In reviewing this movie, I choose to
use the name from the original list, “Zombie.” This movie
was originally released as a cash-in sequel to Dawn of the Dead,
called “Zombi” in Italy, under the title “Zombi 2.”
Since there was no “Zombi 1,” in US or UK markets it was
rebranded as “Zombie” in the US and “Zombie Flesh
Eaters” in the UK. Although the sequels were still released as
“Zombie 3” and “Zombie 4,” which I'm sure back
in the days before the internet left many a film buff searching
desperately for “Zombie 2.” The movie was also shot in
both English and Italian, simply because they had both American and
Italian actors who didn't speak each others' languages, and then
released the film with Italian and English dub tracts. So no matter
what language you choose to watch the movie in, there will be lips
out of sync.
The plot deals with two stories. For
the first, a boat floats into New York harbor, devoid of passengers.
The daughter of the boat's owner (Tisa Farrow), along with a reporter
(Ian McCulloch), must journey to a mysterious island to investigate
what happened to them. In the other plotline on the island, a doctor
(Richard Johnson) is fighting a zombie plague... or investigating it
for science... The storylines come together about halfway through
the movie, with the daughter's arrival on the island.
It's fairly interesting that this movie
puts emphasis on the uncertainty as to the origin of zombies,
presenting the characters as debating them as supernatural or the
product of a disease. This definitely sets it apart from more modern
fare which goes immediately to the viral theory. (For anyone who’s
read the original Walking Dead comics, the idea of zombies not
being viral is considered a major plot twist). This arguably makes
the movie work well as a sequel to Night of the Living Dead
(as an extension of its status as a sequel to Dawn), where the
uncertainty was presented, but not dwelt upon (Primarily because
Romero was dealing with characters who neither knew nor cared where
the zombies came from).
The movie is also distinguished from
more modern horror films by its emphasis on individual zombies, each
of which is presented as a real threat to the protagonists. While
they're still slow, it is shown that they are at least as strong as
humans, and can do real bodily harm without biting. One infamous
scene has a zombie pull a woman's eye into a long splinter of wood
while trying to drag her towards him. Whether this makes them more
frightening than modern zombie hordes (which do, eventually, make an
appearance) is really up to you. Although personally, I found it a
bit contrived that the writers had to continuously find ways to put
humans in close quarters with one or a small number of zombies.
If the movie excels in one category
though, it’s in awe. This is most likely a result of it being
produced before the wave of zombie films had fully hit. But the
characters in this movie never appear as if what they're seeing was
anything short of mind-blowing and horrifying. The material isn't
used for humorous effect, none of the elements of the horror are
glossed over, nor are any characters dispatched without any real
weight behind their deaths. Even towards the end, when zombies are
being gunned down, you understand how hard it is for the protagonists
to open fire on the reanimated corpses of innocent people. It's that
weight, especially towards the end, that does succeed in making Zombi
an effective film.
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