Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979) AKA Zombie 2
Cast:  Ian McCulloch, Tisa Farrow, Richard Johnson, Al Kliver
Director:  Lucio Fulci
Nutshell: Fulci's luscious zombie flick turned on the splattery style like never before. Sumptuously gruesome.
Reviewed by Omar Khan

 

Lucio Fulci attempted to cash in on the zombie craze ignited by George Romero's Night of the Living Dead and his excellent follow-up, Dawn of the Dead, with Zombie Flesh Eaters. The film became a spectacular success and established Fulci as a major player in the horror genre for years to come.

For those in England, the film gained notoriety and fame within the horror community, making headlines alongside other films such as Driller Killer, Cannibal Apocalypse, Cannibal Ferox, Faces of Death and Cannibal Holocaust, and finding itself on the Video Nasties list amid the hysteria stirred up by the Mary Whitehouse lobby. Tabloid headlines raged that these depraved films were corrupting the youth and needed to be banned, destroyed and burned at the stake. British lawmakers avidly pursued numerous producers, charging them with crimes of corruption and depravity. The effect of all this hoopla and press coverage was to make the films even more sought after, especially the complete, uncensored versions. These were the early days of VHS, and the government was fighting a losing battle from the very onset.

Any teenager in that era with access to a VCR and a knowledge of where to find Video Nasties was avidly seeking out each of the listed films to see what all the fuss was about. Friends at school boasted to each other about watching the most notorious of them all, and Italian splatter films, including Fulci's, were among the most sought after. These were the days when the censors were grappling with how to apply their morality and censorship to a wave of films already on the streets, known as Pre-Cert titles. These films were often available in completely uncensored form and had bypassed the censors, who were desperately trying to regulate and control them.

Zombie Flesh Eaters positioned itself as a sequel to Dawn of the Dead, which it absolutely wasn't. Yet it managed to make its mark and has gradually risen through the ranks to become a genre classic that might be light on script, story and acting, but more than makes up for it with its gorgeous widescreen landscapes and the handling by Fulci and his cameraman of a handful of superb set pieces.

The opening scenes of the boat drifting unmanned towards New York City are eerily ominous. Later, the zombie sequences are handled with superb craftsmanship. The scenes of the zombies emerging, very, very slowly but inexorably, are beautifully done. The zombie makeup is exceptional, and the gore is taken to a delightfully grotesque level. Towards the climax, the scenes of zombies emerging from the earth are stunning and among the finest visuals of any zombie film, almost on par with the astonishing sequence from Hammer's The Plague of the Zombies.

The film does not have the most gripping or fascinating narrative, but it contains enough superbly stylish sequences to delight even the most demanding horror movie fans. Watching it again after all these years—and it has been over 40 years since I last saw the film—some of these sequences remain extraordinary.

After this effort, Lucio Fulci earned himself a devoted following and, once in a while, provided memorable horror sequences throughout a chequered but often successful career.