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Title: Zombie
Region: Zero (NTSC)
Genre: Horror
Stars: Ian
McCulloch, Tisa Farrow, Richard Johnson, Al Cliver, Auretta Gay, and Olga
Karlatos.
Writer: Elisa
Briganti
Director: Lucio
Fulci
Feature length: 92
minutes
Extras: Trailers,
TV Spots, Radio Spots, Poster and Still Galleries, Lucio Fulci Bio
Languages: English
and Italian Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Surround Sound, and
Monaural Sound
Subtitles: English
Language Subtitles
Packaging: Keep
Case
Chapter Stops: 24
Sound: Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Surround Sound, and Monaural Sound
Year of Theatrical
Release: 1979/DVD Release: 2004
Home Video
Distributor: Blue Underground
MPAA Rating: Not
Rated
Reviewer: Mark A.
Rivera
I have a morbid
fascination for the apocalyptic nature of zombie horror. I still stick to my
feeling that no one has ever made a flesh eating ghoul flick like George A.
Romero and no one should since as flattering as imitation can be, I think
viewers appreciate a more sincere take on a genre where the filmmaker
demonstrates a certain amount of passion for whatever they are doing rather than
just copying what they have seen someone else do better. Zombie films are still
the current flavor of the day when it comes to horror films with “Resident
Evil” and the abysmal “House Of The Dead” doing good box office and these
are based on video games. We also have Universal’s 2004 remake of “Dawn Of
The Dead” as well as the living dead inspired “28 Days Later” both earning
critical and commercial success. Now Romero has finally gotten the green light
to produce his fourth entry in his “dead” series with the working title of
“Land Of The Dead” while Columbia TriStar is releasing “Resident Evil:
Apocalypse” to theaters later this year. Also take into consideration the
number of independent features as well as fan films being released and I’d say
that zombie horror films have just about crossed over into mainstream cinema for
better or for worse.
Lucio Fulci’s
“Zombie” is an unofficial sequel to “Dawn Of The Dead.” Actually it
could be considered more of an unofficial prequel and it is among the Italian
Maestro of Gore’s most popular films in the U.S. On some tropical island a
Doctor’s research into the occult has unleashed a plague of zombies that are
not only spreading across the island, they are spreading across the globe with
such memorable scenes as the zombie versus the shark sequence and the Brooklyn
Bridge march, that is actually morbidly funny rather than disturbing because of
a radio announcer’s scream. The acting is cheesy and the gore is over the top
at times, but while Fulci may have had a small budget with less actors to put in
zombie makeup, the look of these ghouls is positively frightening and the
prosthetic makeup still holds up well today.
Blue Underground
presents “Zombie” uncut and uncensored with a brand new anamorphic (2.35:1)
widescreen transfer as well as an impressive choice of digitally remastered
English and Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Surround Sound, and
Monaural Sound as well as English Subtitles encoded as options. Forget any
previous DVD and especially any VHS release of “Zombie” you may have seen in
the past. Blue Underground’s “Zombie” is by far the best home video
presentation I’ve ever seen of this film and I would wager that it probably
looks better than most of the original American screen-prints as they appeared
back in 1979. For reasons I am unclear about, Media Blasters has released their
own special edition DVD release of “Zombie” with extra value features not
included on the Blue Underground counterpart. Despite requests, Media Blasters
has not supplied me with screening copy of their DVD release in time for this
review so I can compare the two, but as far as I’m concerned, the Blue
Underground version is just about all I need to satisfy my hunger for Fulci’s
rotting worm ridden flesh eating ghouls and so just for the impressive picture
and sound quality alone, I give Blue Underground’s “Zombie” my highest
marks because it shows the kind of tender love and care I wish more studios
would put into their catalogue titles they release on DVD.
Extra features
include onscreen biographical notes and credits on Lucio Fulci, the American
(1:33) and International (3:45) trailers as well as two 32-scend TV spots, and
four 30-second radio spots. In addition there are extensive still galleries of
poster and home video cover art, lobby cards, color and black and white
production photos, behind-the-scenes shots, the German press book, and
soundtrack cover art. The menus are very well rendered complete with the worm
ridden signature ghoul animated on the main menu and clips from the film that
serve as transitions to the subsequent interactive menus and all are easy to
navigate. This is a must for any zombie horror fan’s DVD collection.
“Zombie” is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on and offline from Blue
Underground.
© Copyright 2004
By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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