Or, as I will know it from now on, Chloe, Love is Calling You a Racist. This is a film from 1934, and reflects the ugly, racist attitudes of the era. It's pretty hard for me writing about it 80 years later to separate the politics in it from anything else in the actual movie. Although it's not really all that good of a movie to begin with, and is honestly more of a romantic tale than any sort horror film. But that's what I get for rolling with the 50 Tales of Terror budget set.
I guess I would explain it as a sort of Romeo and Juliet type doomed lovers story - although instead of being from warring families, Juliet (Chloe in this case) may be part black! Which, in the world of this film, is worth gasping, screaming, and crying about. You see, she was raised in the bayou by a black voodoo priestess who claims Chloe is her daughter, despite Chloe appearing even paler than the average white person. Also, the voodoo priestess is upset at the white folks in the town for lynching her son. Which seems reasonable to me, but she's the baddie in this one for some reason (in fairness to the movie, she may be mad at the wrong white person, but still). Chloe is being courted by some bayou guy (I can't tell if he's supposed to be white or black - which sadly is important here) that she doesn't really like.
Meanwhile, one of the rich folks in the town near the bayou (on the bayou? in the bayou? being from Minnesota I don't have a lot of bayou experience) has hired on an auditor of sorts - he's having issues with some missing product at his Turpentine factory/distillery/whatever it is. (I don't have a lot of experience with turpentine either.) Anyways, upon meeting Chloe, this auditor guy falls in love with her on sight, as they were wont to do back in the day. But he's unaware that she may be of mixed-race parentage!
SPOILERS FOR A MOVIE YOU HAVE NO REASON TO WATCH! Will love conquer all? What will he do if he finds out about her secret? Will Chloe turn out to actually be the rich guy's daughter and thusly of all white parentage, rendering the whole thing moot? Tune in to find out! (Yes, N/A, Yes)
So yeah, obviously it deals with racial differences, and not subtly. The rich guy has a smiling black butler that kind of breaks your 21st century heart to watch. How many "yessuh"s can you take without wincing? Although there is some racial unity between a black guy and a white guy trying to steal from the rich guy. Pirated Turpentine, bringing people together since 1934!
Uncomfortable racial stuff aside, it still isn't a good movie. I'm not really sure what the point is - they don't ever try to be funny or scary. I guess the romantic angle is what is supposed to get you in the door (after all, "love" is right there in the title), but the two just fall in love with each other right away, so even on that front it just kind of falls flat. I guess the voodoo angle is where Chloe, Love is Calling You gets (very loosely) classified as "terrifying," but nothing happens there either. It is mentioned a couple of times, but nothing ever results from the voodoo curses.
Also, what is it with killing real snakes! Four days into 2015 and I've already seen two live snakes killed on film. This is an unsettling trend - here there is a rattler on the porch, and a dude just bashes it in the head until it's dead. I hate that shit.
Sociologically speaking, Chloe, Love is Calling You might be of interest for taking stock of the attitudes towards race at the time, but other than that, there isn't anything here that is worth seeking out. It is really short though - 53 minutes, despite being listed as 62 on the box. So there's that.
I would not recommend this film.
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