sides.

I Walked with a Zombie

• The Secret History of Hollywood – Presented as an alternate audio track over the film are excerpts from Adam Roche’s eleven-part series about Val Lewton from his classic-movie podcast, The Secret History of Hollywood, which feature stories about the production of I Walked with a Zombie.
• This commentary track, recorded in 2005, features authors Kim Newman and Stephen Jones.

The Seventh Victim

• The Secret History of Hollywood – Presented as an alternate audio track over the film are excerpts from Adam Roche’s eleven-part series about Val Lewton from his classic-movie podcast, The Secret History of Hollywood, which feature stories about the production of The Seventh Victim.
• This commentary track, recorded in 2005, features film historian Steve Haberman.

On Blu-ray Only:

• Imogen Sara Smith on Val Lewton (1080p; 00:46:59) – In this interview, conducted by the Criterion Collection in 2024, author Imogen Sara Smith explores the production of I Walked with a Zombie and The Seventh Victim.
• Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy (1080i; 00:53:24) – This 2005 documentary about producer Val Lewton’s legacy, narrated by James Cromwell, features William Friedkin, Steve Jones, Steve Haberman, Joe Dante, Guillermo del Toro, Kim Newman, Val E. Lewton, Drew Casper, Rick Jewell, Harlan Ellison, Ramsey Campbell, George A. Romero, John Landis, Mick Garris, Richard Matheson, Robert Wise, and Sara Karloff.
• “The Origins of the Zombie from Haiti to the U.S.” (1080p; 00:12:42) – These excerpts from the PBS Digital Studios series Monstrum explore the West African and Haitian origins of vodou and zombification. The show is presented by Dr. Emily Zarka, whose research explores the roles of desire and knowledge dissemination in portrayals of undead characters produced during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The entire Monstrum series can be viewed at pbs.org.
• Jean Brooks and Tom Conway – These audio excerpts from Adam Roche’s eleven-part series about Val Lewton from his classic-movie podcast, The Secret History of Hollywood, take a fascinating look at the lives of actors Jean Brooks (Jacqueline in The Seventh Victim) and Tom Conway (Paul Holland in I Walked with a Zombie and Dr. Louis Judd in The Seventh Victim and Cat People).
• I Walked with a Zombie Trailer (1080i; 00:01:04)
• The Seventh Victim Trailer (1080i; 00:01:13)

The Final Assessment

Two classic horror films that are visually stimulating and different from the trend of creature features common in the era. The Criterion Collection resurrected these films from their original nitrates having them looking stunning on 4K with a solid collection of supplements.

I Walked with a Zombie / The Seventh Victim: Produced by Val Lewton (The Criterion Collection) is out on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray October 8, 2024

Purchase I Walked with a Zombie / The Seventh Victim: Produced by Val Lewton (The Criterion Collection) 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on Amazon.com

• Rating Certificate: Approved
• Studios & Distributors: RKO Radio Pictures | The Criterion Collection
• Directors: Jacques Tourneur (I Walked with a Zombie) | Mark Robson (The Seventh Victim)
• Written By: I Walked with a Zombie (Curt Siodmak | Ardel Wray | Inez Wallace) | The Seventh Victim (Charles O’Neal | DeWitt Bodeen)
• Run Time: 69 Mins. (I Walked with a Zombie) | 71 Mins. (The Seventh Victim)
• Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: SDR
• Primary Audio: English LPCM 1.0
• Subtitles: English SDH
• Street Date: 8 October 2024