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Zombie Flesh Eaters (aka Zombi 2) (1980)

Reviewed by Matt
Posted on July 16, 2005 
Filed Under Italian, Nasties, Zombies

Zombie Flesh Eaters is probably the most celebrated film from a period between the late 70s and mid 80s where Italian horror movies seemed to be competing with each other to produce the most disgusting and horrific images. Directed by Lucio Fulci (who, bizarrely, had directed kids’ movie White Fang only seven years earlier) was presented as a semi-sequel to Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, hence the film’s European title of Zombi 2 (where Dawn had been released as Zombi). This makes it sound like a bit of a cash-in, and by and large Fulci’s movie has got none of social resonance of Romero’s movies; but even though Fulci is concerned with just telling his own story, it’s still a great little self-contained horror flick.

Set almost entirely on a remote island, the film’s concern with voodoo seems like a nod to the 1932 Bela Lugosi classic White Zombie, but unlike the earlier film there’s a satisfying amount of uncontrollable zombie carnage. The gore here is far better realised than in Dawn of the Dead; there are several fantastic shots of maggot-ridden corpses bursting out of their graves, and the shots of the dead feasting on the living are suitably repulsive. The film has two notorious set-piece moments: one, in which a woman gets a nasty splint of wood stuck in her eye, is pretty wince-inducing; the other, in which a zombie wrestles with a shark (!!) is astonishing. Although it’s pretty clear that the stuntman is fighting a much smaller shark that the one that appears in long shots, it’s still a real shark, and it really seems to bite his arms off while he’s biting chunks out of its belly.

The characters and dialogue are pretty paper-thin, but this isn’t so much of a problem as there’s enough action and tension to hold the attention. The actors aren’t bad, but the real joy of the movie is in its cinematography, which is great; at times it’s appropriately raw and ragged, but then there’ll be a majestic sweep round for some great revelation. In particular, the revelation of the fate of the doctor’s wife is superbly handled. Fabio Frizzi’s music, a bone of contention for some, sounds great to my ears, which some absolutely bonkers synth work and a thudding main theme that keeps and atmosphere of dread going (even if my TV speakers strained at some of the more extreme moments of the score).

One slight niggle: I got the Vipco Screamtime Collection edition (£2.99 in the HMV sale, folks), and the dialogue sometimes doesn’t quite synch with the actors’ lip movements. I really don’t know if this is due to overdubbing in the film or if the DVD’s been badly authored. However, it doesn’t detract from a highly enjoyable film, and one which I’d recommend to any horror fan who’s not looking for anything of momentous depth.

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