ZOMBIE (1979) 3- Disc Limited Edition Blu-ray
Director: Lucio Fulci
Blue Underground

Lucio Fulci's ZOMBIE is "going to eat you" again in 4K-mastered Blu-ray with Blue Underground's 3-disc limited edition.

When a boat nearly collides with the Staten Island Ferry, the harbor patrol boards and discovers it apparently abandoned but for some body parts until a seeming madman ambushes and bites to death one of the officers before being pumped full of bullets and falling overboard. When Ann (Tisa Farrow, ANTHROPHAGUS), daughter of the ship's owner, does not get satisfactory information about her father's whereabouts from the police, she teams up with British reporter Peter West (Ian McColloch, THE GHOUL) who discovers her father's diary in which he left a letter to Ann about contracting a strange disease on the island of Matoul and not expecting to ever leave it alive. In pursuit of a story, Peter secures himself and Ann passage to the Caribbean and then they are able to hitch a boat ride with couple Brian (Al Cliver, EMANUELLE IN EGYPT) and Susan (Auretta Gay) who are making a tour of the islands. Although wary of local lore about the cursed island, Brian and Susan have no choice but to join Peter and Ann when an encounter with a shark damages their boat and they have to land to make repairs. On the island, they meet Dr. Menard (Richard Johnson, THE HAUNTING) who has been investigating a phenomena that started three months before in which the recent dead seem to be returning to life and attacking the living (Ann's father among the earliest victims). The quartet is incredulous to these claims until they encounter the zombie flesh eaters feasting on the remains of Menard's wife (Olga Karlatos, MURDER ROCK) when asked to fetch her from Menard's home on the other side of the island. Forced to abandon their vehicle, the four must make it back to the island's church clinic on foot, but they make an unfortunate rest stop in a conquistador cemetery just as its residents awaken from centuries-long slumber.

Titled ZOMBI 2 in its native Italy as an "unofficial" sequel to the Italian co-funded – by Dario Argento and then-financial partner Alfredo Cuomo – George Romero epic DAWN OF THE DEAD (titled ZOMBI in Italy), ZOMBIE (or ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS in the UK) made an international splash primarily on the strength of its over-the-top gore effects by Giannetto de Rossi (HIGH TENSION), while fans of journeyman director Lucio Fulci (A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN) were unprepared for his headlong dive into horror after finding his footing with a string of giallo films earlier in the decade. In contrast to Romero's mostly blue-painted, still recognizably human flesh eaters and his film's blackly comic streak, Fulci's zombies are wheezing, desiccated husks that continue to shamble along (even as they fall apart walking through fire) and stumbling upon their victims for a fleshy bite with Karlato's eye-spiking death all the more shocking because of its seeming incidental causation as a zombie hand drags her towards its owner's teeth. The film's highlight is when the conquistador graves split open and stuntman Ottaviano dell'Acqua's worm-eyed zombie rises into frame (his image would figure into most of the film's major advertising, including the American artwork which was built around a head-on publicity still with the tagline "We're going to eat you!" Also contributing to Fulci's triumph are THE PSYCHIC carryovers cinematographer Sergio Salvati (CRAWLSPACE) whose Techniscope lensing not only makes full use of the frame in width and depth but also employs wide-angle lens close-ups of the zombie faces that give an invasive effect as they shamble towards the audience, and composer Fabio Frizzi (FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE) whose Mellotron "zombie march" choir gives an unwavering sense to the movement of the walking dead and an air of Biblical apocalypse. The approach to atmosphere and the palpable depiction of decay looks forward to Fulci's celebrated "gothic trilogy" of zombie films THE BEYOND, HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY, and CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, while the unflinching displays of gore would prove even more disturbing stripped of fantasy and gothic dressings in his return to the giallo: NEW YORK RIPPER (which was followed by a handful of more restrained genre works before a half-hearted return to gore in the late eighties and early nineties hampered as much by inspiration, budgetary limitations, and Fulci's own failing health).

