Customer Reviews

Zombie 4 - After Death

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

There is a distinct difference between American and Italian/European ZOmbie films. In America the zombies do eat people, but tend to look more human and the cannibalism is cut to a minimum. However ITalian/Eurpean Zombie films go all out in the gore factor. THus this comes in as the dubbed American Release of the movie After Death, released as Zombie 4. The story revolves around a woman who witnessed the grisly murder of parents on an island that is cursed with the living dead at a young age. She is traveling there with mercenaries and friends and end up in one of the doors of hell as she must battle the living dead. Problem is that there are hundreads of them and they just love human flesh.

Just like any other Italian Zombie film the focus is not so much on story, but on the gore and trust me there is an abundance of that. It overall is very gorey and overall for the average viewer very disgusting. However for Gore hounds this is another title to place in your library, for die hard gore hounds only.

Well this is definitely the least entertaining zombie film I've ever seen, falling well behind such questionable entries as 'Nightmare City' and 'Hell of the Living Dead'. Despite the fact that they aren't really related, 'Zombie 4' is relatively reminiscent of 'Zombi 3', with the jungle isle setting and the emphasis on gunning down the zombies. I actually kind like 'Zombi 3' but the action scenes in this movie are just so damn boring, to go with the weak, played out effects and lame zombies with silly false teeth that stick like 4 inches out of their faces. And when it's trying to be tense it's just incredibly tedious. You're thinking, just eat em, for God's sake, and we can go home.

I don't even recommend this to hardcore zombie fans, for a single viewing. It's real boring. Or maybe the formula is just wearing thin for me. Not that I've tired of zombie films. Perish the thought. Just that I've watched them enough that the mere fact that it's a zombie film isn't going to get it a drop of credit anymore. No matter what the cause, I didn't like it.

Grade: F

If you take Zombie 4 for what it is, you will find entertainment in it. It is, of course, a poor Italain gore epic. It portrays poor acting, poor gore effects, poor directing, etc. Muct like Zombi 3, it entertains for all the wrong reasons it was intended for....it makes you laugh. It takes place...oh my goodness....on a tropical island! How original! The dead rise and attack some scientists on the island and then some visitors. The zombies aren't your typical zombies; these ones run, jump, THINK, and use weapons. Again if you take this film for what it is, you will find some entertainment in it. One complaint is that the actual title in the film says just "After Death" and the box art says "Zombie 4: After Death". I hate when company's release movies like this. Please put the title of the actual movie on the box! No more white lies!

By this time the Italian horror film industry was on a major decline and Zombie 4: After Death was one of the very worst from the late 80s. Obviously we are watching this movie to see a so bad it's good movie. Well you sort of get that, but for the most part you simply get a bad film, while there are some moments that are so bad they are fun they are few and far between. Zombie 4: After Death is billed as a sequel to Fulci's Zombie AKA Zombie 2 and Zombie 3. But I think the Zombie 4 title was just thrown on for a marketing ploy.

When you have Claudio Fragasso as the director you should know what to expect. He is what would be labeled as a hack. Granted he never had much of a budget, but in the horror genre does that really matter? There are filmmakers out there who aren't good storytellers, but can put together a well made movie. Sometimes it's the luxury of a budget. But in the horror genre, some of the very best were made on low budgets. And they were very well made. You could give Fragasso 100-million dollars and his movies would still look poor.

The script by Rossella Drudi is lousy, but has she ever written a good screenplay? The script is just really poor and not in a good way where it's fun. The characters are total idiots and often do the most idiotic things. Sometimes that is part of the fun, but not here. It's kind of funny, Claudio Fragasso is best known for working with the late Bruno Mettei. Who in his own right was also a bad filmmaker, it was a match made in bad movie heaven. And Rossella Drudi is actually the wife of Claudio Fragasso. Kind of fitting they would marry each other isn't it?

Director Claudio Fragasso (under the name Clyde Anderson) fails at pretty much every turn. It's obvious he had no passion for this project and it very much shows. There are moments when Fragasso attempts some suspense and scares, but they don't work very well. Bottom line is Fragasso isn't a good filmmaker. He lacks any storytelling skills and his movies are also poorly made. But he does have his fans; he's one of those guys that can craft a so bad its good movie. Though for me, his movies are just often just bad.

