Video Nasty #18- Zombie

After The Evil Dead came Night Of The Demons, which was a blast. Night Of The Demons is a favorite of mine. It's just a good, fun eighties horror flick. And it also has Linnea Quigley in it which doesn't hurt. Unfortunately, I had to tap out for Lamberto Bava's Demons which was the last feature of the night. I love Demons, but it was just too late and I was too tired. The next day, after a visit to the nearby Monroeville Mall where George Romero's Dawn Of The Dead was shot, we settled back in for another night of great horror flicks starting with Dawn Of The Dead itself. Although I've seen it countless times before, it was a pleasure to finally see this classic at a drive-in. The second film of the night was one that I've also seen many times before but was very excited to see on the big screen-

(1979)
Director: Lucio Fulci
Writers: Elisa Briganti, Dardano Sacchetti

Zombie (aka Zombi 2, Zombie Flesh Eaters, Woodoo) follows a woman who, along with a reporter, is trying to track down her missing father. Her father, Dr. Menard, is a physician who is investigating the secrets of the island of Matool where the dead have begun to rise. Although Zombie started production before Dawn Of The Dead (which was known in Europe as Zombi), when the George Romero film became a hit, the producers of Zombie added scenes to the beginning and end to try to tie it into the franchise.

As with many Fulci films, Zombie (Zombie Flesh Eaters) is very gory and that's certainly the reason it was banned by the British Film Board. Surprisingly, Zombie Flesh Eaters 2 and 3 were not banned by the BBFC.

I've watched Zombie many times, and not only because it tricked me by being released in the U.S. as both Zombie AND Zombie 2. To me, the plot of Zombie is not particularly enthralling, instead it's the horror setpieces that turn the film from just your average zombie flick into a truly great one. Once you've seen the "zombie vs. shark" scene (in which an actual actor dressed as a zombie interacts with a real shark) or the tense scene in which a woman's eyeball is slowly impaled on a splinter of wood, you will never forget them as long as you live. The haunting progressive soundtrack by Fabio Frizzi also elevates the film to another level. Essentially, Zombie is a dumb horror movie that has enough great elements that, in the end, it becomes a classic. And how can you resist that poster of the maggot-infested zombie proclaiming "WE ARE GOING TO EAT YOU!"? That's genius marketing right there. Zombie gets 4 1/2 out of 6 beers.