Released theatrically by Jerry Gross Releasing, ZOMBIE has been readily available on home video throughout the history of the formats, from Wizard Video's big box, slipcover, and Vestron's 1983 CED to Magnum Entertainment's 1985 VHS and Image Entertainment's 1989 laserdisc, all featuring panned-and-scanned transfers with the earlier transfer featuring the Jerry Gross presentation credit, fade in, and title card while the later transfer featured the original English export title ZOMBIES 2 ("zombi" being the plural in Italian) just as the English-language version of the Italian cut had been titled ZOMBIES: DAWN OF THE DEAD (the title under which it contractually secured theatrical release in the UK and some other territories before being superseded by Romero's own cut). Sony Video Software's Japanese branch released a two disc laser edition featuring a widescreen transfer of the English version on one disc and the Italian version – with the score on one channel and the dialogue on the other – along with a strip of 35mm from the film (Sony also released Fulci's CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD in a similar two-disc edition), but The Road Group would step up to the plate for the states in 1998 with a new letterboxed transfer featuring Dolby Surround and AC3 5.1 remixes and an audio commentary by actor McColluch hosted by Jason Slater. The same master was used for Anchor Bay's clamshell VHS but would look less than sterling when ported over for their 1998 DVD, and even less so when their 2002 reissue turned out to be identical. When Anchor Bay's rights ran out, the rights were snapped up by two different companies – Shriek Show and Blue Underground – from two different rights owners (Variety Communications and JGO), leading to litigation between the owners. Although JGO prevailed for the US rights, Shriek Show's two-disc edition was allowed to go the shelves alongside Blue Underground's edition, both sporting English and Italian 5.1, 2.0 surround, and mono tracks and English subtitles, with the commentary and a number of newly-produced extras on the Shriek Show and a series of trailers, posters, and stills galleries on the Blue Underground.

Blue Underground's initial Blu-ray upgrade of the film – issued in double-disc ultimate edition and stripped-down single-disc editions – featured a solid transfer that was in keeping with the look of the earlier masters, coming across as somewhat gritty with muted colors that seemed appropriate to locations. Arrow's subsequent Region B Blu-ray edition featured a 2K-mastered scan of the original 35mm camera negative that revealed levels of color and detail unimagined in the earlier transfer; so much so that it was hard to believe that Blue Underground had access to the same materials (and might not have if there was bad blood from the earlier litigation). Blue Underground's new 4K-mastered edition seems to be a happy medium between the two transfers, with such extraordinary detail as to make it all the more regrettable that THE BEYOND has thus far not been remastered to such specifications for its deluxe editions, and color that is a tick below the Arrow with tropical greens still looking vivid but not as vibrant and deep blacks in which the peripheral figures of the living dead can still be seen emerging in the background. Technical credits after the feature suggest this was an Italian restoration with additional work done in the United States. Audio options include a 7.1 rechanneling of the 5.1 remix in DTS-HD Master Audio in English and Italian along with lossless 1.0 mono options (the previous edition's mono tracks were lossy Dolby Digital 2.0) that might be downmixes or at least new mixdowns of the dialogue, music, and effects tracks, along with a French Dolby Digital 1.0 mono dub while subtitles – in keeping with Blue Underground's recent all-region offerings – run to English SDH and English for the Italian track, as well as Chinese, Chinese (Cantonese), Chinese (Mandarin), Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, and Thai.

The new edition retains the earlier editions' introduction by filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (0:24) and carries over the Roan laserdisc audio commentary with actor McCulloch and Diabolik Magazine editor Jason J. Slater. McColloch had not seen the film in its entirety before, and had suffered through the embarrassment of the Video Nasty debacle with his father-in-law and wife's uncle sitting on panels assessing three of his films for banning (the Fulci film, Luigi Cozzi's ALIEN CONTAMINATION, and Marino Girolami's ZOMBI HOLOCAUST which through cannibal gore into the flesh-eating mix. He is a bit reserved at the start, launching into a discussion of his education and his earlier work in the Royal Shakespeare Company (alongside Johnson) as well as noting that his casting in ZOMBIE was based on the popularity of the British series SURVIVORS in Italy where he had his first harrowing experiences of being mobbed by fans. He weathers Slater's more enthusiastic reactions to the film's set-pieces while discussing his work relationships with Farrow, Cliver, and Johnson (whom he holds in high regard), as well as Fulci whose abilities he comes to appreciate as the film goes on and he gets a sense of the reactions it provokes in viewers. Also included is a newly-recorded track with "Splintered Visions: Lucio Fulci and His Films" author Troy Howarth who draws from his book, the McColloch commentary, and a host of extras from the Blue Underground edition and earlier releases in providing more of an overview of the film, its production and reception, and its place in the context of Fulci's career. He discusses some of the background performers, including CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD's James Sampson and dog trainer/boat zombie Captain Haggerty, as well as the film's English version dubbers. He does challenge McColloch's assertion that all of the film's cops were real off-duty officers since the boat victim would not only have had to be fitted with prosthetics but also flown back to Italy for the sound stage morgue scene.

