Zombie (1979)
By: CJ on August 6, 2004.
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| Blue Underground (USA). All Regions, NTSC. 2.35:1 (16:9 enhanced). English DD 2.0 Mono, English DD 2.0 Stereo English DD 5.1, Italian DD 2.0 Mono, Italian DD 2.0, Italian DD 5.1. English Subtitles. 92 minutes |
| The Movie |
| Cover Art |
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| Credits |
Director: Lucio Fulci
Starring:Tisa Farrow,
Ian McCulloch, Richard Johnson, Al Cliver and
Auretta Gay
Screenplay: Elisa Briganti
and Dardano Sacchetti
Music: Fabio Frizzi
and Giorgio Tucci
Country:Italy
AKA: Zombie Flesh-Eaters;
Zombi 2; Island of the Flesh-Eaters; Island of
the Living Dead; Zombie 2: The Dead Are Among
Us; Gli ultimi zombi; Woodoo |
In the wake of George Romero's successful Dawn of the Dead filmmakers were
eager to cash in on this new lucrative line in
genre product. As a result, Dawn of the
Dead spawned many imitators, but few
equals. The most notable exception, though, has
to be Lucio Fulci's splatter classic, Zombie.
Although conceived primarily as a vehicle by which
to generate profit, and to capitalise on Dawn's
success, Zombie actually became so much more in
the capable hands of Fulci. What Fulci aimed for
was to not directly rip-off Romero's film,
but to create his own nightmarish vision of the
dead rising from their graves – and this
he did brilliantly.
The story is a straightforward affair: In New
York, a seemingly abandoned yacht comes sailing
down the river, adrift with no apparent passengers
aboard. The river police spot the boat, and board
it to investigate – and get more than they
bargained for. As one policemen ventures below
deck, he is set upon by a ravening zombie who
proceeds to gorily tear his throat out. Following
this incident, roving reporter Peter West (Ian
McCulloch) is eager to investigate and finds himself
crossing paths with Anne Bowles (Tisa Farrow),
who is looking for her father. She believes he
is on the Caribbean island of Matoul, and is also
convinced that this is where the abandoned yacht
has come from. The intrepid pair then secure themselves
a trip to Matoul, but have no idea of the nightmare
they are about to find themselves in. Matoul has
become overrun with zombies and they are soon
to find themselves in a fight for survival against
the cannibalistic undead…
Fulci's film goes straight for the jugular
(literally) and completely outdoes Romero's
movie in terms of sheer gore and in-your-face
cannibal munching. Fulci dispenses with the social
commentary that is present in Dawn of
the Dead, and instead delivers shock
after shock and aims to provide graphic gory mayhem
in spades. Fulci's film isn't strong
on logic (why do the Spanish Conquistador zombies
still have flesh on their bones centuries after
their demise?), but more than makes up for it
by delivering plenty of the red stuff and dismissing
all inconsistencies by attributing the zombie
manifestations to Voodoo magic. This is supernatural
– anything is possible.
Where Fulci's film scores even more points
over Romero's offering is in presenting
the zombies as truly ghoulish beings replete with
worms, maggots and rotting flesh. These zombies
are genuinely terrifying; as opposed to the rather
silly looking blue-faced zombies from Dawn
of the Dead. It's to Fulci's
credit that although Zombie was
conceived as a Dawn cash-in, he actually turned
in a film that can stand on its own merits and
one that bears little (if any) resemblance to
the work that inspired it. With the release of Zombie, Fulci forever immortalised
himself as a maker of superlative horror movies
– the name Lucio Fulci has become synonymous
with quality horror films. And even though his
later works lacked the impact of his earlier,
and more famous films, it must be acknowledged
that he changed the face of horror cinema forever,
not to mention opening the floodgates for all
the Italian horror movies that we know and love.
Interestingly, Dawn of the Dead was released in Italy under the title Zombi,
and Fulci's film was released as Zombi
2. As a result of this, Dario Argento
(producer of Zombi/Dawn of the Dead) took the
makers of Zombie to court for
copyright infringement. Argento lost because the Zombie filmmakers proved that
zombies have been around in stories and folklore
for centuries, so zombies are not something you
can copyright! Fulci's film is also notable
as having made it onto the official UK list of
'Video Nasties', and even recently
still couldn't get through the BBFC uncut
– the main scenes of contention still being
the splinter in the eye and subsequent intestinal
devouring by the zombies. For sure, Zombie contains some real gut-wrenching gore that still
upsets censors 25 years on - which is testament
to the power and effectiveness of the film.
Most genre fans will no doubt already be familiar
with this film – and those that aren't
really owe it to themselves to get hold of this
landmark splatter movie. It may not be regarded
by many as Fulci's best film (The
Beyond seems to hold that honour), but
it's the one that started it all and has
rightly earned its place in the horror hall of
fame. In some ways it's probably been even
more influential than the film that spawned it
– it's certainly referred to more
often than Romero's film by genre critics,
and was the film that inspired a whole generation
of Italian filmmakers to make gore flicks. Zombie has become a benchmark and focal point by which
all other gore flicks are measured – which
is something Fulci would be proud of, I'm
sure. |
| Video |
| The film transfer on this DVD is simply stunning
– Blue Underground have truly outdone themselves
this time. The film is presented in anamorphic 2.35:1
and the image is razor sharp, with strong vibrant
colours and solid blacks throughout. There is absolutely
no sign of digital smearing nor any compression
artefacts. The quality of the picture is breathtaking
– every last blood-drenched frame is presented
in pin-sharp detail. Twice, throughout the film,
I noticed a line in the frame, but this was only
a second or two, and nothing to complain about,
especially as this transfer was made from the original
camera negative, so it's never going to look
any better than it does here (though I may be forced
to eat my words if the Shriek Show transfer proves
to be better). This transfer is simply amazing and
will give you a whole new appreciation of this film. |
| Audio |
| No less than six different audio options are available
– English 2.0, 5.1 or mono and Italian 2.0,
5.1 and mono. All the audio tracks sound great,
and the surround soundmix is excellent, with all
the sound, music and FX nicely balanced across the
sound platform without sounding false. Top work
from Blue Underground on the audio. |
| Extra Features |
| There's not a great deal in the way of extras,
as Blue Underground will be returning to this film
as a special edition in the not-too-distant future.
However, they have provided a handful to tide us
over. To be found on the disc are some radio and
TV spots (the radio spots are hysterical), theatrical
trailer and some stills and artwork galleries. It's
nice that Blue Underground have at least made the
effort to provide what they can at this time. |
| The Verdict |
| Finally Fulci's Zombie gets the stellar treatment it deserves. Blue Underground
have really pulled out all the stops in their presentation
of this film. The transfer is one of the very best
I've seen for a movie of this age and budget
– it looks and sounds phenomenal, and it will
be interesting to see how the Shriek Show release
compares, once it becomes available. I cannot recommend
this film and this DVD highly enough, it's
never going to get any better than this (not until
Hi-Definition at any rate). If you're a horror
fan, you need to have this in your collection –
it's an essential. |
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