Customer Reviews

Zombi 2 (25th Anniversary Special Edition 2-Disc Set)

5 star:		(149)
4 star:		(104)
3 star:		(55)
2 star:		(28)
1 star:		(32)

 

 

Originally perceived by critics as a Dawn of the Dead rip off, Lucio Fulci's Zombie is an over the top gorefest that has become a classic among fans over the years. Featuring some of the most realistic looking zombies ever to be seen on film (they're rotting and decomposing and look brilliantly disgusting) and plenty of memorable scenes (including the infamous splinter in the eye scene and the beautifully shot underwater battle between a shark and a resiliant zombie), Zombie is a gorehounds' dream. The story is simple, a few inhabitants of a cursed island all become chow for a horde of zombies, but it works for the film as it is simple, unsettling gorey horror Fulci style. There's no social commentary or dark humor like in Romero's Dead trilogy or Dead Alive, just pure horror all the way; and while it may not be as profound as Fulci's The Beyond, Zombie is still a more than solid horror flick worth seeing if you have the stomach for it. Anchor Bay has assembled a solid DVD for the film (they always do great jobs for cult horror films on DVD) with enough extras to satisfy most fans of the film.

"Zombi 2" is the same film as Zombie. That much we've figured out. There's also a "Zombi 3" and a "Zombi 4." What some reviewers have asked is where is the missing chapter? So here goes.

When George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" was released in Italy, it was released under the name "Zombi." "Zombi 2" was written before Dawn, but was slightly changed to cash in on Romero's success. Thus, rather than call it "Zombi" again, they stuck on a "2," making it seem like a sequel.

When "Zombi 2" was released in the U.S., the name was changed once again, this time to "Zombie."

And the confusion ends.

A boat on a New York City coast is discovered by the coast guards as abandoned but only with a literally undead creature on board but gets destroyed, leaving the coast guards puzzled. A reporter with a young woman in search of her missing father try to investigate by going to the caribbean islands with the help of some friends, but a terrible voodoo curse or virus is causing the dead to come up from the graves of the island to devour the flesh of the living as the reporter and company must struggle together to survive the island of the dead.

A shocking and excellent Italian horror thriller from Lucio Fulci whom was fresh off of doing comedies, westerns and thrillers gives us one of the most repulsive and scariest cult classics of all time. There is a creepy tropical atmosphere to give the movie's feel a tender eerieness with it's groovy music score by Fabio Frizzi and graphic gore effects such as the memorable if absolutely horrifying scene involving a woman getting her eyeball stabbed through a large splinter of wood.

The 2-Disc anniversary edition is certainly an improvement over the Anchor Bay version with better picture and digital sound quality that also contains the original Italian language track with English subtitles. It's extras are terrific, it's got featurettes on the history and behind the scenes of how this movie got made with it's success around the world, it's original european theatrical trailer, other trailers to zombie movies avalible from Media Blasters DVD, interviews with the actors & filmmakers and a photo, poster-and-still gallery.

This movie belongs in every horror lover's DVD collection, i highly recommend it but not for light sleepers or the squeamish.

Also recommended: From Dusk Till Dawn, The Evil Dead, Night of the Living Dead ( 1968 and 1990), Dawn of the Dead ( 1978 and 2004), Day of the Dead, City of the Living Dead, House By The Cemetery, Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror, Bio-Zombie, Demons, Suspiria, Tenebre, Cannibal Ferox, Jungle Holocaust, Cannibal Holocaust, Blood Feast, Battle Royale, The New York Ripper, Scanners, Maniac ( 1980), Freddy Vs. Jason, Nightmare City, Cannibal Apocalypse, 28 Days Later.., Return of the Living Dead Trilogy, Re-Animator and The Beyond.

This unofficial Italian prequel to Romero's Dawn of the Dead (which was called Zombie in Italy) is actually a pretty nifty little low budget horror film in and of itself.