The zombies look and move terrible. They range from fast moving to really slow, some talk and some don't. Seems like Fragasso couldn't make up his mind on what he wanted to do. Actually the zombies aren't very zombie like. They at times come out more demonic, think Evil Dead and others seem more like humans infected with some kind of disease now think George A. Romero's The Crazies.

I understand the budget was low, but horror fans should realize that a budget in the horror genre doesn't mean much. Again most of the all time greats were done on very low budgets. The production values are really poor. Zombie 4: After Death is simply a hack job.

One of the main reasons to watch this is for the gore, but the gore is actually tame and when there is gore it's not very well done. The make up F/X were done by Franco Di Girolamo and I was rather un-impressed. He has done some solid work in the past, but he has also done some very poor work as well and here outside of maybe 2 or 3 gore scenes they look really poor. Franco Di Girolamo seems to be very hit or miss and here he was pretty much always missing. The gore was really weak.

While, After Death does have some fun moments in how bad the movie is for the most part it's just bad and quite boring. The fun moments are few and far between. I'm a big fan of zombie movies and even some of the very worst I can sometimes enjoy. But I found very little to enjoy with After Death. This isn't the worst zombie movie I've ever seen, but it rates as one of them.

I understand the appeal After Death has, but for me it was mostly just a badly made movie with very little good going for it. There were just times when nothing was happening and even the terrible dialogue can't make up for it. After Death is gonna be hit or miss. You'll either think it's so bad it's good. Or you'll just think it's so bad it's just terrible. Overall Zombie 4: After Death just didn't do anything for me. While it does have it's fun moments just not enough.

If you must buy this movie I suggest the Zombie Pack. You get 3-movies for the price of one.

This movie is bad.

Here we go. Bad acting, jumbled-up storyline, and unneccessary fog. Yes, yes, and yes. We are watching an Italian zombie movie for sure.

And then we get gore. Really cool gore. An eye gouging and a face being ripped off. This movie has a reall great opening.

And then we get washed down the toilet. The story is bland, the gore trails off after the opening. The zombies are alright for a while. They shamble for the most part, but sometimes they run. What they like to do the most, though, is spring into action like thuggs from Power Rangers. They hop in like jackrabbits whenever human flesh gets close enough. It's funny the first several times, then it gets tiresome.

The deaths by zombie are good, but nothing exciting. Not as gory as they should be. Supposedly, the producers cut most of the splatter. That's disappointing.

In the last 15-20 minutes, the movie drags. The zombies start to talk and you just don't know why. They were silent all this time and now they're talking. And shooting guns with incredible aim. They toy with people instead of just eating them. What? No.

Just when I was about done with the movie, it picked up again. In the last five minutes. A zombie bursts its hand through a man's torso and just keeps fisting it. It was great.

Then the movies over with a really blah ending. But yeah, somewhere in the midst of all this there's entertainment to be extracted.


This movie comes in a 3-pack with Zombi 3 and Zombie 5. You should definitely go with that if you have any desire at all to purchase this movie. It's not worth getting by itself.

This is one of the worst zombie films ever made. The acting is amateurish, the special effects are weak, the same camera shots are recycled again and again, etc. The plot centers around a research station's staff who are massacred by the living dead (who, by the way, look like ninjas) conjured up by an upset medicine man. The one survivor is a little girl who grows up and (surprise, surprise) ends up back on the island with a motley group of friends who end up fighting the living dead still roaming the place. After arrival on the island, one of the most laughable parts of the film happens. The island is supposedly out in the remote Pacific but yet the main characters arrive on a small motorboat. Furthermore, the viewer is asked to believe that the three men who are supposedly mercenaries (two I could believe but one looked like the lead singer for a synthpop band) have girlfriends who look like they stepped out of a 1980's mall. In another laughable scene, the people need help for their boat but, when one of the men sees someone (it turns out to be on the living dead) in the vegetation, he doesn't yell, "Stop, PLEASE! We need help!" No, he decides to pursue the zombie who inexplicably runs away and then BEATS the zombie with his fists. That's not a good way to get help.

If you want a good zombie film, get Dawn of the Dead.

