And for your final lesson, we delve into the mind of the Godfather of Gore. Well, the real Godfather of Gore, Lucio Fulci, the title also given to Herschell Gordon Lewis. We here at the Horror Syndicate have a lot of love for Fulci.
Zombi was adapted for film by Fulci, from the script by Dardano Sacchetti. It can be confusing as the film is known as “Zombie” and “Zombie 2” and is meant to act as a sequel to George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. Zombie 2 for the Americans and everyone else, while released in Italy as Zombi.
Zombie begins with an investigation aboard a boat near New York and zombie kills a policeman. Tisa Farrow plays Anne Bowles, who is doing research on a Caribbean island which is cursed by voodoo, whose dead residents rise as zombies to attack living people. She is questioned by the police, the boat belonged to her father, she journeys to Caribbean island. That is the basis of the story.
The movie is iconic, where Dawn of the Dead gave us the gore and great effects, Zombie gave amazing make-ups. One of the most iconic parts of the movie, when the dead rise from the grave. For some reason, in my youth when I would think of a zombie, I always imagined them pulling their way from their graves to the surface. This movie brought that back to me, as did Return of the Living Dead…I think Michael Jackson’s Thriller is the reason for this image of Zombies.
I really like Zombie, it is kind of slowly passed, but it is in the same spirit as The Beyond or City of the Living Dead. Both films followed Zombie. But, if you want gore, good make-up and fun effects…actually why haven’t you seen Zombie? This should be in any horror fan’s collection. I have the DVD and Blu Ray and in search of the Lucio Fulci collection version. I think Zombie is probably the second best of Fulci, behind the Beyond.
A couple of highlights of the movie…
- Scubadiving topless
- Zombie vs Shark
- The “eye ball” scene
Now go watch Zombie!
IMDB.com has a rating of 6.9 and surprising.
I rate Zombie with a hard 8.0, I love this movie.