A derelict boat drifts towards New York City. When the Coast Guard climbs aboard to investigate, the officers find a gnarly zombie waiting to be fed. When the daughter of the boat's owner meets an investigative reporter researching the horrifying incident, the two decide to join forces. They fly out to St. Thomas to look for the missing man and the answer to why the horrible thing was on the boat. What they find is an island hell of the walking, flesh eating dead.

Although it won't win any points for originality, Zombie is nonetheless an energetic exploitation movie that benefits greatly from strong atmospheric direction by future cult director Lucio Fulci, who was making his horror film debut here. Further pluses include fine gruesome make-up effects from De Rossi and an excellent electronic score. Highly recommended to splatter and zombie fans, just be sure to see it in the widescreen format for full effect.

As with any zombie story
the plot need not to mesh
Just as long as it's gory
and has the dead eating flesh

With decay on the skin
it can be grotesque
The more blood that's thrown in
makes it more picturesque

A zombie vs. a shark?
I'd say that's something new
Plus the voodoo curse is stark
there's not much you can do

Just food for the worms
that's what you'll become
Plus be infected with germs
as your brain starts to go numb

Fulci's a freak, well
that much he'd confess
This masquerades as a sequel
a money move I guess

So check this out now
or the dead will be resurrected
And they'll figure out how
to repay you for what you've neglected

Here it is! The classic zombie film by Italian Goremaster Lucio Fulci. I can't say enough good things about this film. It has absolutely everything a great movie should have--naked women, gore, a splinter in the eye, gut-munching, a carribean atmosphere, and apocalyptic doom, and Mia Farrow's sister Tisa. The soundtrack is ultra-cool and creepy, too. This movie is probably considered by most horror fans to be Fulci's best, although The Beyond does frequently come in first place. What is for sure is that Fulci has made a horror masterpiece that every fan should buy, not rent, immediately.

Since I don't want to totally destroy the story for you, let's just say that the zombies in question seem to have come about due to some experiments by a curious doctor played by Richard Johnson. His reasearch partner died and his daughter, played by Tisa Farrow, with a reporter played by Ian McCulloch, go to this island in the Caribbean to find out what's going on. A bad mistake. The zombies end up taking over the whole island, which leads to a great scene in which Spanish conquistadores wake up from the dead and open some throats the old-fashioned way. The end of the movie is a standoff between those who are alive and those who are dead.

I'm leaving much out, so get your mouse moving and put this tape in your cart and proceed to the checkout. I realize that some people here have very negative opinions of this film, but ignore them and give it a try. You won't believe how atmospheric and gory this movie is! In fact, I worked myself up into such a lather that I think I might watch it tonight.

Anchor Bay Entertainment has done a fabulous job with Zombie. The picture is great and they even threw in some trailers and radio spots at the end of the film.

Repeated.

First, this movie from an entertainment value from 1 to 10 is a 10 plus.
Second, this movie from a technical visibility and technical audibility release value on DVD from 1 to 10 is a 4.

Reason for the first critique: The PROS
1. Director Lucio Fulci directs a fast paced nail biter from start to finish.
2. Excellent film scoring as the music really accentuates the drama.
3. Excellent casting, the actors are solid for this type of film - no phonies.
4. Excellent locations - from New York City to the exotic Carribean where the two main characters meet up with vacationers who agree to charter their boat and take the main two characters to the island of Matool where the horror begins - you'll know why there going there as you see the film.
5. Excellent makeup effects for zombies and the gruesome and great death scenes.
6. Excellent cinematography to heighten the tension during the film.

Reason for the second critique: The CONS
1. Anchor Bay Entertainment's DVD release of this movie is poor. This critique of poor DVD quality is rare when it comes to Anchor Bay Entertainment releases as their remastered-from-the-good-old-cellar-movie reputation normally puts out excellent quality DVDs with full frame-by-frame color correction, removal of original picture blurriness, and excellent audio track remastering, but this movie somehow slipped through the cracks as perhaps there was a rush to get this movie out on DVD due to its immense popularity among gore hounds and Fangoria Magazine fanatics. The rush job to DVD certainly shows. And below are the main points to look out for on this particular Anchor Bay Entertainment release.

