Zombie Flesheaters, Lucio Fulci, Film Review: Cinephilia

Synopsis: A deserted boat drifts under the Brooklyn Bridge. Boarded by the authorities they discover smashed-up navigation equipment, maggot-ridden food and a flesh-eating zombie who takes a chunk out of a policeman’s neck. Where is the crew? The boat owner’s daughter, Anne Bowles (Tisa Farrow), travels to the Antilles with reporter Peter West (Ian McCulloch) to find her missing father. They catch a boat to a voodoo-cursed island to discover the hideous truth.

Lucio Fulci’s unofficial sequel to George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead is vilified amongst the horror fraternity for two incredible scenes. The first, a bizarre underwater scene where a zombie attacks a shark and the second when a moving eyeball is pierced by a large 14” splinter in vivid close-up.

Fulci has never held back whether giving us the zombie gore of The Beyond and City of the Living Dead, the hard-boiled cop thrills of Contraband or the sexual depravity of the New York Ripper. Often hard to stomach, his reliance on overt violence means his many critics see him as a hack. If you look past the gruesome moments you witness an often-inspired visual artist whose talents are often over-looked because he has chosen to work in the horror genre.

The cast includes Brit Ian McCulloch from Zombie Holocaust, Mia Farrow’s sister Tisa, Al Cliver from Jess Franco’s notorious video nasty The Devil Hunter and the sultry European siren, Auretta Gay. All fight for screen time with the maggot-ridden undead. Fulci goes a few steps further than Romero, who merely sprayed his zombie extras grey. Fulci’s shuffling cadavers are decaying, disease-ridden, rancid and deeply unsettling. In fact all the make-up effects are highly persuasive. In this department, Maurizio Trani provides the aforementioned eyeball, zombies chomping into arms and necks, a nasty dining room scene and plenty of zombies getting shot in the head. Their ingenuity has to be admired, even if the subject matter isn’t particularly pleasing to the eye. A special mention must be made for the excellent score provided by Fabio Frizzi and Georgio Tucci and also the hysterical radio announcer who is eaten on air.

Originally banned in Australia it has now been released uncut in these more liberal times. In fact the film has had censorship troubles all over the world. In the heyday of videans his many critics see him as a hack. If you look past the gruesome moments you witness an often-inspired visual artist whose talents are often over-looked because he has chosen to work in the horror genre.

The cast includes Brit Ian McCulloch from Zombie Holocaust, Mia Farrow’s sister Tisa, Al Cliver from Jess Franco’s notorious video nasty The Devil Hunter and the sultry European siren, Auretta Gay. All fight for screen time with the maggot-ridden undead. Fulci goes a few steps further than Romero, who merely sprayed his zombie extras grey. Fulci’s shuffling cadavers are decaying, disease-ridden, rancid and deeply unsettling. In fact all the make-up effects are highly persuasive. In this department, Maurizio Trani provides the aforementioned eyeball, zombies chomping into arms and necks, a nasty dining room scene and plenty of zombies getting shot in the head. Their ingenuity has to be admired, even if the subject matter isn’t particularly pleasing to the eye. A special mention must be made for the excellent score provided by Fabio Frizzi and Georgio Tucci and also the hysterical radio announcer who is eaten on air.

Originally banned in Australia it has now been released uncut in these more liberal times. In fact the film has had censorship troubles all over the world. In the heyday of video in the UK it was released in uncut and censored versions, which in turn were both banned during the video nasty scare.

Good as it is, the film, however, could never dream of matching the scale and importance of Romero’s classic. The Italians fill their zombie films with gore galore but lack the political substance that makes Dawn of the Dead still so eminently watchable. Saying that, who watches Italian zombie films for political correctness, it’s the over the top gore that we want and Zombie Flesheaters delivers in spades.

o in the UK it was released in uncut and censored versions, which in turn were both banned during the video nasty scare.

Good as it is, the film, however, could never dream of matching the scale and importance of Romero’s classic. The Italians fill their zombie films with gore galore but lack the political substance that makes Dawn of the Dead still so eminently watchable. Saying that, who watches Italian zombie films for political correctness, it’s the over the top gore that we want and Zombie Flesheaters delivers in spades.

DVD available from: Reel DVD