Zombie also known as "I Eat Your Skin" is a low-budget, black and white, not-so-spectacular zombie-trudge from the mid-60's and though this movie bad in more ways than not, it's also quite entertaining at the same time, in fact much more so then it has a right to, so it's not all bad.
Things get started at the hotel in Miami that you see in the beginning of Goldfinger, where our handsome square-jawed hero (a romance novelist by trade) is entertaining bikini babes by the pool when suddenly an irate husband, quite humorously, interrupts their party. Exit hotel. Then after a short cab ride and a long flight we crash-land on the exotic shores of Voodoo Island! The cast of characters include the hero/romance novelist, some old guy (a literary agent or publisher or whatever) his blonde bimbo wife, a pair of toy dogs and the pilot. From this point on the movie is a trade-off between tropical settings, cheap sets and some of the lamest and tamest zombies ever put to screen and you know what - it's really all just fun and games.
What of the plot? The plot is very cleverly interwoven and tells an intricate tale, in fact it's so clever the whole film has a very pronounced Scooby-Doo'ish quality to it, from beginning to end they both boast a very similar feel and overall sensibility, plus it has that characteristic level of complexity that we're all so familiar with. "Oh! So heeeeee was the bad guy all along!". But it's not all bad, I like Scooby, maybe that's why this is so fun and likable. Also it must be said that there is some great calypso music to be heard here and the action scenes (if that's what you want to call them) are punctuated by a very effective combination of fuzz-tone guitar and primitive percussion, easily the best aspect of Zombie and I wish I had it on CD.
After watching it twice I can say that Zombie does modestly exceed my expectations in some respects, there's the aforementioned quality of it's music, plus it's cinematography is better than one would expect from something as obscure and forgotten as this. Also the films greyscale looks spot-on and is beautifully preserved in almost every shot which again is impressive considering the fact that this is just a crappy low-budget black and white movie from the 60's. And another thing, the sets, although they are indeed cheap looking they aren't anywhere near as bad as what you'd see, in say for instance an Ed Wood movie. No, this isn't quite on an Ed Wood level of badness, it's one step above and for that I'm grateful. I could say more, but I won't. Watch it. Have fun.
Conclusion: If there's on thing that everyone can agree upon it's the fact that Zombie is one laughably goofy movie. So bad movies CAN be good, in a way.....
Lastly, I couldn't recommend more highly that you see the Rifftrax version of Zombie - as it's funnier yet.
Things get started at the hotel in Miami that you see in the beginning of Goldfinger, where our handsome square-jawed hero (a romance novelist by trade) is entertaining bikini babes by the pool when suddenly an irate husband, quite humorously, interrupts their party. Exit hotel. Then after a short cab ride and a long flight we crash-land on the exotic shores of Voodoo Island! The cast of characters include the hero/romance novelist, some old guy (a literary agent or publisher or whatever) his blonde bimbo wife, a pair of toy dogs and the pilot. From this point on the movie is a trade-off between tropical settings, cheap sets and some of the lamest and tamest zombies ever put to screen and you know what - it's really all just fun and games.
What of the plot? The plot is very cleverly interwoven and tells an intricate tale, in fact it's so clever the whole film has a very pronounced Scooby-Doo'ish quality to it, from beginning to end they both boast a very similar feel and overall sensibility, plus it has that characteristic level of complexity that we're all so familiar with. "Oh! So heeeeee was the bad guy all along!". But it's not all bad, I like Scooby, maybe that's why this is so fun and likable. Also it must be said that there is some great calypso music to be heard here and the action scenes (if that's what you want to call them) are punctuated by a very effective combination of fuzz-tone guitar and primitive percussion, easily the best aspect of Zombie and I wish I had it on CD.
After watching it twice I can say that Zombie does modestly exceed my expectations in some respects, there's the aforementioned quality of it's music, plus it's cinematography is better than one would expect from something as obscure and forgotten as this. Also the films greyscale looks spot-on and is beautifully preserved in almost every shot which again is impressive considering the fact that this is just a crappy low-budget black and white movie from the 60's. And another thing, the sets, although they are indeed cheap looking they aren't anywhere near as bad as what you'd see, in say for instance an Ed Wood movie. No, this isn't quite on an Ed Wood level of badness, it's one step above and for that I'm grateful. I could say more, but I won't. Watch it. Have fun.
Conclusion: If there's on thing that everyone can agree upon it's the fact that Zombie is one laughably goofy movie. So bad movies CAN be good, in a way.....
Lastly, I couldn't recommend more highly that you see the Rifftrax version of Zombie - as it's funnier yet.