31 Days Of Horror. Day #7: Zombie

You have to love that tagline “We Are Going To Eat You.” Doesn’t really leave any room for interpretation does it?

Out of the three Godfathers of Italian horror Fulci is my least favorite. While Bava and Argento are true artists twisting the grotesque into some truly singular work, Fulci has always been more like a smart ass five year old who asks if you like “See Food”. Now don’t get me wrong, he’s really really good at it and I really dig some of his films. The Beyond is groovy and The Psychic is fun, but for my money his best is City Of The Living Dead whose alternative title could have been “HOLY SHIT CRAZY STUFF IS HAPPENING!” It’s not that Fulci’s not funny, it’s that all he has is balls, and sometimes you need a bit more.

To be fair they are some huge balls, Zombie’s real title is Zombie 2. The reason? Dawn Of The Dead was a huge hit in Italy, only over there, it was known as Zombie, as a result Fulci titled his film Zombie 2, in order to trick people into thinking it was a sequel. Like I said, fairly huge balls. On a related note I’m proud to announce that I plan to begin shooting Batman 3 within the week, it’ll be awesome.

Zombie starts off well with an abandoned boat pulling into New York harbor, the coast guard investigates and is promptly eaten by a ravenous ambassador of the undead. An intrepid reporter and the daughter of the guy who owned the zombie boat, track it to a small forgotten island in the Caribbean where apparently (it’s a bit fuzzy here) a pissed off Voodoo priest is resurrecting hordes of the undead. But yeah who cares about what’s going on when Fulci keeps throwing Crazy Shit on the screen. Look it’s a Zombie fighting a Shark! And Over there Conquistador Zombies! Hey death by giant splinter in the eye! And if all else fails, Exploding Heads, Exploding Heads, Exploding Heads.

Zombie actually passed out barf bags in the theaters on it’s American run, and while it’s giddy ultra violence is tame in comparison to today’s “REAL PEOPLE IN REAL PAIN” style of horror, it’s still good grue soaked fun. Zombie might not be anything particularly special, but it’s got a good thing going and it sticks with it. Plus as previously mentioned there a zombie conquistadors and a Zombie Vs. Shark Battle Royale. You’ve got to respect that.