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:

They will rise to suck the blood of the living!

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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 Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min 89 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ramón Bravo: Underwater Zombie.

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Goofs

When Dr. Menard is driving and discussing the zombie plague with the visitors, the "clean" part of the jeep's windshield (i.e. the path of the windshield wipers) appears to be cut out of the glass (probably to provide a better view of the actors and prevent the camera being reflected on the glass).

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Quotes

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

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Connections

Referenced in Videoclub (2013)

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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

Nasty Videos or Nasty Governments?

This was my first ever video nasty, originally viewed in the mid 80's, and for that reason it shall always have a special place in my heart. The first thing that struck me was that the budget must have been relatively high. Fulci was never a great one for narrative coherence (this is probably his most conventional film) and typically for the Italian films of the time this must have been pitched as a sequence of set-pieces (the shark battle, the fiery finale, and of course, the infamous eyeball scene). Unfortunately for the most part these are fairly flatly directed and fall short of their potential for tension. The earlier expository scenes are especially protracted, and throughout Fulci has a tendency to leave shots hanging well past their sell-by date. That said, the film is not completely artless, and whereas it lacks suspense, it does have a degree of atmosphere about it. After the political correctness of the 80's and the 'post-Modernist' knowingness of the 90's, Zombie Flesheaters, with its excessive gore and its leering nudity, its risible dubbed dialog and its a complete lack of humour, with its simplistic plotting and comic-book characterisation, is probably most interesting if viewed from the perspective that firstly, that there was ever a market for this sort of thing and secondly, that people thought that films like this needed suppressing. Yes it's true, they don't make them like this anymore!