Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

funkyfry Certainly this is an oddball film, worth watching perhaps for a few laughs, but I must have watched another movie than the one that most reviewers here are talking about. First of all, if you're saying that this was ahead of its time, you're just showing your ignorance. It's not a precursor to the Val Lewton films of the 40s, it's a rehash of the bad racist jungle epics of the 1920s. There were tons of these movies, and the only thing that really makes this film notable is the fact that Fay Wray is in it, and that it allows the husband (a visibly embarrassed Jack Holt) to get away with killing his wife (Dorothy Burgess) in order to prevent her murdering their daughter in a voodoo ritual.Sounds pretty exciting, right? It's really not. The photography and direction are dull, there's no real magic nor any monsters, and the story is just a trifle designed to shock middle-class theater patrons of the early 1930s. It is full of racist imagery and characters, and even the ostensibly noble black character (Clarence Muse), whose presence perhaps was intended to make the film seem less racist, just manages to make things even worse.Dramatically, the film suffers from a transparent plot, and the lack of any real villain outside of Burgess' bored housewife on a voodoo binge. The black characters are treated as too infantile to do anything without the direction of either their priest or the white woman they inexplicably worship. Whenever a dangerous situation looms, Holt simply fires his gun at whoever is causing the danger and the situation is immediately defused. If only he had fired his pistol at the screenwriter.

JohnHowardReid A really weird, big-budget "B" movie now available on an excellent Columbia DVD, "Black Moon" is a must-see for all Fay Wray fans, despite Jack Holt's lack-luster lead and the fact that Dorothy Burgess has the more important femme role. Tension and a mounting sense of horror is admirably built up by Roy William Neill's atmospheric direction and Joseph August's moody black-and-white camera-work. Oddly, no art director is credited, despite the large number of sets, so presumably standing sets were cleverly made over. I wish someone would make a trip to Nevada and interview Cora Sue Collins who compellingly steals the movie from the adult players as the young Nancy Lane who triggers most of the action.

Scarecrow-88 Made in the same year as White Zombie, and a few years before I Walked with a Zombie, was Black Moon, a more obscure little chiller directed by Roy William Neill(..most notable for his Sherlock Holmes movies)regarding a New York businessman's daughter in danger of being sacrificed in a voodoo ritual due to his wife's association with San Christopher island natives.Jack Holt stars as Stephen Lane, the businessman who allows his wife, Juanita(Dorothy Burgess), along with daughter Nancy(Cora Sue Collins), nursemaid Anna(Eleanor Wesselhoeft), and secretary Gail(Fay Wray) to return to San Christopher, her homeland where she grew up under the corrupt influence of Ruva(Madame Sul-Te-Wan)and voodoo priest, Kala(Laurence Criner). Poisoned with their beliefs and power, Juanita becomes their priestess, under the spell of the voodoo drums, Nancy is to be sacrificed at the rising of the full moon. Stephen answers the wire of Gail to come to the island where danger awaits and he will join forces with Dr Raymond Perez(Arnold Korff)who runs a plantation which has been on San Christopher for generations, attempting to cull the restless, hostile natives who have started to stir away from civility due to Juanita's reemergence. Gail, as it turns out, is in love with Stephen and Juanita can no longer escape the beat of the drums, her decision to return home placing her own daughter in jeopardy.This could be seen as possibly racist as the black natives are evil, willing to do whatever it takes in order to sacrifice someone for the full moon. Any attempt to get Juanita off of the island, or to fight against their influence is met with murder. Anna, who voices her anger towards Ruva when she attempts to nursemaid Nancy, for instance, is found dead in a lava pit nearby the plantation. A message operator, who sends word by wire to other locations, is found hung. Juanita actually attempts to drug Stephen and somewhat willingly offers her daughter(..this is where she actually fights against the voodoo curse which summons her)for potential sacrifice. A revolt entraps Stephen, Perez, Gail, and Nancy in a tower, along with McClaren(Clarence Muse), a black shipboat captain who lost his girlfriend to a sacrificial voodoo ceremony..this ceremony, establishing the frightening lengths the natives would go to appease whatever god they serve, is disturbed by Stephen who attempts to stop the sacrifice by shooting Kala. The suspense is surprisingly built well, using the voodoo drums, often heard in the background, as a constant presence to unnerve the viewer, recognizing the threat and how real it is to the lives of those foreign to the island(..not to mention, Perez, whose death would, in turn, release the natives to overtake San Christopher). Interesting is how the natives are shown in a negative light, but if one dwells on their oppression(..the island being occupied by white man Perez who abusively barks at the natives when they host a welcome party for Juanita)you can see why they would seek to rebel against Perez. Fascinating portrayal by Burgess, her Juanita wrestling with feelings towards both sides, eventually motivated towards the natives and their voodoo, unable to resist. Wray is simply lovely in a supporting role, a kind-hearted soul who wards off her devotion and love for Stephen, her accepting the trip to San Christopher as a favor to him actually saving Nancy's life due to her message for him to come to the island. Some striking B&W photography, including some stunning shots of Burgess, her face emoting the pull of the natives' power. A curio for fans of movies about voodoo and it's use as a weapon..not quite as atmospheric as White Zombie or I Walked with a Zombie, but has it's moments.

BorgoPass I didn't expect too much from this film due to the simple fact that I'd never heard of it, but on a recommendation, I took a look at it and to say that it did not disappoint is an understatement! If you are a fan of 1930's horror films, this one has it all. The incessant background drumming on the island of San Christopher (Haiti) heard throughout 90 percent of the movie is wholly pervasive and will get your heart pumping at an increasingly frenzied pace right up until the closing credits.This is one of the last of the pre-code pictures and it hold nothing back. Jack Holt, Dorothy Burgess and, especially, Fay Wray give fine performances. No comic relief here; this is all played for horrors and suspense! Director Roy William Neill (of "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" fame) does a commendable job of keeping the pace of the film frantic, yet tight. Too many "zombie" pictures just sort of plod along, but this one (though technically "voodoo", rather than "zombie"-themed) is non-stop, edge of your seat kind of fare.As a fan of the genre, what a delight to "find" this movie and more so to have it exceed all of my expectations. Fay Wray made several other renown horror films in the 2 year period preceding "Black Moon": "The Most Dangerous Game", "Doctor X", "The Vampire Bat", "Mystery of the Wax Museum", "The Clairvoyant", and, oh yes, a little movie called "King Kong". "Black Moon" holds its own along with all of the aforementioned films.