Just to clear a few things up, the film we Americans recognize as “Zombie” was in fact originally released in Europe as “Zombi 2”, a sequel to George A. Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead”, which was released over there as “Zombi”, naturally. With that out of the way, we now move on to an anecdote, followed by a synopsis of the film and then some commentary, as is the usual format of these reviews.
I remember that I never liked Italian zombie flicks back when I was a kid. The dubbing and the often sleepy music usually, well, put me to sleep. I was a child, then; don’t judge me too harshly. I didn’t really come to appreciate the likes of Lamberto Bava, Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci until my adult years. I gave “Zombie” a second try when Anchor Bay released their DVD in 2002 and I promptly fell asleep for about half in hour in the middle of the movie. I don’t know what is wrong with me; this isn’t a boring movie. I’ve rewatched it recently, with my eyes open, and the whole thing is paced very fast, with tons of zombie carnage, gore and mayhem…so why on Earth do I fall asleep every time I try to watch it? Maybe this is one of those things I need to discuss with a shrink.
After a derelict ship containing a blood-thirsty zombie washes up in the New York harbor, the daughter of the ship’s owner, Anne (Tisa Farrow), becomes concerned to the whereabouts of her father. With the help of a reporter, Peter (Ian McCulloch), the two trace the ship’s origins back to the mysterious tropical island of Matul. After a brief encounter with a shark and a nautical zombie, they become shipwrecked on the isolated tropical hellhole, as the local zombie infestation grows out of hand. Meeting up with Dr. Menard (Richard Johnson), the survivors run for their lives as the dead crawl out of the dirt all around them.
“Zombie” is considered a sequel to “Dawn of the Dead”, though for all intents and purposes, it is honestly more of a prequel. It obviously starts out before the world has really caught on to the whole zombie outbreak and helps to expose how the walking dead gradually began to overwhelm such populated burgs as New York City. And yet, “Zombie” includes enough vague mumblings about voodoo and black magic that one could watch the film separate from Romero’s franchise and not miss a single beat. So in that regard, “Zombie” really does work well as both a supplement to Romero’s “Dead” franchise and as its own unique entity.
I mentioned earlier that this movie has the bizarre power to make me sleepy whenever I watch it. Don’t ask me why. Perhaps it’s the hypnotic music and the washed-out picture quality that hypnotize me into oblivion; I honestly can’t say for sure. But please, don’t take my possibly narcoleptic inability to remain conscious as some insinuation that this film is boring, because that couldn’t be further from the truth. “Zombie” moves fast and it moves furious, as it begins with zombie action in order to set things up and then proceeds to waste as little time as possible introducing the characters and getting them stuck on Zombie Island.
The effects seen in “Zombie” are worthy of applause, to say the least. People often praise Tom Savini’s work on “Dawn of the Dead”, but if you actually look at the zombies seen in that film, they’re mostly nothing more than people with white face paint on. These zombies, however, are dirty, decaying and all around unpleasant. What I like is how dry they look; almost mummified. When victims scratch at them, the corpses deposit chunks of tree bark-like flesh and emit clouds of powdery dirt. It’s a nice break from the gooey and gory zombies that usually populate these types of movies.
“Zombie” is very ambitious with its action sequences, as well. If there’s one scene you’ll walk away remembering best in this film, it would have to be the infamous “zombie vs. shark” segment. A very convincing moment of underwater action, as the zombie wrestles with a real shark (not some funny-looking prop) and really sells the whole thing. There’s also the climactic showdown, with more flaming zombies than you can shake a lighter at. And just to complete this incoherently rambling paragraph, the scene where Dr. Menard’s wife gets her eye gauged out on a jagged piece of wood will have you squirming uncontrollably in your seat.
“Zombie” isn’t perfect, however. Most Italian horror flicks are dubbed, I’m used to that, but “Zombie” is dubbed very poorly. The scene where Peter talks to his editor is especially awkward and unintentionally hilarious. It can get pretty distracting. There are also moments of exposition that just don’t come out right in the scripting, the acting or the dubbing, which all combine to make for some fairly unwatchable sequences. The scene where Dr. Menard’s wife has a fight with him comes to mind as the most annoying example.
While I may have problems staying awake during this movie, I highly doubt any of you will. It remains a mandatory serving for any zombie fan’s diet and is without question worth viewing. I mean, dude, a zombie fights a shark!
Grade: B (as in “Between you and me, I don’t think that 400 year-old Spanish conquistador corpses could get up and walk very far, even if they were reanimated”.)
