HALLOWEEN HORROR DAYS ~ DAY 3: ZOMBIE (1979)

One of the greatest unheard of zombie films in all cinema has to be without a doubt Lucio Fulci's ZOMBIE. It's a "spaghetti horror" film from 1979 produced initially to cash in on the success of George Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD. Dawn of the Dead's title in Italy was simply ZOMBI. Mr. Fulci's film was originally title ZOMBI 2 to hopefully grab all the men and women who went to Romero's masterpiece. Zombie has nothing to do with Dawn of the Dead and it was a shameless ploy to dupe Italian moviegoers. But the film itself was something far more than a cheap money-grab even if it may have started as such.

The movie was retitled Zombie Flesh Eaters in the UK

Zombie boasts some of the sickest creature designs of any zombie film, some of the most graphic gore and violence you've ever seen, and a zombie encounter in perhaps the most unlikely of places followed immediately by perhaps the most unique zombie battle in recorded zombie cinema. How's that for building hype? And still most people outside of hardcore horror fans are unaware of this living dead gem. The film's plot takes the cannibalistic living dead and tries to merge Romero's re-animated corpses with that of voodoo (something Romero never really touched on in detail) but ultimately leaves it ambiguous just as Romero has. So, in theory this could be taking place in the world Romero built.

THE PLOT

A ship floats into New York harbor by itself. When police investigate they find a desiccated corpse and a walking man-eating cannibal, who looks very dead, waiting for them inside. The cannibal falls into the water but not before biting out the throat of one of the police officers. The ship is further examined and it is discovered that the ship belongs to a famous scientist working in the Antilles on Matool Island. Anne, daughter of the famous scientist, along with journalist Peter West and two others arrive on Matool Island in search of her father (the famous scientist). What they find when they arrive is that the dead human beings on the island don't stay dead. Shortly after death the dead rise again with an insatiable hunger for human flesh. Will Anne find her father? Will they make it off the island in one piece? And what will be left of the world if they do escape the island?

THE GOOD 

(spoilers)

Poster for Zombie featuring the iconic hero zombie of the film

The strength of this movie lies in its shocking violence and gore effects, and the grotesqueness of its zombies. Zombie make-up effects have come a long way since NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in 1968. But for a good while, and to some degree even still, there were no other zombies in movies quite like these. The filmmakers used various clays and muds for some of the make-up effects on the zombies and a lucky few actors had live worms placed on their bodies. These zombies actually looked like they had been in the ground and were rotting as opposed to other zombie make-ups from the United States. Just looking at the pictures is enough to make you puke!

Jeff Zornow artwork of the "eye gouge" scene. Think you can handle the real deal?

Then there's the gore. Yes, this film comes equip with the usual stabbings and impalings and shootings which are quite common and standard zombie fair. Even the Tom Savini special of disembowelment is present (albeit lacking that Savini flair). The most infamous gore scene in this film would have to be the eye-gouge scene. It's brutal and nauseating and the camera shows us everything. And there's many more scenes of blood and guts too.

More amazing art from Jeff Zornow

Of everything that this film has to offer my absolute favorite part would have to be the underwater Zombie vs Shark sequence. Yes, you heard correctly. In this movie there is a scene in which a zombie walks along the bottom of the ocean and fights a real live shark (not a fake shark but a real living shark). The whole scene is shot completely underwater. You never see a single bubble or an air tank coming off of the actor playing the zombie. The zombie wrestles with the shark, bites the shark, and then somehow gets the shark to bite a fake arm and rip it off! Just imagine the logistics involved in shooting that scene let alone what the actor in the zombie make-up had to do. Anyway, it is truly a sight to behold and there is no other scene like it anywhere.

THE BAD

The movie is fairly simple and straight forward. What it offers in plot isn't anything remarkable or innovative. The acting isn't very impressive either. If you are at all familiar with spaghetti horror than this isn't a shock to you or anything out of the ordinary. Some of the effects are a bit inconsistent too. Most of the violence and gore is great but occasionally there is a make-up effect that didn't age well. Even some of the zombies make-up ranges from the mind blowing to the mediocre. All in all these drawbacks come with the territory and they don't detract from the film. This movie pulls off some pretty amazing stunts that make it pretty easy to forgive any of its shortcomings.

THE VERDICT

When it comes to spaghetti horror films they don't come much better than this. I was pleasantly surprised when I first saw this film. By the first 32 minutes the movie appears pretty unremarkable, but then comes the legendary Zombie vs Shark scene. Then comes the eye-gouge and eventually the hero zombie with the worms coming out of his eye. And then the epic blazing inferno at the climax. I don't think anyone expected much from this film. What we received was nothing short of amazing. This is one of my favorite zombie films and a horror film worthy of every horror fan's collection. There are some great dvd and blu-ray editions of Zombie available.

Overall Ranking: 8 out of 10

Nude-O-Meter: 4 out of 10