Cult Film Week: Zombi 2 a.k.a. Zombie

Yup wouldn’t be a week without some stumbling undead gorging themselves on the living.  So get your canned goods and water, prep a sharp blade and hope for the best.  This is Zombi 2 a.k.a. Zombie

Tor Johnson??!!!

Spoilers are everywhere!  Nowhere is safe!

Writer Elisa Briganti (Destruction Force, House by the Cemetery, 1990: The Bronx Warriors, Manhattan Baby and New Gladiators) and Lucio Fulci (Don’t Torture a Duckling, City of the Living Dead, The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery) join forces to deliver us a different look on an old story.  A schooner slouches into New York Harbor and Harbor Patrol head in to investigate.  A quick drop down in the hold to finding trash and leftover food about…oh yeah a zombie proceeds to munch on a member of the alleged Coast Guard, his partner empties his entire six rounds in him and it drops into the drink.

A troubled marriage

The boat owner’s daughter Anna (Tisa Farrow of Homer, Fingers, Zombie, Manhattan and Antropophagus) and reporter Peter West (Ian McCulloch of Survivors, Zombie, Zombie Holocaust and Contamination) collaborate with the paper’s blessing to hit St. Petersburg heading to  the island he was last known for.  Convincing American fishermen Brian Hull (Al Cliver of Rulers of the City, Zombie, The Beyond and Endgame) and Susan Barrett (Auretta Gay of Zombie, Brillantina Rock, Il ladrone and Ombre) two Fulci regulars  that a boat ride out to Matul Island is just the trip to make.   Brian explains the local superstitions have been the islanders fear Matul Island but hey these folk are dumb and white so it should be safe. 

The Caribbean is untold dangers that lurk around every twist and turn.  Enter Dr. Menard (insert Midwestern state hardware store joke here) (Richard Johnson of The Haunting, Zombie, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) as he experiments on the island trying to stop an existing plague and apparently the wife is not thrilled.  Paola Menard (Olga Karlatos of Zombie, Velvet Hands, Lady of the Camelias, Peter and Paul and Scruples) wishes to leave the island and does not want to risk any issues with her husband’s zombies as she calls them.   It looks like the doc is running low on mosquito nets too.   

Zombie:1, Shark: 0

This movie was filmed in techniscope giving a deeper focus on close up objects or people and as a whole brings the audience closer in.  Between the steady shots from the boat into NYC’s harbor to the rigs set up on the vacationers’ boat you’d think these cameras were on a gyro-mount.    Granted sound is mono unfortunately so it does mean tweaking your surround sound a bit but most people can handle that I suppose and that repetitious drum music via movie was driving me crackers.    Of course if you still have an old analog TV at the ready you would be fine.     Personally I feel this script as well as the engineered underwater shots was exquisite and the creep factor is drawn out well.    You get the sensation of more dread that you would the gross out.   A zombie attacks a shark for crying out loud.  Oh and yes boys there’s nudity.   Thank God I know.  With dark premise, an amazing cinematography and an impressive story line this film covers a lot of the zombie genre well.