KING OF THE ZOMBIES begins with a three-man airplane crew making an emergency landing on a remote island. It's there they find the home of an eccentric doctor, his servants and, of course, an attractive young woman. Things get even more bizarre when a few individuals from the non-living ranks -- the result of the fine doctor's experiments, we learn -- begin roaming around.<br /><br />Despite the potential for black and white B-movie fun, KING OF THE ZOMBIES is a very forgettable, unspooky effort. It's a slow mover with too much buildup and not enough reward. Fans often point to the antics of Mantan Moreland, playing the pilot's black servant, as the saving grace. However, Moreland is more of an annoying distraction, to say nothing of the racial stereotype he represents (of course this was 1941). In trying to strike a balance between humor and horror, the film succeeds in neither.<br /><br />Whatever you think of KING OF THE ZOMBIES, it will most certainly go down as the most unlikely picture ever nominated for an Oscar. Incredibly, it was up for the 1942 Academy Award in the Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture category. That fact is actually more unbelievable than the plot of this or any other zombie movie!