Decades before a hit TV series of the same title arrived, 1936’s The Walking Dead delivered its own horror tale. Unsurprisingly, the older flick also deals with zombies – of a sort, at least.

Down on his luck pianist John Ellman (Boris Karloff) finds himself framed for a murder he didn’t commit. Railroaded through a trial, he ends up executed for this crime.

Ellman’s story doesn’t end there, however, as scientist Dr. Evan Beaumont (Edmund Gwenn) conducts an experiment that brings Ellman’s body back to life. However, this leaves him irrevocably altered and he goes on a mission of revenge.

Boy, that sure makes Dead sound like a riff on Frankenstein, doesn’t it? Dead leans toward the “undead” side of things since Dr. Beaumont doesn’t assemble a creature from spare parts, but the similarities remain.

Of course, the presence of Karloff as the reanimated corpse only serves to intensify these comparisons. I must believe the producers hoped audiences would connect the actor’s role here to the 1931 classic and it would help sell tickets.

Heck, the poster art clearly makes Ellman look like Karloff’s famous monster! Eventually Karloff’s performance manifests some similar traits but Ellman remains a very different role.

Basically, the longer Ellman remains “undead”, the more stiff and horrific he becomes. Therein lie the links to Frankenstein.

However, Ellman clearly offers a more three-dimensional role. Whereas the Creature offers a blank slate, we get to know Ellman before his execution and see his development when brought back to life.

These elements allow Karloff room to shine. He paints Ellman as appropriately haunted, facets that continue to influence his work even when he goes down a more demented path.

Karloff struggles a bit during the scenes that build Ellman as an “everyman” prior to execution. Still, he does well in the role overall and gives the movie heart and impact it might otherwise lack.

Dead takes about 25 minutes to turn Ellman into a corpse, a surprisingly long span given the film’s brief 66-minute running time. Though this may inspire some impatience in viewers eager to get to the narrative’s horror elements, I think it works.

Basically Dead follows one plot path before it shifts gears after Dr. Beaumont gets his hands on the corpse of Ellman. Director Michael Curtiz handles this major shift well and allows the film to shift into its darker fantasy with ease.

Dead could do without the tacked-on romance between Beaumont’s lab assistants Jimmy (Warren Hull) and Nancy (Marguerite Churchill). They exist as a plot device more than anything else.

Even with that misstep, however, The Walking Dead becomes a compelling enterprise. A mix of thriller, character drama and horror, it largely hits the mark.

The Walking Dead appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The transfer worked well, especially given the movie’s age.

Sharpness satisfied overall. Some shots led to a little softness, but the majority of the flick came with appealing definition.

Jagged edges and moiré effects caused no problems. Edge haloes remained absent, and with a layer of fine 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 transfer.

As for the film’s DTS-HD MA 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.

A mix of extras appear, and we get two separate audio commentaries. The first comes from film historian Greg Mank, as he offers a running, screen-specific look at story/characters and changes to the script, cast and crew, genre domains, censorship, production topics, the film's release and reception and his view of the flick.

Mank offers a pretty solid chat. He covers a nice array of subjects and gives us an engaging take on the project.

For the second commentary, we hear from film historian Alan K. Rode. During this running, screen-specific piece, Rode mainly discusses the same topics that Mank examined.

Rose still manages a fair amount of "new" material, especially when it comes to director Michael Curtiz, the subject of his biography. Nonetheless, we get more than a little overlap between the two commentaries, so expect repetition here.

Next comes the 37-minute, 20-second Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You Never Heard Of. It features statements from Rode, directors Steven Spielberg and William Friedkin, editor/sound designer Ben Burtt, film historian Rudy Behlmer, The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World author Kati Marton, producer Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, and editor Carol Littleton.

“Heard” offers some biographical information about Curtiz, but that’s not its emphasis. Instead, it concentrates on his career, so it largely acts as an appreciation of his work.

We hear about his films and learn a little about his methods. Though the result can be a bit fluffy at times, it’s still a fun, educational piece. It’s particularly good to hear from notables like Friedkin and Spielberg about Curtiz’s influence and abilities.

Along with the movie’s trailer, we locate two classic cartoons from 1936. We get The Cat Came Back (8:01) and Let It Be Me (7:54).

In Back, mice and cats struggle to get along, while Me shows how a country rooster combats his girlfriend’s infatuation with a popular singer. Me becomes the more amusing of the two, whereas Back leans closer to cute than funny. It also seems weird that the cats and mice are virtually the same size, so it makes no sense the mice fear the felines.

Despite its status as a zombie movie, The Walking Dead provides a character-based tale that proves insightful. Boris Karloff shines as the lead and helps make this a richer experience than we might otherwise expect. The Blu-ray comes with very good picture, appropriate audio and a nice mix of bonus features. This winds up as a good mix of drama and horror.