Blu-ray Review: Zombie (1979)

*This review is a re-do of one we did back in 2008. It needed an update.

LET'S GO TO THAT ISLAND, THEY SAID. EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE, THEY SAID.

Good luck trying to figure this one out, because Italian Horror flicks are usually about as hard to follow as a Butterfly on Meth. It's also just as strangely captivating. I'll give it my best shot though, because that's what I do.

SHE'S DARING ME TO MAKE SENSE OUT OF THIS MOVIE...

When a boat drifts into the harbor of N.Y.C., we find out that the Big Apple is now populated by lip-syncing Italians. While investigating the derelict sea craft, Officers Giuseppe and Paolo find a zombie stowaway, and then proceed to prove that they're the worst Cops in the history of the World.

YEAH, TELL IT TO FREEZE AGAIN, DUMB ASS.

Turns out the boat belongs to some scientist who has been incommunicado on a tropical island, which worries his not-really-all-that-pretty daughter, so naturally, she and a gang of random strangers head to Ooga-Booga Island to find Dad. What they find instead is a plague of zombies unleashed by an evil native Witch Doctor, who you never see, even though you do hear his tribe's drums playing all throughout the movie... Needless to say, zombie carnage ensues.

I won't ruin the ending for you here, but let's just say that Eliis Island has itself a new batch of immigrants looking for citizenship...

NEVER FORGET.

 

This one is truly an all-time zombie classic. With Zombie, Lucio Fulci delivers a great slice of Italian splatter that helped to change the landscape of Horror itself. It takes a while to get going, but when the good stuff finally hits, it delivers the gore, zombie flesh eating, and dread, in spades.

This move was originally banned in a bunch of countries when it cam out in 1979, and it wasn't until 2005 that Great Britain's BBFC let an unedited cut be released with an 18 rating.

CENSORS WERE WAY TOO SENSITIVE BACK IN THE 70'S.

As with most Italian Horror flicks, Zombie starts slow, is paced slow, and it can be a test to make it through the whole thing for the average person. Also, it practically makes no sense whatsoever.

THEN AGAIN, DOES IT REALLY NEED TO MAKE SENSE?

Did any girl in the 70's have boobs bigger than a B-cup? I'm just sayin'.

IF YOU COULD SEE THEM, YOU'D UNDERSTAND.

It's an Italian zombie movie from the 70's, of course it's gory! Aside from the usual flesh eating and exploding heads, this zombie movie boasts one of the most famous scenes in Horror History (the eye splinter scene), as well as an underwater fight between a zombie and a shark.

This movie is crazy.

#98 ON BRAVO'S 100 SCARIEST MOVIE MOMENTS.

There are a few scenes of 70's-style nudity in this one, but it's nothing remarkable.

Zombies and sharks hate each other. Hate!

YOU'D THINK THE SHARK WOULD WIN THAT FIGHT...

Zombie is an all-time classic, and a must own for both zombie flick aficionado's and Horror fans in general. Few pull off the zombie aesthetic as well as Fulci did; when hardcore Horror fans thinks of zombies, they think Romero, Fulci, and then everyone else pretty much comes after that. If you're a newer Horror fan, you've got to check this one out.

B+

Zombie is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD.

 

Tisa Farrow (sister of Mia) is in this.