Zombi 2 - 1979
When the earth spits out the dead, they will rise to suck the blood of the living!
Director
Lucio Fulci
Writer(s)
Elisa Briganti
Dardano Sacchetti uncredited
Producer(s)
Fabrizio De Angelis producer
Ugo Tucci producer
Gianfranco Couyoumdjian associate producer (uncredited)
Cast
Tisa Farrow - Anne Bowles
Ian McCulloch - Peter West
Richard Johnson - Dr. David Menard
Al Cliver - Brian Hull
Auretta Gay - Susan Barrett
Stefania D'Amario - Missey, the Nurse
Olga Karlatos - Paola Menard
Ugo Bologna - Ann's Father
Dakkar - Lucas )
Alberto Dell'Acqua - Zombie
Arnaldo Dell'Acqua - Zombie
Ottaviano Dell'Acqua - Worm-eyed Zombie
Roberto Dell'Acqua - Zombie
Franco Fantasia - Matthias
Lucio Fulci - Newspaper Editor-in-Chief
Leo Gavero - Fritz
Captain Haggerty - Fat Zombie aboard boat
Review by Sven Soetemans
A real treat for the gorehounds among us...,
Let's face it...if you enjoy watching films like the Zombie Flesh Eaters ( or even consider watching them ) you belong to a selected group of fans: the gorehounds. And I salute you for that ! Self-acclaimed cinema buffs often turn their back to the splatter and gore genre because they consider it to be inferior and uninteresting. Well, we all know they couldn't be more wrong since these movies contain loads of creativity, inspiration and enthusiasm. And Zombi Flesh Eaters is directed by the master himself. The late Lucio Fulci was a genius of in his own specific breed. This film was his response to the famous trilogy by George A. Romero and this single movie was responsible for a huge amount of sequels, spin-off's, tributes and rip-off's.
Fulci often gets accused of not being much of a talented cinematographer...Many 'critics' also like to say that his skills are limited to showing explicit gore and nasty violence. Well, that's only a half truth and Zombi 2 is the excellent proof of this. The movie contains several beautifully shot sequences like the underwater-part. This exact sequence same also states that Fulci is a very creative and innovating director. How many times have you seen a battle between a zombie and a tiger-shark?? The majority of Zombi 2 takes place on a small island in the Antilles ( where a voodoo curse is bringing the dead back to life ) and that results in beautiful shots of the locations and culture. Granted, Fulci's movies don't contain that much of tension or suspense...but I don't think his fans really care for that. And besides, the small amount of tension gets increased by the brilliant use of atmospheric music. You got to give that to Fulci, when it comes to selecting a musical score to go with his movies, he's a genius. There's only one bad aspect about this entire movie in my opinion...seeing that approximately 75% of the action (and gore) is shown in the last half hour of the film, the first hour contains a few boring and slow paced sequences. In other Fulci movies like The Beyond or City of the Living Dead, the excitement is more spread...In general: I recommend The Zombi Flesh Eaters ( and all other Fulci-films to as many people as possible!! Just make sure your heart and stomach can handle it. It's a great film and a highly interesting sub-genre of horror in general.
Favorite "rewind"-scene: If you're familiar with Fulci's style, you're also aware of the fact that he has some sort of fetish for "eyeball-horror". All his movies contain at least one scene where an eyeball gets crushed, stabbed or mutilated...and Zombi 2 isn't an exception to this theory. Also, The Zombie Flesh Eaters has one of the most terrific open endings I've ever seen !! Check it out...
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