Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979)

Fulci’s Feral Food Feast.

Being of a “certain” age and being British, I was firmly around at the time of the ridiculous “video nasty” mania that swept the UK in the early 1980s. Films that usually involved cannibals, either ferox, holocaust or zombified, and torture porn revengers et al, were banned, prosecuted or given a Viking burial at sea. One such film was Zombie Flesh Eaters (the best title the film has of the few it is known by), it became like the Holy Grail of video nasties, where to see it uncut would be like witnessing the last miracle performed by Christ. I never did get to see it back then, and as my horror leanings waned over the years I let it drift from my conscious. But now I’m here in my middle age and finding a new appetite for horror, I have finally managed to see the fabled shocker from Lucio Fulci.

In many ways it’s a disappointment, I mean I understand that to view it now is never going to impact in the way that it did (could) in 1979, but casting aside for a moment the gore scenes, which I will get to, it’s a bad film awash with badness, and not in a horror bad ass way. Much like the other Fulci film I viewed recently, The House By The Cemetery, ZFE is a series of blood and guts scenes strung together by amateurish filler. Be it bad acting, bad dubbing, hopeless dialogue and half hearted attempts at something cranial. However, if judging this particular Fulci film on its key horror scenes? Then it’s got brains, imagination and style to burn. Marking it out as by definition a mixed bag genius disaster!

The zombies themselves are brilliant creations, all dripping with rotting flesh, caked in earth and having mother nature’s insect creatures wriggling around their ravaged bodies. They shuffle along in classic Romero mode, and feast on flesh with carefree abandon. They are also perpetrators of some of zombie cinema’s best moments, such as fighting a shark on the ocean bed, pulling a hapless female victim onto a wooden splinter – eye first! And one scene where they collectively rise slowly from the earth is atmospherically as creepy as it is stunning in its execution. It is these things that of course helped to make it a legendary part of the Italian Exploitation era, and it’s these things that make it watchable still today, but let it not be said there is anything else worthwhile, because the rest is simply awful. 6.5/10

in my opinion, quite simply the best CLASSIC zombie movie ever made

**_Adventurous zombie outbreak in the Caribbean_**

A woman from New York City (Tisa Farrow) teams-up with a reporter (Ian McCulloch) to find her missing father on a remote island in the West Indies. They hire a vacationing couple to guide them (Al Cliver and Auretta Gay), which leads to a troubled doctor who knew the man (Richard Johnson).

Helmed by Lucio Fulci, "Zombie" (1979) or “Zombie Flesh Eaters” is also known as “Zombi 2” in several countries because producers wanted to capitalize on the success of “Dawn of the Dead” from the year before, which was known as “Zombi” in Italy and other lands. With such a title, it’s implied to be an (unofficial) sequel to “Dawn” but, in reality, it’s a prequel (not to mention a prequel to “Night of the Living Dead”).

The script was actually written before “Dawn” came out as an adventure/thriller taking place in the Caribbean with no connection to Romero's films. The bookend New York scenes were added later to cash-in on “Dawn.” Dardano Sacchetti based his script on classic zombie flicks with the intention of bringing the genre back to its Caribbean & Voodoo roots.

Although the story isn’t as compelling as in “Dawn” (or “Night”) and the characters aren’t as memorable, the zombies have better make-up and are thoroughly gruesome. It’s basically “Night of the Living Dead” with the milieu of “The Deep” and the enhancement of full color. Unfortunately, the dubbing is lousy, which is to be expected with Italian films of that era.

Whilst the eye poke scene strikes me as juvenile and dumb, it is well-done and horrific, which fits the genre. Beyond that, there are several highlights, such as the creative tiger shark sequence, the air of life-or-death adventure and the suspenseful stand-off at the climax, as well as the ominous epilogue.

It runs 1 hour, 31 minutes, and was shot in New York City, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and Latina, Italy, which is 45 miles south of Rome.

GRADE: B-/C+