The Curse of Simba (1965)

A follow up to Lindsay Shonteff's 1964 horror thriller Devil Doll, The Curse of Simba (1965) - Curse of the Voodoo in the US - is a typically ramshackle low budget shocker from the director and his then production partner Richard Gordon.  One of those would be 'exotic' horror films where civilised white men find themselves on the receiving end of literal 'black magic', (at which they had previously scoffed), the film is as full of casual racism as any other British film of the era featuring race issues and culture clashes.  Every black man encountered by the white protagonist, whether in South Africa or Britain, is just a hairsbreadth away from reverting to savagery and witchcraft.  As in all such tales where white culture finds itself apparently powerless in the face of the magic of witch doctors, the white man eventually prevails through use of his superior reason, science and technology.  Or by running the witch doctor over with a jeep, which resort to brute force, one might argue, rather undermines the film's subtext of white superiority.

That said, it is actually very difficult to dislike the film on the grounds of its inherent racism due to its sheer ineptness.  'This is neither Surrey nor Southsea' intones Dennis Price early on, as he chastises a British tourist on safari who has tried to dismiss a local curse.  Well, it might not be either of those places, but it is quite clearly a park in England which they are standing in, Regent's Park to be precise, rather than the South African veldt.  The sight of Price and star Bryant Haliday striding around in bush hats and safari suits, with various black extras running around in loincloths and war paint, waving spears, is simply not convincing.  Not even the presence of a couple of war surplus vehicles - a Jeep and a Dodge 3/4 ton truck - helps.  While the film was pseudonymously scripted by Brian Clemens, it has none of the flair and quirkiness associated with his TV scripts for series like The Avengers, instead being a plodding, po-faced piece that seemingly takes itself far too seriously.  Its slight scenario involving Haliday being forced to kill a wounded lion in the territory of a tribe that worships the animals, thereby bringing down a curse on himself that follows him back to England, is stretched very thinly, with barely anything happening for long stretches of the movie.  While Shonteff's previous movie, Devil Doll, (which also starred Haliday), had also been slow moving, it at least had a more interesting (if still derivative) plot and included sufficient incident and general weirdness to keep the viewer watching.  The Curse of Simba, by contrast, is something of a chore to sit through, with only its ridiculous portrayal of both Africa and native culture to provide unintentional entertainment.