I remember that I never liked Italian zombie flicks back when I was a kid. The dubbing and the often sleepy music usually, well, put me to sleep. I was a child, then; don’t judge me too harshly. I didn’t really come to appreciate the likes of Lamberto Bava, Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci until my adult years. I gave “Zombie” a second try when Anchor Bay released their DVD in 2002 and I promptly fell asleep for about half in hour in the middle of the movie. I don’t know what is wrong with me; this isn’t a boring movie. I’ve rewatched it recently, with my eyes open, and the whole thing is paced very fast, with tons of zombie carnage, gore and mayhem…so why on Earth do I fall asleep every time I try to watch it? Maybe this is one of those things I need to discuss with a shrink.
After a derelict ship containing a blood-thirsty zombie washes up in the New York harbor, the daughter of the ship’s owner, Anne (Tisa Farrow), becomes concerned to the whereabouts of her father. With the help of a reporter, Peter (Ian McCulloch), the two trace the ship’s origins back to the mysterious tropical island of Matul. After a brief encounter with a shark and a nautical zombie, they become shipwrecked on the isolated tropical hellhole, as the local zombie infestation grows out of hand. Meeting up with Dr. Menard (Richard Johnson), the survivors run for their lives as the dead crawl out of the dirt all around them.
“Zombie” is considered a sequel to “Dawn of the Dead”, though for all intents and purposes, it is honestly more of a prequel. It obviously starts out before the world has really caught on to the whole zombie outbreak and helps to expose how the walking dead gradually began to overwhelm such populated burgs as New York City. And yet, “Zombie” includes enough vague mumblings about voodoo and black magic that one could watch the film separate from Romero’s franchise and not miss a single beat. So in that regard, “Zombie” really does work well as both a supplement to Romero’s “Dead” franchise and as its own unique entity.
I mentioned earlier that this movie has the bizarre power to make me sleepy whenever I watch it. Don’t ask me why. Perhaps it’s the hypnotic music and the washed-out picture quality that hypnotize me into oblivion; I honestly can’t say for sure. But please, don’t take my possibly narcoleptic inability to remain conscious as some insinuation that this film is boring, because that couldn’t be further from the truth. “Zombie” moves fast and it moves furious, as it begins with zombie action in order to set things up and then proceeds to waste as little time as possible introducing the characters and getting them stuck on Zombie Island.
The effects seen in “Zombie” are worthy of applause, to say the least. People often praise Tom Savini’s work on “Dawn of the Dead”, but if you actually look at the zombies seen in that film, they’re mostly nothing more than people with white face paint on. These zombies, however, are dirty, decaying and all around unpleasant. What I like is how dry they look; almost mummified. When victims scratch at them, the corpses deposit chunks of tree bark-like flesh and emit clouds of powdery dirt. It’s a nice break from the gooey and gory zombies that usually populate these types of movies.
“Zombie” is very ambitious with its action sequences, as well. If there’s one scene you’ll walk away remembering best in this film, it would have to be the infamous “zombie vs. shark” segment. A very convincing moment of underwater action, as the zombie wrestles with a real shark (not some funny-looking prop) and really sells the whole thing. There’s also the climactic showdown, with more flaming zombies than you can shake a lighter at. And just to complete this incoherently rambling paragraph, the scene where Dr. Menard’s wife gets her eye gauged out on a jagged piece of wood will have you squirming uncontrollably in your seat.
“Zombie” isn’t perfect, however. Most Italian horror flicks are dubbed, I’m used to that, but “Zombie” is dubbed very poorly. The scene where Peter talks to his editor is especially awkward and unintentionally hilarious. It can get pretty distracting. There are also moments of exposition that just don’t come out right in the scripting, the acting or the dubbing, which all combine to make for some fairly unwatchable sequences. The scene where Dr. Menard’s wife has a fight with him comes to mind as the most annoying example.
While I may have problems staying awake during this movie, I highly doubt any of you will. It remains a mandatory serving for any zombie fan’s diet and is without question worth viewing. I mean, dude, a zombie fights a shark!
Grade: B (as in “Between you and me, I don’t think that 400 year-old Spanish conquistador corpses could get up and walk very far, even if they were reanimated”.)
1 comments:
lets get one thing out of the way first i dont like zombie movies they bore me and i have had it up to here with the current zombie craze the damn things are everywhere !
even where they dont belong (most video games fucking transformers gi joe and star trek comics )
having said that usually when i watch this movie ( on and off ) and i reach the eye gouge scene all i can think about is your being pulled to the splinter by your hair you stupid bint pull the hair out ! pulling your hair out is not nearly as painful or horrible as getting a huge splinter in the eye
no zombie movies are not my thing
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