Island of the Dead
When a small boat appearing to be unmanned floats towards New York, two cops board to see what is going on only to discover it is home to a flesh eating zombie. The boat belonged to a scientist whose daughter Ann (Tisa Farrow) along with intrigued reporter Peter West (Ian McCulloch) head to the Antilles where her father had been heading. When they arrive at Matul Island they discover that the dead have been coming back to life and no one is able to stop them. Not good news for the inhabitants of New York.
"Zombie Flesh Eaters" is the second movie I have watched which was directed by Lucio Fulci and I find myself wondering what all the fuss is about. Now in fairness the movie industry has changed a lot in the 35 years since Fulci gave the world this zombie movie which like others from Fulci's filmography was labelled a video nasty and banned in some countries but still there seems to be only one thing worth watching in "Zombie Flesh Eaters".
Now that thing is certainly not the storyline because it is utterly derivative and it is worth knowing that when this was originally released it was known by various names including "Zombi 2" in Italy which was done to draw on he success of Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" which you guessed it was called "Zombi" in Italy. And trust me it isn't the acting which makes "Zombie Flesh Eaters" worth watching either as between the weak dialogue and wooden acting it is less than captivating.
Of course the thing which makes "Zombie Flesh Eaters" worth watching is Fulci's handling of the gore, not the horror but his out and out love of graphic scenes. Now these range from an almost naked female diver battling a zombie underwater whilst hiding from a shark, sounds better on paper than the scene ends up, to the way a flap of flesh wobbles after a bullet rips through a body. There is no doubt the Fulci delivered graphic scenes and delivered big climaxes of graphic horror but in truth none of it is scary and 35 years later is more quirky in its creativity rather than gruesome. I suppose what I am saying is that compared to some modern horror movies "Zombie Flesh Eaters" is surprisingly tame.
What this all boils down to is that whilst I can appreciate that "Zombie Flesh Eaters" probably did stir up controversy due to its graphic nature back in 1979 it hasn't aged well and now its derivative nature and reliance on over the top graphic scenes actually lets it down and the sort of movie you might watch once but not bother with again.
Tags: Zombie Movies
