ZOMBIE
(1979)Director: Lucio Fulci
Blue Underground
ZOMBIE
(1979)Italian
splatter maestro Lucio Fulci began his worldwide reputation as the Spaghetti-land
version of Herschell Gordon Lewis with ZOMBIE, released in its Italian homeland
as ZOMBI 2 (an unofficial sequel to George Romero's quintessential zombie masterpiece
DAWN O
F
THE DEAD, whose Italian title was ZOMBI). By 1979, the temperamental Fulci had
dabbled in every genre imaginable: comedy, western, giallo, adventure, historical
drama. Many of his admirers believe his best films were produced before his zombie
fetish flicks, with the thrillers DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING, A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S
SKIN, and ONE ON TOP OF THE OTHER justifiably championed as his shining moments
in the horror genre. But like it or not, it was ZOMBIE which put his name on the
map and opened the floodgates for countless zombie rip-offs, cash-ins, and sequels,
many of which Fulci himself conceived!
New
York, the Big Apple: an abandoned schooner drifts into the Hudson Bay and is boarded
by two concerned Coast Guard officers. To their surprise, there is one occupant
of the vessel: a bald rotund rotting corpse, who rips out the throat of one of
the men and is sent pummeling into the river by the other's pistol blasts. The
boat is registered to the father of plucky heroine Tisa Farrow, who hasn't heard
from him in three months. Together with ballsy reporter Ian McCulloch, the investigative
pair hires odd couple Al Cliver and Auretta Gay to take them to the island of
Matoul, where her father worked with grizzled doctor Richard Johnson. It seems
that Johnson's scientific experiments combined with native voodoo have resulted
in the dead rising from their graves and walking the island, seeking to devour
any human flesh which crosses their path!
I've
never been a particularly big supporter of ZOMBIE simply because in my eyes, it
has never lived up to its horrific reputation. It is burdened by a slow pace,
unlikable characters, bland performances (save Olga Karlatos, who really pulls
out all the stops here), and a by-the-books screenplay which holds no surprises,
but yet somehow the film has received heaps of praise by critics and audiences
over the years, some of whom shout that it's Fulci's only watchable film (any
follower of his will beg to differ)! Miraculously, those who witnessed this film
through various horrendous home video versions (from Wizard Video's disgusting
fullscreen abomination to Anchor Bay's murky letterboxed DVD) will be blown away
and most probably won over by Blue Underground's disc. Fulci's films are quite
gorgeous visual experiences, especially when working with two of his favorite
crew members: cinematographer Sergio Salvati and editor Vincenzo Tomassi, both
of whom worked on ZOMBIE. Setpieces such as the stalking of 
Olga
Karlatos through her jungle bungalow, the shark-vs.-zombie underwater battle,
a crazy native woman seeing a vision of her son's bloody corpse walking the abandoned
streets of the island, the tension-filled rising of the Conquistadores, and the
show stopping fiery finale need to be seen in crystal clarity and superb audio
and visual quality to be appreciated. BU's correctly letterboxed anamorphic transfer
(which offers more information on the sides than any other video version) is culled
from the original camera negative and will leave newcomers and veteran ZOMBIE
lovers alike with their jaws on the floor. The levels of detail, sharpness, and
color are astounding, making this the end-all, meet-all of Fulci DVD transfers
(move over, HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY, you've got company)! To compliment the scrumptious
transfer, BU has also included 5 (!) audio options: English 5.1, English 2.0,
English Mono, Italian 5.1, Italian 2.0, and Italian Mono. YOWSA! All the Italian
options have English subtitles as well, making this the first U.S. home video
version with the original Italian track!
Unfortunately, despite the definitive audio-video presentation of ZOMBIE, the extras are sorely lacking. This is the third Fulci disc Blue Underground has released completely barebones (the other two are CONQUEST and CONTRABAND) and if this is how they are going to treat their expected re-releases of Anchor Bay's Fulci films, I don't see the point, really. All you get here is the International trailer (which looks about the same as Anchor Bay's 1998 DVD transfer), the fullscreen U.S. trailer compiled by Jerry Gross and featuring the memorable tagline "We Are Going To Eat You!" (which illustrates how important the 2.35:1 photography is to the film), two U.S. TV spots (reflecting how old VHS versions looked), and four 30-second radio spots (which are all pretty funny, with familiar Doris Wishman library music). Best of all, though, is the gigantic gallery section with a mammoth collection of international posters, publicity stills, lobby cards, the full-length German pressbook, video sleeves (for some reason missing the Anchor Bay DVD sleeve?), soundtrack covers, and very cool behind-the-scenes photos (see the bald fat zombie smoking!)! The extras page allows you to access an Easter Egg in the form of trailers for Fulci's FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE, CONTRABAND, CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE BLACK CAT, THE BEYOND, HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY, THE NEW YORK RIPPER, MANHATTAN BABY, and CONQUEST. However, with Shriek Show's double-disc set of ZOMBI 2 (under that title) streeting the same day as this disc, it would be worth watching this space for a comparison between the two. Reportedly, SS had access to the same camera negative transfer as BU. We'll keep you posted on the better package of the two! (Casey Scott)