Also on the first disc is the new interview "When the Earth Spits Out the Dead" (33:05) with "Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci" author Stephen Thrower who also frames the film as Fulci's first pure horror film after a more varied career of musicals, Franco and Ciccio comedies, westerns, and action before coming into his own with his gialli. ZOMBIE was not a natural progression for Fulci as auteur, as it was first to be helmed by action director Enzo Castellari (BRONX WARRIORS) and then Umberto Lenzi (PARANOIA) before Fulci was chosen on the basis of THE PSYCHIC. Thrower then discusses the film as one of the Italian film industry's practice of hopping on trends, and Dardano Sacchetti's earlier script draft "Nightmare Island" as well as the ways in which DAWN OF THE DEAD's reception reshaped the project (Sacchetti's zombies originally having more in common with the likes of WHITE ZOMBIE and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE), the property's sale from Flora Film (who subsequently hopped on the bandwagon with Fulci's ZOMBI 3 finished by Bruno Mattei and AFTER DEATH), aspects that Thrower interprets as being Fulci's innovations, as well as some more production anecdotes he picked up (including comments from one of the zombie extras for the Brooklyn Bridge sequence). Also included on the first disc are the international (3:43) and U.S. (1:30) theatrical trailers, two U.S. thirty-second TV spots, four radio spots (one of which includes the "Hippy" KPM library track and the great tagline "ZOMBIE: You Are What They Eat!"), as well as a poster and still gallery (9:51).

The second disc is a direct port of the earlier release from menus to extras content, starting with "Zombie Wasteland" (22:19) featuring stuntman Dell'acqua and actors McCulloch, Johnson, and Cliver at a 2009 "reunion" with a Q&A and individual talking heads in which McCulloch remarks on Fulci's bullying of Auretta Gay which is supported by Cliver. Johnson, on the other hand, speaks of Fulci's passion which sometimes lead to outbursts of anger, while Dell'acqua poses with likenesses of his wormface zombie. "Flesh Eaters on Film" (9:38) is an interview with co-producer Fabrizio de Angelis (MANHATTAN BABY) who reveals that he recommended Fulci when other directors turned the project down, and how Fulci was able to keep his cool when required for the non-permitted shoots like the Brooklyn Bridge finale. "Deadtime Stories" (14:30) features co-writers Elisa Briganti and (uncredited) Dardano Sacchetti who discusses producer Gianfranco Couyoumdjian (THE LAST HUNTER) and his part in the project's conception as more of an action adventure with zombies, while Briganti reveals that she had more input than usual because her husband had lost his father and she felt Sacchetti was too close to the subject matter. "World of the Dead" (16:29) interviews cinematographer Salvati and production designer Walter Patriarca (YOR, THE HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE), in which the cinematographer recalls the production's need to top that "Mexican" director Romero and his own techniques for lighting and filming the zombies. Patriarca shows off some production drawings of the church clinic and recalls how Fulci had input into every aspect, including the zombie costumes.

"Zombi Italiano" (16:34) interviews special make-up effects artists de Rossi and Maurizio Trani (DAWN OF THE MUMMY) as well as special effects artist Gino de Rossi (CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD), discussing the impetus to create a new look for zombies, various tests before they hit upon the idea of building the looks with clay appliances, as well as Fulci's placement of the camera determining the way in which the effects were realized (including the unfinished head cast of Karlatos that was used for the splinter scene). "Notes on a Headstone" (7:25) is an interview with composer Frizzi who, apart from the main theme, utilized music for effects and sometimes layered sound effects upon each other as music. "All in the Family" (6:08) features Fulci's daughter Antonella who suggests that people whose image of her father was based upon his films often overlooked his sense of "irony and play." Finally, "Zombie Lover" (9:37) is an appreciation by filmmaker del Toro who recalls his experience seeing the film in a Mexican movie house as a teenager and the ways in which certain set-pieces of the film have antecedents I some of the horror films that influenced his own work from NOSFERATU to TALES FROM THE CRYPT. An Easter Egg leads to a discussion of the filming of the shark scene (4:39). As far as Frizzi tracks go, the included soundtrack CD offers nothing new for fans who have earlier editions with eight score tracks; however, the disc does include as a bonus the Linda Lee song "There's No Matter" (4:39), penned by Frizzi, which is heard during the night scene on the docks early on in the film. The stereo track has been on YouTube from the original single 45, but we get it here in cleaner form. The discs come with a 3D slipcase, reversible cover (featuring the superior worm-face zombie on black with red lettering artwork, as well as a booklet with an essay by author Thrower. The three-disc edition is available with three different covers eye-poking cover purchasing options. (Eric Cotenas)

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