Zombies of Mora-Tau is an exceptionally good low-budget zombie movie of its era -- in some ways, it's strongly reminiscent of the Universal horror films of the 1940s, but it also reflects a unique and subtle element of social criticism. And that last attribute shouldn't come as a surprise, given that its credited screenwriter, Raymond T. Marcus, was, in fact, a pseudonym for blacklisted screenwriter Bernard Gordon. Gordon wrote some fine screenplays before and after being blacklisted (in the latter instance under various names), and the best of them -- including André De Toth's superb film noir Crime Wave -- always delivered a lot extra for whatever money he was being paid. Evidently, even in internal economic exile and scrambling for work, Gordon couldn't resist making this something more than just a plain horror film with a lot of lumbering undead wandering around. Thus, in addition to the usual machinations of greed versus science that one finds in pictures like this, the film also contains a debate about greed as a motivating force and capitalism as a corrupting force in people's lives. This becomes especially sharply focused in the final third of the movie, in which even the more honorable of the two male protagonists (portrayed by Gregg Palmer), comes close to succumbing to the forces that have doomed everyone who preceded him on his quest for the treasure hidden in Mora Tau. Luckily for Gordon and company, director Edward L. Cahn -- who knew how to move a story -- kept the narrative momentum going forward at a good clip. And between his pacing and the presence of Allison Hayes -- portraying the slutty wife of one of the two protagonists (and later the super-strong and next-to-indestructible zombified slutty wife of one of the protagonists) -- the potentially "controversial" side of this script was never exactly in the forefront of viewers' thinking, even when it was in the foreground of the script and story.
The zombies themselves have a peculiarly sad as well as menacing and horrific quality, especially as Gordon's script allows us to know something of the backgrounds of some of them, and gives us a direct connection with one of the living figures in the drama (which calls to mind the Val Lewton-produced I Walked With a Zombie). The matching of some of the second-unit footage is a little flawed in relation to the close-ups in the more involved underwater sequences (which are fairly intense as well, allowing the movie to overcome this particular flaw). The performances, apart from Hayes', aren't much more than routine, although Marjorie Eaton does throw herself into her dowager role with sincerity and gusto.