2. Poor picture clarity. The picture from start to finish is viewable, but not at all crisp and without blur. This will be corrected see ALTERNATIVE DVD below.

3. Poor color management. The color from start to finish lacks vibrance and richness. The color frame-by-frame is as dead and bland as the zombies themselves. The opening scenes especially as the abandoned yacht( or so you think ) sails into New York Harbor as it is coralled by the New York police, you will see that the city buildings including the World Trade Center towers look more purple/grey in tone, the harbor looks dark brown-grey in color, the sky looks grey in color, and the facial tones of the characters look more fuscia-pinkinsh-beige. The color on this release is horrible and will be corrected. The most frustrating aspect of the poor color is when the movie shfts to the Carribean as two main characters meet up with two vactioners and the four somehow agree to sail for the Island of Matool, after some hesistancy, you will see that the color really suffers here. The exotic locations - the beautiful water, the green of the palm trees, and the like are painfully lacking the vibrant standout color correction needed to make every film frame standout with crisp clear picture quality and life like color. This will be corrected see ALTERNATIVE DVD below.

3. Muddled audio track. The sound is clear, but not at the level of a remastered audio track with either DTS or THX Sound treatments. The musical score periodically steps on the sound effects This will be corrected see ALTERNATIVE DVD below.

4. From the original uncut full-version, there are some scenes missing on this DVD. This will be corrected see ALTERNATIVE DVD below.

5. Periodic purple outlines on the edges of the widescreen black bars.
This will be corrected see ALTERNATIVE DVD below.

-----> ALTERNATIVE DVD <------

Coming from Media Blasters Entertainment, another respected DVD Production Studio in the same ilk as Anchor Bay Entertainment and Blue Underground Studios a two new releases of this film are on thier way.

The first will be a Special 2-Disc Fully Remastered ( Picture and Sound ) 25th Anniversary Edition Anamorphic Widescreen Transfer due out as Amazon.com states on the web page hosting this title as July 27, 2004.

--This DVD has 2 hours of Extras including Director commentary, Film Trailers, TV-Spots, Cast and Crew interviews and audio options. This version is the one to buy and as of this review is only less than two months away.

The second will be Single Disc Fully Remastered ( Picture and Sound ) Anamorphic Widescreen Transfer due out I would suspect around the same time as the 25th Anniversary 2-Disc Edition in late July 2004.

Final Thoughts:

1. Avoid buying the Anchor Bay Entertainment release if you can wait less than 2 months from todays date June 13th. The wait will definitely be worth it. If you own this version already as I do, then I would recommend donating this release to the local public library for a tax break when the new versions, especially the 2-Disc set, come in.

Expect from the newer versions as a recap.

1. Excellent Frame-to-Frame Picture Quality from start-to-finish and Full Elimination of Film Blur.
2. Excellent Frame-to-Frame Color correction bringing the movie to life.
3. Excellent Sound Treatment for fully enhanced dialog clarity, punchy sound effects, and a robust musical score getting more crisp.

If these do indeed happen as Media Blasters Enterainment Studios are indicating, then this film goes from a 4 to a 5 plus.

Are you ready to be confused? Zombie (1980) is Fulci's 33rd film as director but this is his first Zombie movie. It is better known as Zombie 2, Island of the Flesh-Easters, Island of the Living Dead and Zombie Flesh-Eaters. Now there is also a film called Zombie 2, but this is in fact Zombie 1, the same movie. Confused? You should be. All these title problems date back to the day when distribution rights in the Western and Eastern hemispheres where totally out-of-sync, coupled with greedy distributors trying to get in on the tail-coats of some other popular movies. Bruce Lee films also suffer from this same mess. This film is originally called Island of the Flesh-Easters, but is probably best known as "Zombie Flesh-Eaters" and this title certainly sticks better than any other because there is only one "Zombie Flesh-Eaters"! When it was released in 1979 the distributors called it Zombie 2 in order to cash in on George A. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" also released in the same year (it pretended to be its sequel because Dawn of the Dead was also known under the title "Zombie"). This turned out to be a bit of a mess and so it got its US release under the title Zombie (1980) but is the same film as Zombie 2 (1979) and Zombie Flesh-Easters (1979). Unfortunately following in the heels of DOTD did nothing to help Fulci's little masterpiece and the critics panned it. They mostly called it a sick attempt to cash in on Romero's work. This unfairly branded Zombie Flesh-Eaters as a rip-off.

