An abandoned boat drifts into New York harbour, causing a hazard to shipping. Two patrolmen go on board to investigate. One is attacked by a grotesque, decaying figure, who rips out his throat. The other shoots the figure six times, causing it to plunge into the water.
Ann Bowles (Tisa Farrow), whose father owned the boat, is contacted but proves to have more questions of her own than answers: She hasn't heard from her father in months, ever since he went to conduct some vaguely specified medical research with Dr Menard (Richard Johnson) in the Antilles, on a remote island called Matool.
Report Peter West (Ian McCulloch) is assigned by his editor to investigate the case and soon makes contact with Ann. He suggests they pool resources and arranges a flight to the Antilles.
There they meet two American holidaymakers, Brian Hull and Susan Barrett (Al Cliver/Pier Luigi Conti and Auretta Gay/Auretta Giannone), who agree to take them to the island on their boat.
Along the way Susan goes diving, where she is attacked by a shark and saved by the intervention of another monstrous, rotting human shape who attacks the shark, providing a distraction for her to escape…
The group make their way to the nearest island, where they hope to be able to repair the boat, was damaged in the shark attack. They soon discover it is in fact Matool and that the dead are returning to life…
Though not director Lucio Fulci's best film, Zombie AKA Zombi 2 will always be his best known. Obviously inspired by the Italian box office success of George A Romero's Dawn of the Dead , but hearkening back more to the old-style voodoo island zombie films of the 1940s to lessen the extent to which it can be considered merely an inferior knock-off, it's a competently put together film that more than delivers the goods as far as it's raison d'etre of gory thrills is concerned, never more spectacularly than in the justly (in)famous wooden splinter through the eye gag that takes care of Mrs Menard (Olga Karlatos).
And, while various colonial subtexts have been read into the film and its merits and demerits vis-a-vis Romero's endlessly debated among horror aficionados, really that is all the prospective viewer needs to know…
Given that there have been a multitude of DVD releases of Zombie over the years, the first question is whether the world really needs another one.
The second, given that this comes from Shriek Show, an outfit with an unenviable reputation for botched releases, is whether it will be any good.
Thankfully both questions can be answered in the affirmative.
The first thing that strikes you is how far Shriek Show have cleaned up the visuals, with the contrast between this new transfer and the one on the old Anchor Bay release being like night and day. Literally.
Where the Anchor Bay disc's visuals are dirty, murky and dark, those here almost feel too clean and bright. Certainly I don't recall either of the prints I've seen on the big screen – one the horribly cut UK Zombie Flesh Eaters release, the other the unexpurgated US version – looking this way. Maybe it's "objectively" true to an original 1979 Italian print, but something just doesn't feel subjectively right to me. Still, it's unequivocally an improvement on the Anchor Bay disc's transfer and I suspect that in time I'll get used to it.
Certainly, even on an initial viewing you notice 'new' lighting effects consistent with what Fulci and his team were doing elsewhere in their films. The play of colours and shadows as Ann sneaks around her father's boat seems strongly reminiscent of the stained glass ceiling room in The House by the Cemetery, for instance.
Turning to the audio, the Shriek Show disc, with a choice of Dolby Digital mono, stereo and 5.1 mixes in both English and Italian. Something for everyone, then.
Continuing on our 'again for the first time' theme, it's also well worth watching the film in Italian. Doing so, you find that the somewhat ridiculous "they're here… aaarrrrggh!" broadcast that plays over the scenes of zombies on the Brooklyn Bridge is replaced by a more measured announcement of mounting, yet not insurmountable, crisis. It makes better sense, since you can now rationalise away the speeding cars below them, and heightens the sense in which Fulci's film functions as unofficial prologue to Romero's.
Things take a momentary dip when we consider the first extra on disc one, the audio commentary with Ian McCulloch. Disappointingly it's not a new one, instead being a straight port from the Anchor Bay disc. Worse, it wasn't even a particularly good commentary the first time round, McCulloch never having even seen the finished film prior to the recording session.
Happily, however, everything else is really good and makes the set well worth owning.
First among equals has to be the Building a Better Zombie documentary on the second disc. Running longer than the film itself, it features interviews with almost everyone involved in the production, from producer Fabrizio de Angelis and his first-choice director Enzo Castellari – who passed on the project to Fulci – down to lowly production assistants. Leaving almost no stones unturned or questions unanswered, the only criticism one can find is that McCulloch, Farrow, Karlatos and Gay are conspicuous in the absence. You sense, however, that this wasn't for lack of trying on the part of makers Kit Baron and Mike Baronas, who have really gone the extra mile and raised the bar here for other supplemental material creators.
Also on this disc are a shorter interview with costume designer Walter Patriarca; a weird little "Evening with Dakar" section in which he plays a song on his guitar and sings; and a selection of trailers for nine other Shriek Show zombie films.
Turning back to the first disc there is also "Food for the Worms" in which Captain Haggerty – the boat zombie to you and me – talks about his experiences of the production; an extensive, animated gallery of posters, production and on-set photographs, and the obligatory trailer.
There's also an Easter egg: Move to the right of the "Food for the Worms" menu entry and you get a horned skull which, when selected, causes alternate opening and closing credits sequences to play.
The whole is rounded off by well-designed menus; an attractive slipcase package with quality artwork, and a reproduction of the Italian poster, signed by Fulci himself.
In sum, definitely one of the top half-dozen or so discs in my collection, up there with the likes of the Anchor Bay's Suspiria three-disc set and Barrel's Last House on Dead End Street .
Copyright © K H Brown 2002-2005
Rating:
5.0 / 5
(1 vote)
|
3642 views
|
Previous
|
Next
|
Best prices on Zombie: 25th Anniversary Special Edition
|
Print
|
Email page