I Walked with a Zombie

I Walked with a Zombie is a 1943 American horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by Val Lewton for RKO Pictures. It stars James Ellison, Frances Dee, and Tom Conway, and follows a Canadian nurse who travels to care for the ailing wife of a sugar plantation owner in the Caribbean, where she witnesses Vodou rituals and possibly encounters the walking dead. The screenplay, written by Curt Siodmak and Ardel Wray, is based on an article of the same title by Inez Wallace, and also partly reinterprets the narrative of the 1847 novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. The film premiered in New York City on April 21, 1943, before receiving a wider theatrical release later that month. It has been analyzed for its themes of slavery and racism, and for its depiction of beliefs associated with African diaspora religions, particularly Haitian Vodou. Though it received mixed reviews upon its release, retrospective assessments of the film have been more positive. Plot On a snowy day in Ottawa, Betsy Connell, a young nurse, is being interviewed to care for the wife of Paul Holland, the owner of a sugar plantation on the Caribbean island of Saint Sebastian. Although she is not told much about the patient, Betsy looks forward to living in a warmer climate and accepts the job, laughing it off when asked if she believes in witchcraft.