Wow....what can I say for Zombie 4. Seriously, this movie was hilarious! First of all, it starts out with a family of a mom, dad, and like a 3 year old girl. They are runnin around on this tropical island (just like all other zombie movies) and the mom and dad die. So this girl ends up escaping somehow. Trust me, I have spent many a day thinking and pondering her escape, and for the life of me, I don't think that a 3 year old would know how to escape the wrath of flesh eating zombies and sail to the coast of a safe island by herself....but whatever. Anyway, some years later, this girl comes back to the island, unknowing that it is the same island that claimed the life of her parents. She arrives with some young girl friends, and some really old Vietnam Vets (or some type of really old creepy guys). Yeah, don't feel bad, I didn't get it either. I mean, what young girl wants to hang around some drunken old men on their tropical vacation? But anyway...zombies chase 'em around, and around, trying to eat their heads, you know, the usual. But the real question is...do they escape???? Find out in Zombie 4....
Recomendations: Go see Zombie 3, it's even more hilarious.
Things I learned from Zombie 4: Seriously, if you are a young girl, don't go vacationing with some old men. They just end up ruining your vacation. Whether they hit on you or they get their heads eaten, young girls + old men = no fun at all.

I liked this Italian zombie entry. It's a typical plot - a group goes to an island where the dead are rising and get caught in one space trying to fend them off. This is an enjoyable ripoff of Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, where they get stuck in a house for awhile and keep fending off the dead. I like really good zombie movies like Dawn of the Dead, Zombie, The Beyond and Night of the Living Dead as well as the bad ones like Zombi 3. If you're a zombie aficienado you should enjoy Zombie 4. Gay porn star Jeff Stryker stars. A voodoo priest's girl gets killed and he curses those responsible to have the dead rise from their graves. This is low budget with some decent gore effects. All the zombie cliche's are here.

Plain and simple... this movie sucks!!!! The Zombies are really lame looking, and they are not consistant with thier actions (one moment they will be jumping around, the other they will be walking slow, and they talk in some parts of the movie).
The acting is HORRIBLE!!!!! This movie is good for a few laughs (unless your the one that spent money on this peice of crap).

STAY AWAY from this movie!!!! I thought "Zombi 3" was bad... but this one even makes "Zombi 3" look good.

This movie sucks!!!!!

Picked up this disc yesterday after an unexpectedly enjoyable experience with the oft-maligned "Zombie 3." Truth be told, I found "Zombie 3" to be a highly enjoyable (if deeply flawed) film. The direction was inconsistent as a result of the Fulci/Mattei hand-off. A lot of the acting was passable at best and just plain painful at worst (my least favorite being the actor portraying the lead scientist, undoubtedly working under Mattei's direction). The movie did, however, have enough creativity and just plain insane kill-em-all-and-let-god-sort-em-out energy in the script and the execution (no pun intended) to keep me going straight through to the end. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said of this installment in the series. While displaying a level of creativity similar to that of the previous installment also written by Claudio Fragasso, this time the whole enterprise feels conspicuously like make-believe. The acting is uniformly awful (though that's pretty much to be expected in films like these). The make-up effects are sometimes good, often times bad and the splatter effects feel strangely muted. In the interview track included on the "Zombie 4" extras menu, Fragasso mentions the trouble he had getting the film past the Italian censors and, at one point, even claims that the producer trimmed some of the gore effects. Fragasso, jovial and self-deprecating as ever, admits that the film as it stands is pointless and a much lesser film than "Zombie 3" and he is absolutely right. If you've already seen the Romero and Fulci entries in the series, then rest assured that this film offers little to tempt you. True, I do enjoy Fragasso's coherent zombies. They actually make for quite a nice change of pace from the usual shambling, grunting, groaning hordes massing about. Still, Fragasso's moments of inspiration are too little too late. I actually have a lot of respect for ol' Claudio. His interview track on this and the "Zombie 3" disc are both informative and charming. It's also apparent from this film that he has the ability to do a lot better. Basically, "Zombie 4" comes across as being exactly what Fragasso readily admits it to be: a quickie cash-in on a successful horror franchise. While I certainly understand that even artists need to pay their bills, I really wish somebody would give this guy some money and let him make a real honest-to-god horror film. The man obviously has talent and it's a pity that it has thus far been so woefully underappreciated. Then again, considering how many young people sacrafice their blood, sweat, tears, and various other bodily fluids every year in the production of independent features I find it kind of difficult to lament Fragasso's situation too bitterly. If he really wanted to I'm sure he could put together a great horror film. As it stands, however, his interest seems to extend only so far as the next paycheck. While this might make for decent box office it by no means assures a good viewing experience and, in the end, leaves most Italian horror films of this period feeling like hollow exercises in style and splatter. "Zombie 4," unfortunately, has far too little of both.