Zombie (1979)

Strangers searching for a young woman's missing father arrive at a tropical island where a doctor desperately searches for the cause and cure of a recent epidemic of the undead.

Director:

Lucio Fulci

Writer:

Elisa Briganti

Stars:

Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch, Richard Johnson

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Tisa Farrow	...	Anne Bowles
Ian McCulloch	...	Peter West (as Ian Mc Culloch)
Richard Johnson	...	Dr. Menard
Al Cliver	...	Brian Hull
Auretta Gay	...	Susan Barrett
Stefania D'Amario	...	Nurse Clara - Menard's Assistant
Olga Karlatos	...	Mrs. Menard

Storyline

A zombie is found aboard a boat off the New York coast which belongs to do a famous scientist. Peter West, a journalist, travels to the Antilles with Ann, the daughter of the scientist. On the way, they meet with with Brian, a ethnologist, and Susan. When they arrive at Matul Island, they find Dr. Menard, and discover a terrifying disease which is turning the islanders into horrifying zombies which devour human flesh and seem indestructible....

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Plot Keywords:

tropical island | zombie | zombie outbreak | virus | end of the world | 

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Taglines:

New York has a new problem

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Genres:

Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for horror violence/gore and nudity

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

English Spanish Italian

Release Date:

18 July 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

Zombie

Filming Locations:

Studio Mafera, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

ITL 410,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Variety Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min 89 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was written before Dawn of the Dead (1978) was released in Italy, as an action/adventure thriller with no link to George A. Romero's films. The opening and closing scenes (which take place in New York) were added to the script later when the producers wanted to cash-in on the success of Dawn.

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Goofs

During the shark vs. zombie fight, the zombie gets his arm bitten off. However, we see him with the arm after he loses it, and without the arm before it is bitten off.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[repeated line]
Dr. Menard: The boat can leave now. Tell the crew.

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Alternate Versions

In August 1999, the uncut version was submitted to the British Board of Film Classification for a video certificate, in the hope that it would fare better than previous BBFC-approved versions. This was a partial success, since the film escaped with an 18 rating after only 23 seconds of cuts, compared to the 1m 46s which was censored in the earlier video and cinema prints. Only 2 scenes were censored: the woman who gets her eye impaled on a splinter, and a later sequence in which zombies feast on her body.

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Connections

Referenced in Ban the Sadist Videos! Part 2 (2006)

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Soundtracks

There's No Matter
(uncredited)
Composed by Fabio Frizzi, Franco Bixio, Vince Tempera, Vittorio Pezzolla
Performed by Linda Lee

User Reviews

Fulci's horror film about the dead coming back to life on a small Caribbean island

This low-budget terror motion picture deals with a group who run into a pack natives coming back to life by means of voodoo epidemic that reanimates them and terrorizing an unnamed Caribbean island .This clever horror movie deals about an ever-dwindling group of adventurers formed by a journalist ( Ian McCulloch ), the scientist's daughter ( Tisa Farrow ) and two tourists looking for the father one of them . They are afflicted by stalking, vicious flesh-eating stiffs relieved by voodoo and a doctor ( Richard Johnson ) in practicing experimentation on the dead to obtain an antidote . Meanwhile the quarter is investigating the strange events the doctor's wife (Olga Karlatos ) is attacked by the Zombies.

Gory, gruesome , pretty repellent , and ghastly cannibal feast in which the stumbling flesh-eating stiffs are reanimated by voodoo and can be only destroyed by fire in the brain . Unrelenting shock-feast laced with brief touches of black humor . Army of Zombies appearance roaming the countryside , village and some people besieged inside a cottage deliver the goods , enough to be interesting . Lucio Fulci's main great success is compelling directed with startling visual content and nice production by Fabrizio De Angelis ; furthermore special mention to excellent make-up by the magnificent craftsman Gianetto De Rossi. This frightening movie is plenty of thrills, chills, body-count executed by the eerie Zombies and photographed in pallid color with lurid images and phenomenal results . This is a classic excruciatingly Zombie film where the intrigue,tension, suspense appears threatening and lurking in the sunny outdoors and every room, and corridors from a boat , hospital , a shack , jungle and many other places . At the time considered the plus ultra of thoroughly disturbing movie is less stomach-churning by nowadays's standards, yet its fundamental power to thrill remains undiminished. Agreeable performance by Tisa Farrow, Mia's sister , Richard Johnson , Al Cliver and Olga Karlatos . Watch for the great highlights as when a sliver of door punctures the eyeball -a Fulci's mark who repeats ad nauseum - of one unfortunate and a zombie fighting a large shark , plus the living dead walking over the bridge towards New York City . This genuinely frightening story with correct utilization of images-shock is well photographed by Sergio Salvati on location of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic , Isla Mujeres , Mexico and Elios studios, Lazio, Rome . Creepie and eerie musical score by Frizzi , in Goblin style. Lucio Fulci who also made other good terror films as ¨ From beyond , House by the cemetery and New York ripper ¨ creates a rare Zombie thriller that manages to be both scary and skilfully made, deserving its cult status . Rating: Good, this is one more imaginative horror pictures in which the camera stalks in sinister style . It's just one long unrelenting cannibal feast and average budget horror movie that still packs a punch for those who like to be terrorized out their wits.