Zombie (Lucio Fulci)

REVIEW
While Italian horror cinema has gained a significant cult following in the post-Tarantino years, it's still safe to say that few specific titles are likely to be recognized by casual genre admirers or newbies. Alongside such other Italian horror classics as Mario Bava's Black Sunday and Dario Argento's Suspiria, director Lucio Fulci's blood spattered gut crunching opus Zombie is one of those few films readily acknowledged by even the most cursory horror genre enthusiasts. A quick ripoff of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, which was a huge success upon its Italian release under the title Zombi (causing the Fulci knock off to be released under the audacious moniker Zombi 2), Fulci's Zombie became a horror favorite in America principally as a result of its comparatively wide theatrical and home video releases, highlighted by an ad campaign featuring a maggot ridden rotting corpse. Seen today, Zombie is not necessarily the best Italian zombie movie, and in fact it's not even the best Lucio Fulci film (an honor that would likely be bestowed upon either The Beyond or Don't Torture a Duckling), but it remains great fun, and the bloodbath quotient seems even more hyperbolic now. Admirably, Fulci and his writers took little direct inspiration from the Romero film, for Zombie unfolds initially in Manhattan, where a reporter (Ian McCulloch) investigating an abandoned yacht eventually travels to a Caribbean island dominated by a doctor (Richard Johnson). . .and a whole fleet of the walking dead. Much mayhem ensues, and while the bulk of Zombie's running time actually moves at a somewhat more leisurely pace than the film's notorious reputation might lead one to expect, Fulci's film is still consistently compelling and thoroughly nasty viewing, with several gore setpieces that must rank with the horror genre's best: the legendary splinter eye impaling, the opening yacht attack, and of course the ever popular zombie vs. shark underwater wrestling sequence. The climactic moments also provide undeniable evidence of Fulci's visual flair, with a bridge set zombie march that remains oddly haunting and hysterical at the same time.

In what must be an industry first, Zombie is being legitimately released on DVD almost simultaneously by two official companies, with Blue Underground issuing an economically priced, largely bare bones release, and Shriek Show offering a deluxe two-disc special edition. The choice, dear viewer, is yours.