Zombie (Zombi 2)
His smile can light up a room
Thanks to television and the internet,
more people have seen iconic scenes from movies than the actual films
themselves. While shows like Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments and
clips on Youtube are great for introducing unknown movies to the
masses, plenty make the mistake of just watching the clips and never
seeking out the full experience. It's worth taking the time to see
these movies to truly understand and appreciate why these scenes mean
so much. It's also worth seeing these movies if they have zombies in
them.
Zombie is a 1979 zombie horror movie,
directed by Lucio Fulci (City Of The Living Dead, Don't Torture A
Duckling) and starring Tisa Farrow (L'Ultimo Cacciatore, Fingers) as
Anne Bowles. An abandoned yacht is discovered floating aimlessly in
New York Harbor and is boarded by the Coast Guard. A hulking zombie
appears on the boat and bites one of the officers in the throat. The
remaining officer kills the zombie and the dead officer is taken for
an autopsy. Anne Bowles, who's fathered owned the yacht, is
questioned by the police, but can only tell them that he was doing
research on a tropical island. News reporter Peter West (Ian
McCulloch, Survivors, Doctor Who) investigates the mysterious boat
and comes across Anne doing some investigating on her own. They
discover that Anne's father was working on the island of Matool and
had been suffering from a strange and unknown disease. They get to
the main islands and are able to hitch a ride with a couple, Brian
and Susan. During their trip, Susan goes scuba diving and comes
across a shark. As she is hiding from the shark, she is attacked by a
zombie. She breaks free while the shark and zombie battle it out
underwater. On the island, they meet Dr. David Menard (Richard
Johnson, Aces High, The Haunting) who works as a physician on the
island. Menard asks them to check on his wife at their house and they
discover her being devoured by zombies. They make a run for it and
are attacked by zombies rising from the grave. Will they be able to
get off the island and warn the world that the dead are coming back
to life?
Sometimes a shark just needs a hug
This movie has a complicated history,
but I'll give the cliff notes. For those that don't know, Zombie was
also released under the name Zombi 2 after George Romero's Dawn Of
The Dead was recut and the name changed to just Zombi. Zombi 2 isn't
a sequel to that movie, was most likely used as a way to get more
people to see it. Zombie is also known as Zombie Flesh-Eaters, Island
Of The Living Dead, and Woodoo. The iconic scene I was referencing
was the “Zombie vs. Shark” part of the movie. Just about every
horror fan loves that scene. It is pretty amazing that they were able
to pull it off convincingly. I've read that they used a well-fed and
heavily sedated shark, which makes sense, but I didn't see any air
bubbles during the scene. That leads me to conclude it was a real
zombie. It's a very cool scene, though it didn't really add much to
the story itself.
Speaking of the story, Zombie is your
basic island-based voodoo horror movie. Thankfully it focuses more on
zombies than voodoo which tends to bring down the entertainment and
fear in movies such as The Serpent And The Rainbow and Ritual. The
first hour of the movie is a little slower than expected and even
boring at times. All roads lead to the characters getting on the
island, but it takes a while to get there. Stick with the movie,
because the last 30 minutes or so is well worth it. Fulci revels in
the extreme gore that got the movie banned in some countries and
recut in others. When I say gore, I mean GORE, enough to make me to
raise my eyebrows in surprise at some of the things they were able to
pull off. Some scenes are gruesome, but still entertaining. The
zombies all look great and, thankfully, are the slow, shambling style
of zombie.
Zombies: Now in Sepia tone
There are many versions of the film
floating out there, but the one I watched had a weird mixture of
English speakers and bad dubbing. It confused me at times to see
English speakers in a scene where their costars appeared to be
dubbed. That threw me off a bit, and made it a little hard to
critique the acting. That being said, the actors still put on good
performances and captured feelings of fear and terror. There is a
good amount of action, mainly towards the end of the film. The movie
has a final stand against the zombies that many of us have probably
fantasized about.
Overall, Zombie is an entertaining
movie, despite a slow beginning and a story that was not particularly
interesting or original. Fulci does a good job capturing all the
violence and does not shy away from the extreme. It's a bloody good
time with great makeup and effects. The amount of blood and gore may
shock some, but if you like your horror red and sticky, you'll really
enjoy Zombie. The zombie vs shark scene alone is worth your time. It's been referenced in song (Send More Paramedics - Zombie Vs. Shark) and even on t-shirts. It
is no wonder that the movie has become classic, and that scene is one
of the main reasons why.
7.5/10
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