Zombie Flesh-Eaters is a film about a doctor (an unrecognizable Richard Johnson from The Haunting) who is experimenting with half-human zombies on a Caribbean island to find out what is causing the strange epidemic. In New York a drifting boat from the Caribbean turns up in the harbor with a nasty surprise. The owner of the boat has gone missing and his daughter teams up with a news reporter to investigate her father's disappearance only to end up traveling to the Caribbean to solve the mystery. There they meet a local boat driver and his girlfriend who take them to the strange island where the doctor is working on the zombie plague. The movie then picks up the pace and soon everyone on the island is in jeopardy. Apparently the reason for the Zombies is some form of voodoo that the islands inhabitants are up too; however this is never fully explained.

Needless to say this has all the hallmarks of Fulchi's style. There are many shots that go way past their sell-by-date and the film does seem to stall at times. However as soon as the group meet up on the island it is pretty much action packed from there on in. Zombie Flesh-Easters is mostly credited for the following items on display here.

- A very realistic battle between a zombie and a REAL shark underwater.
- The eye-piercing splinter sequence.
- The doctor blasting the heads of corpses wrapped in white sheets throughout this movie.
- The end stand-off which features lots of "spade meets zombie head" brain-bashing work.

As it stands this is a very good zombie flick which has all the grit and dirty feel that you can expect from something with a title like - Zombie Flesh-Easters. It does have a number of problems such as special effects that are slightly below standards for its time, a very long winded beginning and several plots that are not exactly explained. However when the zombie smashing gets going it really gets going and the gore is well up there with the best of the them. This film also boasts a surprise shock twist ending. In short this is a Fulci zombie masterpiece that should not be overlooked. It is grim with a medium effects budget and has that dirty feel but you get exactly what you paid for in aces.

You all know how great this movie is and it's true. This is one of Lucio Fulci's best films and I can't recommend it enough.

However, when Anchor Bay Entertainment released this on DVD, it was flawed and they didn't bother to fix it; the color is messed up and it makes the blood appear an almost dark orange among other things. The VHS is perfect and is actually better quality than the DVD.

In an interview, an Anchor Bay spokesman revealed that in the future, they may re-release it on DVD. If you buy this, I suggest the VHS or wait until it is rereleased on DVD.

When you think of the all time great zombie movies George A Romero's trilogy "Night of the Living Dead" , "Dawn of the Dead" and "Day of the Dead" most likely come to mind. Lucio Fulci's "Zombie", which has been called a sequel to the above mentioned "Dawn of the Dead", doesn't seem to be as popular and not as well known (at least around here) as Romero's trilogy. However, I believe Zombie is almost as good as the above mentioned

Plot is simple; Tisa Farrow plays Ann Bowles, when Ann discovers her father's boat to be abandoned in the New York Harbor her and reporter Peter West(Ian McCulloch) go searching for answers. Their search takes them to the small island of Matool where an unknown virus makes the dead stand up and walk, and of course they do much more than just walk. The plot is so simple yet extremely effective. The movie does move a bit slowly and the acting isn't very impressive but everything that makes a great horror movie is presented, creepy score, spooky elements, extreme gore and the most realistic, best looking zombies of any zombie movie I've ever seen.

This was only the second Fulci film I've seen but from seeing those two movies and reading other reviews it's easy to see a couple of Fulci's trademarks, bad dubbing and extreme gore. The killing scenes were awesome!! A big splinter through an eyeball, zombies feasting on dead woman's guts (that's pretty nasty!) and my favorite, a zombie tearing at the jugular of a woman as blood squirts out and shoots everywhere. If you haven't seen this movie yet and your a fan of horror movies add this one to your collection!!