Zombie 3 (1988)

This sequel checks a lot of boxes for me. Not necessarily good boxes but what can I say, I love crappy movies! This movie was directed by the late great Lucio Fulci, but he was sick when shooting Zombie 3, so the producers brought in Bruno Mattei to finish it and do some second unit direction. Sure, that might seem disastrous but I’m sure things will be okay. As an added bonus the movie was shot in the Philippines, and you all know how much I love movies from that most magical of cinematic locations. Seriously check out my reviews… I love them.

Things kick off with some scientists doing science things with a virus/chemical they refer to as the Death One compound. It reanimates a dead body, but after jerking around for a few minutes the damn thing sort of deflates and just lies there. We see the head scientist call the military and tap out saying it is too dangerous to continue. Then we see a helicopter come to take away the Death One compound but some dudes in a van show up and try to steal it. This leads to a chase where the one remaining thief gets chased by a helicopter, shot, infected, and then checks into a nearby hotel. The military catches up with him and kills the carrier as well as anyone else who came in contact with him. They aren’t playing around you see! 

Of course, that isn’t the whole story. They burn the infected thief’s body and that in turn passes the virus to some birds, who then peck at and infect a bunch of humans. Into this mess we meet a girl in a Corvette, some kids in a motor home, and some soldiers on leave. They are all in the new infection zone and must not only avoid the military who are back to the “kill everything” solution but a bunch of zombies as well. Who lives? Who dies? Why does the super hip radio D.J. still stay on the job after going zombie? Hey man this is an Italian flick… do you really expect answers?

Let me begin by saying that this movie doesn’t make a lick of sense. Characters show up, pair off, and then get killed by zombies or the military. It gets confusing trying to figure out who is still alive and who has died along the way. None of the characters stand out much from each other, which is why I started to refer to them as Corvette Girl, Army Dudes, Nerd Guy, and that sort of thing. The names don’t matter as they are clearly there to die in gory and sticky ways. Truthfully in the spirit of Italian zombie flicks I appreciate that. This is more about the effects and being goofy then it is narrative or character. Look no further than the random blind radio D.J. that sort of acts as our narrator for the movie as evidence of this. 

From a practical standpoint this also makes a lot of sense when you read into the background of the production of Zombie 3. Fulci’s final cut was less than an hour, which of course wasn’t enough for a feature. Even though Mattei was already doing second unit shooting adding sequences with some of the cast paring off to go get eaten he was asked to do a couple extra weeks after Fulci wrapped. Since he didn’t access to the cast, most of whom had already left, he shot new things for the movie. Like the story line with the scientists (some of which was already established by his second unit work) being more fleshed out as well as the ending. I find it amusing that the characters who lived at the end were determined by who from the Zombie 3 cast were still in the Philippines working on another movie! I’m surprised that the plot turned out as somewhat cohesive as it did under these circumstances. 

Being a zombie movie, we obviously need to talk about the gore. First up the zombie design is a bit disappointing. This is basic paint them grey and slap a couple of appliances on them design. We don’t get any “hero” zombies in the movie at all. There are eleven kills, which is decent. Some highlights are pool zombies eating the legs off a girl, throat ripping/chewing, a shovel to a zombie neck, a couple characters getting gunned down, a few bites, and of course gut munching. Got to have some gut munching in your zombie flick. My favorite though is a face getting ripped off because… well why not? In addition to these kills we also get a neat gag with a hand getting lopped off, and some pulsating wounds that are sticky and pop like some sort of horrific undead acne. Oh, and remember when I said no hero zombies? I’m sort of wrong because we do get an unexplained and inexplicable flying zombie head. Why? How? Who cares it was funny. 

I get that these movies can be an acquired taste and aren’t for everyone. If you can ignore the lack of story and character development and just kick back turning your brain off for ninety minutes, I think Zombie 3 can be a lot of fun. Just manage your expectations. 

© Copyright 2022 John Shatzer

Zombie (1979)

A body rises covered in a canvas bag. A scruffy faced man brings a revolver up and shoots it in the head. Then says the line, “The boat can leave now. Tell the crew.” Which itself is followed by the iconic horror movie score that is instantly recognizable by genre fans. That is how one of the classic zombie movies ever made starts off. Yeah it is time for some Fulci in the marathon!

After the credits the action moves to New York City where an abandoned sailboat is a menace to the busy port. A police boat is sent out to investigate and runs smack into a zombie. This gets the attention of a reporter, Peter West, who heads down to the dock to investigate. There he runs into Ann, the daughter of the owner. She is worried because he is missing. Finding a letter that ties back into the man shooting the body in the beginning the pair head off to a tropical island to investigate. Though not before we get a scene where the police officer killed by the zombie on the boat twitches on the coroner’s examination table. This will be important later.

Peter and Ann end up catching a ride on the boat of another couple of Americans, Brian and Susan. The four head towards the “cursed” island, as Brian calls it. Along the way they meet up with a shark and an aquatic zombie that have a throw down with one another. During the fracas the shark damages the boat, specifically bending the drive shaft. They are barely able to get the crippled boat to the island. When they arrive, they find out that the man from earlier in the movie is a doctor and friend of Ann’s father. Her Dad had caught the virus going around and died, only to rise as a zombie! It was he who was shot in the opening moments of the movie. More zombies start to shuffle around, and our heroes are forced to battle the undead. Some of them make it and some don’t. The movie ends with them hearing a news report that New York City is under siege and we see zombies walking across a bridge towards the city. Remember the zombie on the coroner’s table?

She is about to have a bad day...

Has anyone not already seen this movie? Zombie is a classic of the subgenre and while it was made to cash in on the success of Dawn of the Dead it doesn’t feel like anyone is ripping Romero off. Before I continue, I should clear up one thing that confuses casual fans. Dawn of the Dead is known as Zombie in Europe, so this movie is called Zombie 2 over there. But since there isn’t a Zombie 1 in the states that means it is just called Zombie. Clearly, they really were trying to cash in, at least in the European market. That also means you will find this movie under both the titles Zombie and Zombie 2 depending on what region it is coming from. Now that the title confusion is out of the way let’s get back to the fun stuff.

The movie plays by its own rules with the idea that voodoo might be involved in the dead rising. Sure, if you get bit you turn, but we also have long dead bodies crawling out of the ground so something else is at play as well. Romero’s movies never had that supernatural component to the zombies so Fulci manages to do his own thing. Though don’t worry because he knows that gore was

...a really bad day

one of the big selling points for Romero’s flick and dumps buckets of blood on the screen. We get necks shredded, skin peeled off, fingers snapping, leg eating, guts being munched, faces getting ripped off, heads exploding, and eyeball popping. That last death with the eye meeting a splinter of wood is iconic and has made more than one person sick. The way that Fulci lets it play out slowly and inevitably allowing the audience to anticipate what they are about to see is genius. Plus, the effect work itself is pulled off perfectly.

The zombies are of the “clay” faced variety with most of them looking similar to each other. Though there are a few highlights when our characters stumble into an old graveyard in time to meet up with some long dead conquistadors. If you have ever seen the cover of the DVD or movie poster this is where that zombie comes from. The look of the zombie and the sequence of it clawing out of the ground is perfect.

Okay I realize that I’m preaching to the choir with this one, so I won’t linger. The music is excellent and immediately recognizable by any horror fan, as I’ve already mentioned. The cast does a good job but are hamstrung a bit with the dubbing. Pacing is perfect as Fulci spreads the gore out evenly and never lets the movie slow down. Zombie is entertaining from the opening scene to the last. If you have somehow never seen this one, then shame on you! Go out and purchase a copy immediately.

© Copyright 2018 John Shatzer