We celebrate one of the greatest zombie films ever made, Zombi 2, released on August 25, 1979 (and on July 18, 1980, in the U.S.). But first, let’s go back to 1978.
George A. Romero had just released Dawn of the Dead, Dario Argento created an Italian edit for it, and Goblin scored it. Italy was already in the “let’s capitalize on popular American movies” game (Jaws/Great White and The Exorcist/The Return of the Exorcist). At the time, Italian copyright laws stated that any film made could be marketed as a sequel. With the success of Dawn of the Dead (Zombi, in Italy), Italian producers greenlit funding to create a “sequel.”
After swinging and missing on director Enzo Castellari, who was pumping out Italian post-apocalyptic films left and right, they landed on Lucio Fulci, the man gaining some steam behind his nickname, the Godfather of Gore. The film had already been written by screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti prior to Dawn of the Dead’s release, so intro and outro shots were filmed in New York to tie the films together.
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Fulci goes to work, bringing a broader story to life. We get a more “Caribbean legend” explanation of the zombies, showing them in haunting voodoo-controlled states, rather than being up to silly antics at the mall. The zombie effects are better and scarier. We’ve got decomposing flesh, worms coming out of eye sockets, teeth falling out, undead rising from gravesites, and full-on burn suits.
Though the score doesn’t rock as hard as Goblin’s, Fabio Frizzi does a great job creating a creepy ambience and would go on to work with Fulci on films like The Beyond (1981) and The House by the Cemetery (1981).
Still to this day, the film features one of the most horrific scenes in horror, showing a woman letting out mind-shattering screams while getting her head pulled into a splintered door, eyeball first. It’s one of my favorite scenes in any horror movie. It’s almost impossible not to look away. It shows it all!
The film also pulls off a zombie vs. shark fight. Years before CG could make this any worse, a shark trainer put on zombie makeup and costume, drugged a tiger shark (one of the most dangerous species), and had an all-out underwater brawl with it. Can you put anything more awesome in your movie?
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This is not to say I don’t love George A. Romero and everything he did for the zombie genre in horror. In fact, Day of the Dead is my favorite zombie movie, so he gets the leg up there. I just wanted to take the time to point out how amazing and important Zombi 2 is. It undoubtedly paved the way for other directors to step up their game. Give it a rewatch and enjoy!
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This was probably one of the first zombie movie which featured rotting corpses chowing down on people.
The first scene where a stowaway zombie burst through a door below deck was the scariest scene for me.How did he end up in an unmanned ship in the first place?
The shark vs zombie didn’t go down well with me,more of a comic relief than suspense.