| ZOMBIE 3 (1987) |
| Directed by Bruno Mattei , and Lucio Fulci. Starring Deran Serafian , Beatrice Ring , Robert Marius , Richard Raymond, and Massimo Vanni. |
| Former housepainter Bruno Mattei ( director of Night of the Zombies) took the helm of this troubled production after Lucio Fulci quit with only 15 minutes of footage in the can. |
| Zombie 3 is set in the Phillipines ( and for some reason, most of the Phillipinos are overdubbed with African-American voices) , where the military is experimenting with a new nerve gas which is none too subtly called 'Death 1' ..... they could have at least given it a more appealing name , like the U.S. did with agent orange . After some champagne overacting by the lead scientist about how dangerous it is ( that's the point of bio-weopons isn't it? ) , a bunch of terrorists attack the military installation , and steal a vial of 'Death 1'. Most of the terrorists die, but one gets away with the vial , and becomes infected. |
| He begins turning into a zombie of course , and even though he's in agonising pain, he manages to casually book into a hotel. He goes into the bathroom , gets a carving knife, and lops off his infected zombie hand in an Evil Dead 2 homage. He didn't amputate it quickly enough though , and becomes a zombie. He manages to dispatch a couple of hotel workers before the army catches up with him , and sends his body to the local crematorium to get rid of the evidence. The top brass obviously never saw Return of the Living Dead though, because this act spreads the contageon all over the country, and the result is zombie blasting heaven. From here the movie that was fairly serious turns pretty hilarious , as we follow a bunch of young people holed up in a deserted hotel on their action packed adventures fighting off hordes of zombies. |
| This is one of the more fun zombie movies you're likely to see. It's incredible how it changes from atmospheric and gloomy , to ridiculous in a matter of minutes. The main scene that is responsible for changing this mood was the one with the flying zombie head. It never fails to leave you laughing hysterically. The zombies for the most part either seem to have taken their acting cues from Bela Lugosi , or The Three Stooges. I was dissapointed at the almost complete lack of actors I knew in this . It would have been great if a couple of notable zombie veterans like Tisa Farrow , or maybe Ivan Rassimov had been in the cast. A lot of the action sequences were very entertaining though. |
| There's a pretty pacey scene at an abandoned gas station involving the very attractive Beatrice Ring , and a machete weilding zombie that appears to have a hyperactive disorder. There's also a very kung fu oriented action scene in a village. The zombies in this movie are a pretty mixed up lot....some move slowly , some run, some have weopons, and some even ambush people from rooftops, from refrigerators, and haybales. A hip cat of a radio announcer called Blueheart ( whose station plays really bad eighties music that's heavy on keyboard guitars) pretty much narrates the whole thing , filling in any plot holes, so this leaves plenty of room for non-stop action, and hilarious dialogue. Zombie movies don't come any more self serving than this. If you like your zombie movies filled with zombie blasting action , and love overacting and ridiculous dialogue , you'll have a great time with Zombie 3. The only thing that prevented this from getting a perfect score was how wooden most of the lead actors were. |
| There's always something going on in this movie , which makes it a good choice for a video night with friends. It has a lot of memorable scenes. One takes place at what appears to be a sewerage works. This is a pretty suspensful scene involving a near unrecognisable Massimo Vanni ( 1990: The Bronx Warriors, The New Barbarians) and one of the girls the marines meet up with. Zombies start emerging from the water , and attacking them. A very atmospheric , well lit scene, with genuine tension. At the other end of the spectrum is a scene where Beatrice Rings boyfreind tells her that he's "thirsty.....thirsty for your blood ! ". Along with the flying head , probably the most hilarious scene in the movie. |
| Entertainment : 3 out of 4 |
| Watchability : 4 out of 4 |
| Overall : 3.5 out of 4 |
| Reviewed by Blake. |
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