Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A entertaining sequel for all the wrong reasons, October 22, 2003
I loved Greoge Romero's Dawn of the Dead (aka Zombi) and Lucio Fulci's Zombie (aka Zombi 2), so I figured why not check out Zombi 3. I already knew the movie would be bad, so I bought it expecting just that. Of course its not a worthy sequel to the first two entries in the series, but its still enjoyable, for exactly the opposite of what made Zombi 1 & 2 so good. The acting, story, makeup, editing are all bad, but it just adds to the fun. This film has zombie birds, flying zombie heads, a zombie baby, and more off-the-wall outragousness. I found my self actually laughing aloud at some moments. Shriek Show Entertainment (a division of Media-Blasters) is only second to Anchor Bay Entertaiment to bringing these rare Italian gore gems to American DVD. They do a stupendous job restoring this movie to its full uncut format. For this, I applaud them. It's just awsome that these guys would go to so much work for such a bad movie. Finally, for those of you that loved Dawn Of The Dead and Zombie, just know what your buying here. This is NOT like those two films; it is almost a mockery of them. If you only like serious well-made horror flicks, avoid this film. If you like seeing rare gems like this to be entertained by the the outragousness and stupidity of them, pick this up today! As for me, I am going to pick up ZOMBIE 4: AFTER DEATH today!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Bottom of the barrel zombiefest, July 9, 2005
No figure in the horror film genre is as divisive as Lucio Fulci. After watching one or two of his films, viewers tend to move into one of two camps. One side hails Fulci as a master of terror, a man who upped the gore quotient in his films while creating wonderfully atmospheric pictures. For these people, Fulci is right up there with the likes of Dario Argento as one of the best filmmakers ever to emerge from Italy. The other camp sneers at these claims, pointing to the plodding pace of his films, the use of extreme gore to camouflage plot holes, and the director's inability to draw good performances out of his cast as evidence of mediocrity. Initially, I enjoyed Fulci's films, specifically "Zombie," "The Beyond," and "The New York Ripper" because I did not know any better. When I came on the scene, you went to Fulci to feed your craving for gore. What a difference a few years exploring the genre makes! While I will not go so far as to remove Uncle Lucio from my play list altogether, I have seen enough of his films to realize he is not a cinematic genius. He is at best a good director, at worst an abysmal one, and there are plenty of examples of bad filmmaking in this director's filmography.
"Zombi 3" takes place in the Philippines, of all places, and involves some sort of toxic spill at a secret laboratory which, not surprisingly, results in all sorts of zombies running about the place. How does the toxin, which goes by the name of Death One, enter the public domain? Well, a bunch of terrorists steal the plague, but one of them is infected in the process. The army kills this guy and burns his body in a crematorium. The ashes released into the atmosphere apparently carry the virus--or plague, toxin, bioweapon, whatever you want to call it--to the native population via a flock of birds. Oh, before that happens the infected terrorist checks into the Manila Holiday Inn and experiences a catastrophic meltdown in the bathroom, thus infecting a few of the hotel staff whose only crime consisted of showing up with fresh towels. By the time the military types start to burn the corpse of the infected terrorist, a scientist guilty of some of the worst acting in the world pops in to warn about destroying the body. Doing so, he claims, could turn the toxin into an airborne contagion. Or something like that; I don't quite remember because by this point in the film my groans had assumed such ear shattering intensity that it was difficult in the extreme to follow the narrative. As if there is a narrative!
Anyway, a bunch of soldiers quickly form a cordon around the town and blast anyone they run into in the hope that they can somehow contain the Death One virus. A few soldiers--Kenny (Deran Sarafian), Roger (Richard Raymond), and Bo (Massimo Vanni)--hook up with a carload of kids--Patricia (Beatrice Ring) and Carole (Marina Loi) among them--in an effort to survive the increasingly hungry waves of zombies. At least I think that's what happened. Sorry, but following the ins and outs of "Zombi 3" is a lot like trying to find signs of intelligence in Paris Hilton's latest television program. I can say that lots of gory munching takes place, a zombie head soars across a room at one point, and the undead in this movie can swim, run, walk really fast, and play the harmonica like you've never heard. Mattei/Fulci also throw in a bunch of low rent shoot 'em up scenes between the soldiers and everyone else that are noticeable only because of their abject cheapness. Don't expect any "Godfather" level squib work here--the bullet wounds in "Zombi 3" are barely above the old "ketchup in palm of hand slapped over chest" trick. One thing I really liked about the movie, though, is the disco jockey issuing reports about the unfolding madness. What a surprise what happened to him, eh? Oh brother!
The morass that is "Zombi 3" should not rest entirely on Fulci's shoulders, however. At some point in the production, the famed filmmaker dropped out of the project and turned the camera over to Bruno Mattei. This director, if you're not familiar with his work, ranks as one of the greatest schlock masters to ever grace the world of Italian filmmaking. According to interviews in the supplements section of the disc, Mattei claims that Fulci filmed most of the movie but refused to lens additional scenes deemed necessary to pad the feature out to a decent runtime. Magical Mattei thus stepped in to help out. God help us. The result is a movie so atrociously bad that it's actually a great addition to the sleazy zombie genre. Really. If you love zombie films like I love zombie films, "Zombi 3" is a must see if for no other reason than to understand how not to make a movie. It takes an enormous amount of work to craft a film this horrific, so hats off to Bruno Mattei for unleashing yet another mangled piece o' pulp on the world.
Considering the "Zombi 3" DVD comes to us from the friendly folks over at Media Blasters (through their Shriek Show label), expect more than a few extras. We get a trailer for the film. We also get a still gallery. And we get interviews with Mattei, scriptwriter Claudio Fragrasso, Marina Loi, Massimo Vanni, and Richard Raymond. On top of all that, Media Blasters throws in trailers for "Buio Omega," "House of Clocks," and "Spasmo." Fun stuff, even if the movie doesn't really deserve this much attention. Watch "Zombi 3" for the occasionally effective gore, and to see if you can figure out which scenes came from Fulci and which ones came from Mattei. Good luck!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
TALKING ZOMBIES????????, August 18, 2003
By A Customer
I've seen this movie at the store for quite a while but was afraid to buy it. The only reason why I bought was becasue it's a Lucio Fulci film. To be honest I was expecting a lot more. The one thing I hated was the fact that the zombies instead of eating people right away, they fight their victims!! (Kung Fu Zombies) by the way some of them talk too, actaully there is a DJ zombie! and there is hardly any gore. If you want good zombie action, stick to the basics: "Night, Dawn, Day of the Dead" and "Zombie"
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