LUCIO FULCI'S ZOMBIE Review On "Violent Maniac's Cage"

LUCIO FULCI'S ZOMBIE

"The Dead Are Among Us!"

"We Are Going To Eat You!"

A remastered copy of The late godfather of gore Lucio Fulci's Zombie, a cheesy and gory Italian spaghetti horror epic. The sound, picture, widescreen presentation and overall quality is outstanding. I commend Video Treasures and Anchor Bay on the outstanding job done. The great hard shell full colored sleeve and reasonable price also made matters a lot better as well for us Fulci fans. I recall hearing that Elite did not choose to remaster Zombie because it was too slow of a film which I find hard to believe. It may begin slow but when it gets going it doesn't let up. Its great to see the late Fulci's name in big letters on the front of the box as well, the man deserves the recognition. I'm not sure if the film was released to cash in on Fulci's death or the release of The Beyond in theatres, I still think it was a great idea to remaster Zombie. This new version even makes the Jap laser disc dupe look piss poor in comparison. Zombie is about a voodoo curse on the tropical island of Matool which comes in the form of a death wielding plague. The plague kills its victims and then brings them back to life lusting for human flesh and guts. The cause of this plague is never fully explained but Fulci flicks were never watched for logic or good dialogue because both are horrible in most of his work. Richard Johnson seems to be struggling with his lines and the scene of him drunk rambling on with a bunch of junk is hilarious. Most of the reason the dialogue is so bad is because of the American dubbing job which is pretty bad to say the least. With most Fulci stuff English characters are used in the main leads, in this case Ian McCulloch. As the story goes a reporter played by McCulloch and a young women played by Tisa Farrow hitch a boat ride to Matool so Farrow can find out what happened to her father who she suspects is on the island. When they do reach the island all they find is Johnson and lots of zombies. Zombie is well known for its great old fashioned gore and such moments as a zombie attacking a real shark, its amazing because the real shark is never changed for a fake in any of the scenes and the stuff that is pulled off is quite breathtaking. The other gore mentionable is the splinter in the eyeball scene involving Johnson's wife played by Olga Karlato's which looks amazing with the graphic close up nature involving it. The throat ripping scene is unbeatable (look at that red stuff flow!) and the zombie shot gun blastings are great as well. Most of the gore scenes are shortly extended in the remastered version which makes it a must have. Movie watchers unfamiliar with Fulci's work need not apply as you will no doubtably spend most of the film bored or laughing. Leave this stuff to the genre buffs. I know when I first saw Zombie in pan-scan on Wizard Video I did not like it. It takes some getting used to, much the same as drinking alcohol.

Rating: 4 Skulls

Review by: Richard J.Taylor

Email: rtaylor@roadrunner.nf.net

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