Change Your Image
Ozma560
Reviews
Zombi 2 (1979)
A masterpiece, one of the few true zombie masterworks
What can I say about Zombi 2 that hasn't already been said?
The cinematography, the gore, the script, the pacing... all superb. Although it's easy to point out the inconsistencies and plot holes, it's a Fulci film. And the fact remains that not everyone gets his films as the true pieces of art that they are.
Fulci films don't have superb character development and strong plots. Neither do Argento films. And they're not supposed to. Even if they did, it would only distract from the true visual concepts of the films themselves.
But back to Zombi 2. As anyone with eyes can tell you, the make-up is great. DeRossi rivals Savini in the FX department, I believe. DeRossi has done many, many zombie films. Some great, some not, but the FX always looks great. It's believable, and that's the main thing. If you're like me, you'll smile when zombies take juicy bites out of necks and arms. The gore still holds it's own today, after all these years. The disgusting factor is still there, and it's one of the things that makes this movie so classic.
There are so many great scenes in this movie. From the very beginning empty boat to the actiony end, Fulci kicks my ass. This is an example of what true horror is. And when they find the doctor's wife eaten, and the camera floats and reveals zombies behind the characters, I just wanted to cry because it was so freakin' brilliant. You've also got to love the blood on the camera when characters smack zombies in the face with blunt objects. The zombies are also all very well-acted.
Maybe I'm just a fanboy. But for anybody even remotely interested in zombie movies, you need to go buy this. Now. The widescreen Anchor Bay VHS is out, so run and get it. You'll love it.
The Video Dead (1987)
The most bizarre zombie movie I've ever seen...
***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** The Video Dead stands on it's own as the most entertaining of the low budget zombie films.
Synopsis: Two delivery men go to a quiet suburban neighborhood and deliver an old television to a writer who lives alone. Baffled by the television that he didn't ask for, it soon starts playing a movie by itself.. Zombie Blood Nightmare. Eventually, the zombies come out of the television into the real world, and 3 months later the deliverymen return to find the poor writer dead. After a while, the house is bought by an older couple living out of country, and their children move in. The boy, Jeff, puts the possessed tv into his bedroom, and is seduced by a woman who magically appears in the real world. She is eventually sucked back into the tv and murdered by "the garbageman," a mysterious guy who shows up only one time in the film to warn Jeff about the television. Later, a man shows up to "put a stop to the madness" and hunt down all the zombies. They go off into the woods to hunt these zombies down, and in the end, the girl is the only one left alive. In the hospital, recovering, her parents bring her a tv to keep her company....
This film was just flat out bizarre. In no other film will you see a guy get seduced by a woman who gets her throat cut by a mysterious man, then cuts off a zombie hand that reaches out of a television, then puts it in the food disposal to get rid of it. The acting is horrible, but how good would the actors be for 80's, low budget zombie flicks? Not very. The direction is alright (but I don't see how there were 2 assistant directors) and the cinematography was alright. It looks like it was shot on MY shitty 8mm camera, though.
The zombies here shocked me.. not because of how they looked (pretty good, actually) but because of their behavior. What kind of pussy zombies strangle their victims and don't eat them anyway? And when one of the zombies gets an iron planted in their skull and they don't go down, I couldn't believe it. This film puts a new spin on zombie myth, and totally disregards the trilogy in every way. These dead just want to kill because they can never have life, and the only way to kill them is to convince them that they're dead. The major weapon against these zombies are mirrors, because the zombies seemingly don't want to see themselves, and what they've become. I'm not even sure they ate anyone.. although some dialogue hinted at that. (They do eat themselves, in the end).
If you're a zombie fanboy like me and have this film at your local video shack, give it a whirl. It's just an entertaining, low budget film (but don't expect a gorefest).