REVIEW: ZOMBIE (aka ZOMBIE 2)
It’s funny, as a zombie fan I have never laid my eyes on Lucio Fulci’s Zombie until just recently at a zombie film festival held in Chicago. For those familiar with the film, its actual title is Zombie 2 because it was the sequel to Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, which was renamed Zombie for the theatrical foreign release. However, since the film was also released in the States they renamed it Zombie. Plain and simple, it’s complicated. The film is about a reporter and the daughter of a murdered scientist who come to an island to try to solve the murder, specifically due to a zombie encounter in New York. On the island they discover that there is more than just strange experiments going on but that the dead may be coming back to life because of voodoo.
I want to start off by stating that the acting and the dubbing were terrible but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Of course, when the voices are completely off synch it is distracting and it took me out of some of the moments but I warmed up to it. It felt more like a corny, Grindhouse type film and it added to the overall tackiness. The acting was also not good because it was either overdone, really overdone, or too bland but I can handle bad acting. In fact, with these Grindhouse films, I want bad over-the-top acting because it makes the movie going experience better.
Specifically what I love about the film was the way it was shot an executed. I think one of the best sequences in the whole film was when the zombie Conquistadores rose from the ground and started to attack the town. Not only was it reminiscent of Night of the Living Dead but also it was easy to tell that Carpenter would use a similar montage when filming Vampires, so I would argue that there is a sort of Western theme playing throughout the film. The score was very hypnotizing and low-key and there was a constant state of worry and fear because you could hear the drums banging deep in the jungle. In other words, the score played a HUGE part in the movie… more so than most horror movies.
Lets talk about the gore. From what I know, Fulci is probably best known for creating some of the best and grotesque scenes of mutilation and this film is no exception. It took the gore to a new level and you could see how the zombies bit the skin of the neck and pull back, tearing it off the body. Blood pumps out of the open wounds as zombies much away at the arms and legs of their victim. It was all so brutal and painful to watch, but as a zombie fan I was very pleased by this. If you are looking for a gory movie, look no further… you have found it.
Zombie is just one of those movies that’s meant to entertain and it does it’s job. From the time the ‘abandoned’ shit arrives to New York, to the ridiculous amount of nudity, to the zombie fighting the shark, all the way up to epic showdown in the church, it had me completely enthralled. Even more so, it takes place on a tropical island so you are taking two of my most favorite things in the whole world and throwing them into one movie, so obviously I would end up loving this film.
