Lucio Fulci directs Ian McCulloch, Tisa Farrow and Richard Johnson in this former “video nasty” horror about a group who go to a Caribbean island to investigate a zombie curse.

The first thing that strikes you about Zombie Flesh Eaters is the spectacular location work. Both the New York Harbour and tropical paradise island are exploited fully. It wouln’t be until the mega budgeted World War Z that we’d see the undead unleashed and interacting with proper landmarks like the World Trade Centre or Brooklyn Bridge on this unfettered scale again. Likewise the island scenes look both beautiful yet eerily remote. Then there’s Fabio Frizzi’s overpowering CASIO keyboard composed score. One that playfully evokes exotic fun and doomed hopelessness in one key change. Thirdly, the monster make-up and injury gore is inspired. We get worms writhing in hollow sockets, close-up gougings and neck injuries that gush like exploding kegs of blood. The plot and acting is so-so. It is never particularly scary, more a gory adventure yarn. Scooby Doo where the monsters are real and Shaggy packs a shotgun. But it looks fantastic, showing you excessive things you’ve never expected from a zombie cheapie. An undead does indeed fight a real shark underwater. For reals! The “all is lost” cliffhanger is particularly chilling and expansive, tying this counterfeit cash-in directly into the Romero trilogy canon. Zombie Flesh Eaters was originally intended as an unofficial sequel to a bootleg version of Dawn of the Dead. Romero’s stone cold apocalyptic classic was re-edited and scored by Dario Argento / Goblin, released in Italy under the title Zombi… this was conceived produced and released there as Zombi 2. An intended sequel that works better as a prequel in reality. Does all this matter? The film watches fine as a stand alone experience, if anything it is weirder watching something that should be grim, slapdash and shonky yet is so gorgeously realised.

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