Zombie 1979

One of the big movie-watching experiences of my youth was Lucio Fulci's Zombie, rented from Hollywood Video on a super grainy VHS tape. It was so maddeningly boring and bizarre that it cast a hypnotic effect on me. It was more like a dream than a movie with its thin plot and heavy atmosphere. Over the years I grew to appreciate it much more and it led me to much more entertaining and well-made Fulci flicks, but Zombie maintains a legendary status with me and many genre fans.

This recent viewing was pretty kind. Its now apparent just how original the mixture of genres are in Zombie. It was intended to be a straight cash-in on Dawn of the Dead with a mix of adventure and gore and not much else. But hiring the seasoned and down on his luck director Lucio Fulci would prove fruitful as he brought a wide array of styles to cardboard story. Fulci had worked on Spaghetti westerns, sword and sandal adventures and Giallo suspense films. The stylized, sexualized violence and POV shots from Giallos effectively transformed the zombies into something way more menacing than in Romero's classic. There's also the influence from the then-booming Cannibal genre, as these zombies come from a tropical setting, mystical origins and inspire a deeper fear of flesh-eating. An alternate title "Zombie Flesh Eaters" exploits this.

The film is far from a masterpiece though. Its extremely dry on character, dialogue, action and logic. Its most famous scene - a shark vs zombie scene - was awful then and is worse now. Why does this even happen? Because it leads to the shark ramming their boat and stranding them on an island. Maybe this is possible, but its played in a ludicrous manner... even for a movie about the living dead. Then there's the issue of conquistadors who haven't decayed much in 300+ years of lying in dirt. The nearly non-existent plot about a missing father on an island and its languid pace will surely turn off the average viewer, but there's plenty to admire here.

We get some of the spookiest and meanest looking zombies EVER and gruesome, over the top gore special effects throughout this little movie. Plus it sports some very atmospheric settings and set pieces that set up these hungry zombies. Fulci's direction is inventive, creepy and injects a lot of life in the precedings. It all culminates in a wonderfully visual climax (a shootout in a flaming church with zombies) and a powerful apocalyptic final image. Romero's zombie films always ended on a dark note but with the zombies successfully beaten. Fulci is a much more nihilistic and sadistic director when it comes to his characters, a fact that plays out in his next few films.

The jewel of the movie is the scene where Olga Karlatos has her eye ripped out by a long and sharp piece of wood. Its staged identically to a slow and brutal rape scene, something picked up from Fulci's Giallos. The Italians are famous for the operatic use of violence in their lore. Fulci is certainly one of the masters of this Italian art. And lets please admire the gorgeous Olga Karlatos for her frenzied performance and her fabulous eyes that were cast perfectly to be mutilated.

In summary, Zombie is one of the all-time notable zombie films. Considering it was very imperfect in 1979, its aged very well. The practical effects, cool production and creative direction will amaze in another 40 years. I recommend this for an evening with friends who love cheesy horror films but have the strong stomach for some truly effective moments.