A new set from the Criterion Collection offers two 1943 films created under the aegis of noted horror producer Val Lewton. For the first of these, we go to I Walked With a Zombie.

Paul Holland (Tom Conway) runs a sugar plantation on a Caribbean island. When his wife Jessica (Christine Gordon) experiences a malady that results in a form of mental paralysis, Canadian nurse Betsy Connell (Frances Dee) comes to care for her.

This condition means that Jessica remains awake but she goes through life in a zombie-like state. Betsy eventually comes to believe that voodoo offers the only solution to Jessica’s ailment.

A year prior to Walked, Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur paired for the classic Cat People. Outside of some dodgy acting, I liked that one, so I hoped Walked would work as well.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t. While we find some positives, too much of Walked just plods.

On the positive side, Walked looks amazing. Well-shot, it delivers a consistently moody and atmospheric visual presentation that works exceedingly well.

However, Walked sticks us with a less than fascinating story. As an awkward love triangle, it shows some potential but the film tends to explore its themes in a dreary manner.

Too much of Walked focuses on subtext and doesn’t make enough of the material particularly overt. Though we find plenty of potential for thrills and drama, these don’t deliver.

As Walked progressed, I waited and waited for something dramatic or interesting to happen. Unfortunately, the story feels stuck in neutral too much of the time.

I like “slow burn” horror and prefer that approach. Walked just doesn’t ever ignite, so despite a moody tone and dazzling imagery, the end result fails to capture the imagination.

I Walked With a Zombie appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The transfer fared very nicely, especially given the movie’s age.

Sharpness worked well overall. A few low-light elements could seem a smidgen soft, but the majority of the film appeared well-defined and accurate.

Jagged edges and moiré effects caused no problems. Edge haloes remained absent, and with a distinct layer of grain, I suspected no issues with digital noise reduction.

Black levels seemed nicely deep and dark, and contrast was appropriately displayed. The movie showed a good silvery look, and shadow detail was also concise and developed.

Source flaws failed to become an issue. The transfer eliminated those defects and left this as a clean presentation. I felt very happy with this appealing transfer.

As for the film’s LPCM monaural soundtrack, it replicated the original material with positive quality. Dialogue seemed fine for its era, and was relatively crisp and well-defined with no signs of edginess or problems related to intelligibility.

The movie featured a fairly spare score, but when we heard music, it was acceptably broad and clear. The material presented little low end but the dynamics were fine for a track of this vintage.

Though effects were similarly dated, they seemed adequately clean and realistic, and no aspects of the mix displayed signs of distortion. Background noise failed to become an issue. All in all, the audio worked fine for its age.

As we shift to extras, we start with an audio commentary from film historians Kim Newman and Stephen Jones. Taped in 2005, both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at cast and crew, story/character/genre topics, production notes and their view of the film.

Overall, this becomes a reasonably well-rounded look at the film. It mixes those different subjects in fairly equal measure to wind up as an informative piece.

Under the banner of The Secret History of Hollywood, we get a second audio track that runs alongside the movie. This one offers excerpts from Adam Roche’s podcast and focuses on I Walked With a Zombie.

Roche provides background about cast and crew along with elements of Walked’s creation. Roche packs in plenty of good anecdotes and delivers a consistently engaging and educational chat.

Because this version of I Walked With a Zombie comes on the same disc as The Seventh Victim, they largely “share” the remaining extras. Imogen Sara Smith on Val Lewton offers a circa 2024 interview with author Smith.

In this 47-minute, piece, Smith covers the filmmakers and their approaches to projects as well as specifics about Walked and Victim. Smith delivers an informative summary.

From 2005, Shadows in the Dark delivers a 53-minute, 24-second documentary. Narrated by actor James Cromwell, it brings remarks from Newman, Jones, filmmakers William Friedkin, Guillermo del Toro, Joe Dante, George A. Romero, John Landis, Mick Garris, and Robert Wise, film historian Steve Haberman, filmmaker’s son Val E. Lewton, actor’s daughter Sara Karloff, film professors Dr. Drew Casper and Rick Jewell, and authors Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson, Neil Gaiman and Ramsey Campbell.

“Shadows” looks at the life and career of Val Lewton. It brings us a deep and worthwhile summary.

Excerpts from a PBS Digital Studios series entitled Monstrum, The Origins of the Zombie, From Haiti to the US goes for 12 minutes, 42 seconds. It features Dr. Emily Zarka.

She examines the history of zombies in various cultures. Zarka delivers a pretty informative chat.

Also from Adam Roche’s Secret History of Hollywood, we get audio segments about actors Jean Brooks (53:14) and Tom Conway (1:09:53).

Both of these cover the actors’ careers in a way that relies on anecdotes and general themes. Like Roche’s “commentary” for the film, the two podcasts become highly enjoyable and educational.

The disc ends with two trailers. We find one for Walked and another for Seventh Victim.

The package concludes with a booklet that features art, credits and essays from critics Chris Fujiwara and Lucy Sante. It ends the set well.

With a moody tone and evocative photography, I Walked With a Zombie shows the potential to deliver a solid thriller. Unfortunately, not much of actual interest develops in this slow story. The Blu-ray brings us solid picture and acceptable audio as well as a long set of supplements. I wanted to enjoy Walked but the end product left me cold.