I remember (I think) that before Romero's Night of the Living Dead, that Zombies were people that were 'hexed' by voodoo.
The Atlantic Article said:
After the Haitian Revolution in 1804 and the end of French colonialism, the zombie became a part of Haiti’s folklore. The myth evolved slightly and was folded into the Voodoo religion, with Haitians believing zombies were corpses reanimated by shamans and voodoo priests. Sorcerers, known as bokor, used their bewitched undead as free labor or to carry out nefarious tasks. This was the post-colonialism zombie, the emblem of a nation haunted by the legacy of slavery and ever wary of its reinstitution. As the UC Irvine professor Amy Wilentz has pointed out in her writing on zombies, on several occasions after the revolution Haiti teetered on the brink of reinstating slavery. The zombies of the Haitian Voodoo religion were a more fractured representation of the anxieties of slavery, mixed as they were with occult trappings of sorcerers and necromancy. Even then, the zombie’s roots in the horrors of slavery were already facing dilution.
It was in this form—Voodoo bokor and black magic—that the Haitian myth first crossed paths with American culture, in the aforementioned White Zombie. Although the film doesn’t begin to transform the undead in the way that Romero’s films and the subsequent zombie industrial complex would, it’s notable for its introduction of white people as interlopers in the zombie legend. It would take another few decades or so, but eventually the memory of Haiti’s colonialist history and the suffering it wrought—millions of Africans worked into the grave—would be excised from the zombie myth for good.
The Tragic, Forgotten History of Zombies
White Zombie ( 1932 )
White Zombie: A young man turns to a witch doctor to lure the woman he loves away from her fiance, but instead turns her into a zombie slave.
https://images.{...}/thumbs/4244_White_Zombie_1932.jpg https://www.{...}/images/ribbon_watched.png
(27 votes)
Ratings: IMDB:
6.5/10 Metascore:
N/A RT:
89%
Released: August 04, 1932
Runtime: 69 mins
Genres: Horror Zombies
Countries: USA
Director: Victor Halperin
Actors: Bela Lugosi Brandon Hurst Clarence Muse Dan Crimmins Frederick Peters George Burr Macannan John Harron Joseph Cawthorn Madge Bellamy Robert Frazer Velma Gresham
Revolt of the Zombies ( 1936 )
Revolt of the Zombies: An international expedition is sent into Cambodia to destroy an ancient formula that turns men into zombies.
https://images.{...}/thumbs/4255_Revolt_of_the_Zombies_1936.jpg
(23 votes)
Ratings: IMDB:
3.1/10 Metascore:
N/A RT:
0%
Released: June 04, 1936
Runtime: 65 mins
Genres: Romance Horror War Zombies
Countries: USA
Director: Victor Halperin
Actors: Adolph Milar Bela Lugosi Carl Stockdale Dean Jagger E Alyn Warren George Cleveland Hans Schumm Roy D'Arcy Selmer Jackson Teru Shimada William Crowell
The Ghost Breakers ( 1940 )
The Ghost Breakers: Mary Carter inherits her family's ancestral home, located on a small island off Cuba, and, despite warnings and death threats, decides to take possesion of the reputedly haunted castle. She is joined by radio broadcaster Larry Lawrence who, believing he has killed a mob gunsel, flees New York with his butler, Alex. Once on the island the threesome enter the eerie castle and after viewing the ghost of one of Mary's ancestors and fighting off a menacing zombie, they find the key to the castle's treasure but are interrupted by an all-too-human foe.
https://images.{...}/thumbs/25812_The_Ghost_Breakers_1940.jpg https://www.{...}/images/ribbon_watched.png
(166 votes)
Ratings: IMDB:
7.3/10 Metascore:
N/A RT:
83%
Released: June 07, 1940
Runtime: 85 mins
Genres: Comedy Horror Zombies
Countries: USA
Director: George Marshall
Actors: Anthony Quinn Blanca Vischer Bob Hope Brick Sullivan David Durand Dolores Moran Douglas Kennedy Emmett Vogan Francisco Marán Grace Hayle Jack Edwards Jack Hatfield Jack Norton James Blaine James Flavin Kay Stewart Larry Steers Leonard Sues Lloyd Corrigan Max Wagner Noble Johnson Paul Fix Paul Lukas Paul Newlan Paulette Goddard Pedro de Cordoba Richard Carlson Robert Elliott Robert Ryan Tom Dugan Virginia Brissac Willie Best
King of the Zombies ( 1941 )
King of the Zombies: During World War 2, a small plane off the south coast of America is low on fuel and blown off course by a storm...
https://images.{...}/thumbs/13292_King_of_the_Zombies_1941.jpg
(26 votes)
Ratings: IMDB:
5.3/10 Metascore:
N/A RT:
N/A
Released: May 14, 1941
Runtime: 67 mins
Genres: Drama Comedy Horror Zombies
Countries: USA
Director: Jean Yarbrough
Actors: Dick Purcell Guy Usher Henry Victor James Davis Joan Woodbury John Archer Laurence Criner Leigh Whipper Madame Sul-Te-Wan Mantan Moreland Marguerite Whitten
Bowery at Midnight ( 1942 )
Bowery at Midnight: Kindly soup kitchen operator and professor of criminology Bela Lugosi uses his soup kitchen as a front for a criminal gang who commit a series of daring robberies and murders. When things get out of hand, Lugosi kills his henchmen, who wind up as zombies in the cellar of the soup kitchen.
