Zombie Flesh Eaters was at the heart of the early Eighties’ video nasty furore. Pilloried without being seen, it was cast as revolting and shocking, and subsequently banned from release. This pin-sharp, definitive restoration of Lucio Fulci’s 1979 over-the-top zombie fest isn’t going to suddenly elevate it to classic status, but it does show it to be good, workmanlike exploitation cinema of the highest calibre. Nothing in it is unwatchable, even if a few scenes are mildly disgusting.
Fulci, a journeyman working in Italian cinema since the late 1940s as a writer and director, was commissioned to make Zombie Flesh Eaters after the success of George A Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, renamed Zombi on its 1978 Italian release. The unrelated Zombie Flesh Eaters (its UK title) was cheekily released as Zombi 2 in Italy. Although Italy had a rich horror heritage, Fulci's film was at the beginning of a new trend pushing cinematic shocks to the limit – the true video nasties such as Cannibal Holocaust and Cannibal Ferox.
This is standard post-Night of the Living Dead zombie fare. A sailboat drifts towards Manhattan. Unmanned, its bowels hide a zombie who quickly despatches a coastguard. The daughter of the boat’s owner hitches up with a journalist and they return to the Antilles, where the boat had come from. Once there, they find the tropical paradise overrun with zombies itching to bite chunks from anyone they come across. There’s an undertone of sexism, gore, shootouts, gratuitous nudity, Molotov cocktails and an absurd underwater fight between a shark and a zombie. The cast includes British ham Richard Johnson and Mia Farrow’s sister, Tisa.
Although Zombie Flesh Eaters has its boring moments, it’s more than the sum of its parts and is great fun. Fulci’s direction is assured, raising the film above the level of a cartoon. Even Farrow’s useless acting does it no harm. The mass of extras in the package include more docs, commentaries and trailers than you can shake a zombie at. The booklet has essays on the film's history, its tussles with censorship and interviews. Just the thing to sit down to after Christmas lunch.
Watch the trailer for Zombie Flesh Eaters
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