https://images.{...}/thumbs/22342_Bowery_at_Midnight_1942.jpg https://www.{...}/images/ribbon_watched.png
(28 votes)
Ratings: IMDB:
5.3/10 Metascore:
N/A RT:
40%
Released: October 30, 1942
Runtime: 61 mins
Genres: Thriller Romance Sci-Fi Horror Crime Zombies
Countries: USA
Director: Wallace Fox
Actors: 'Snub' Pollard Anna Hope Bela Lugosi Bernard Gorcey Bob Reeves Bobby Stone Dave O'Brien Eddie Hall Eddie Kane George Eldredge J Farrell MacDonald John Archer John Berkes Lew Kelly Lucille Vance Pat Costello Ralph Littlefield Ray Miller Theodore Lorch Tom Neal Vince Barnett Walter McGrail Wanda McKay Wheeler Oakman Willy Castello
I Walked with a Zombie ( 1943 )
I Walked with a Zombie: A young Canadian nurse (Betsy) comes to the West Indies to care for Jessica, the wife of a plantation manager (Paul Holland). Jessica seems to be suffering from a kind of mental paralysis as a result of fever. When she falls in love with Paul, Betsy determines to cure Jessica even if she needs to use a voodoo ceremony, to give Paul what she thinks he wants.
https://images.{...}/thumbs/58143_I_Walked_with_a_Zombie_1943_62.jpg https://www.{...}/images/ribbon_watched.png
(8 votes)
Ratings: IMDB:
7.3/10 Metascore:
N/A RT:
92%
Released: April 21, 1943
Runtime: 69 mins
Genres: Horror Zombies
Countries: USA
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Actors: Alan Edmiston Clinton Rosemond Darby Jones Doris Ake Edith Barrett Frances Dee James Bell James Ellison Jeni Le Gon Martin Wilkins Norman Mayes Rita Christiani Sir Lancelot Theresa Harris Tom Conway Vivian Dandridge
Teenage Zombies ( 1959 )
Teenage Zombies: A crazed female scientist uses nerve gas to turn local teenagers into her unquestioning slaves.
https://images.{...}/thumbs/5875_Teenage_Zombies_1959.jpg
(14 votes)
Ratings: IMDB:
2.6/10 Metascore:
N/A RT:
N/A
Released: June 01, 1959
Runtime: 73 mins
Genres: Sci-Fi Horror Zombies
Countries: USA
Director: Jerry Warren
Actors: Chuck Niles Katherine Victor Paul Pepper Steve Conte
Plan 9 from Outer Space ( 1959 )
Plan 9 from Outer Space: Aliens resurrect dead humans as zombies and vampires to stop human kind from creating the Solaranite (a sort of sun-driven bomb).
https://images.{...}/thumbs/12061_Plan_9_from_Outer_Space_1995.jpg https://www.{...}/images/ribbon_watched.png
(44 votes)
Ratings: IMDB:
4.0/10 Metascore:
N/A RT:
66%
Released: July 22, 1959
Runtime: 79 mins
Genres: Horror Sci-Fi Thriller Zombies
Countries: USA
Director: Edward D. Wood Jr.
Actors: Bela Lugosi Ben Frommer Bill Ash Conrad Brooks Duke Moore Edward D Wood Jr Gloria Dea Gregory Walcott Johnny Duncan Karl Johnson Lyle Talbot Paul Marco Tom Keene Tom Mason Tor Johnson Vampira
The Amazing Transparent Man ( 1960 )
The Amazing Transparent Man: A crazed scientist invents an invisibility formula. He plans to use the formula to create an army of invisible zombies.
https://images.{...}/thumbs/3899_The_Amazing_Transparent_Man_1960.jpg
(38 votes)
Ratings: IMDB:
3.7/10 Metascore:
N/A RT:
40%
Released: February 04, 1960
Runtime: 57 mins
Genres: Thriller Sci-Fi Horror Crime Zombies
Countries: USA
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Actors: Boyd 'Red' Morgan Douglas Kennedy Ivan Triesault James Griffith Kevin Kelly Marguerite Chapman Patrick Cranshaw
The Dead One ( 1961 )
The Dead One: A voodoo priestess sends out zombies to bring back live victims for her sacrificial rituals.
https://images.{...}/thumbs/17498_The_Dead_One_1961.jpg https://www.{...}/images/ribbon_watched.png
(75 votes)
Ratings: IMDB:
3.1/10 Metascore:
N/A RT:
N/A
Released: July 06, 1961
Runtime: 71 mins
Genres: Horror Zombies
Countries: USA
Director: Barry Mahon
Actors: Monica Davis Robert Henderson
The Plague of the Zombies ( 1966 )
The Plague of the Zombies: Young workers are dying because of a mysterious epidemic in a little village in Cornwall. Doctor Thompson...
https://images.{...}/thumbs/3994_The_Plague_of_the_Zombies_1966.jpg https://www.{...}/images/ribbon_watched.png
(37 votes)
Ratings: IMDB:
6.7/10 Metascore:
N/A RT:
78%
Released: January 09, 1966
Runtime: 91 mins
Genres: Horror Zombies
Countries: UK
Director: John Gilling
Actors: Alexander Davion Andre Morell Ben Aris Brook Williams Dennis Chinnery Diane Clare Jacqueline Pearce Jerry Verno John Carson Louis Mahoney Marcus Hammond Michael Ripper Peter Diamond Reg Harding Roy Royston Tim Condren