ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS (1979) - We ARE going to eat you !!!

 Directed by Lucio Fulci 

Screenplay by Elisa Briganti & Dardano Sacchetti 

Starring - Ian Mcculloch as Peter West, Tisa Farrow as Anne Bowles, Richard Johnson as Dr. David Menard, Al Cliver (Pier Luigi Conti) as Brian Hull, Auretta Gay (Giannone) as Susan Barrett

PLOT  -  A discarded boat drifts into New York Harbour carrying a cargo of the walking dead.

 Anne- the daughter of the boats desceased owner teams up with Journalist - Peter, to discover what has caused this. Their trail takes them to a mysterious tropical island where Voodoo drums pound in the night and the Zombie's threaten to overcome both the Island's native population and the inhabitants of a scientific research outpost.

 Is a voodoo curse responsible for the outbreak of the living dead or is science itself to blame ? Do's it even matter what the cause is. As the Island's survivors battle the dead, very soon reports come through that the dead are now walking in the city of New York itself....

CLASSIC DIALOUGE - Radio Newsreader - " We've just been informed that Zombies have entered the building. They're at the door ! They're coming in !!!!! AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

PERFORMANCES  - All the main leads are pretty good in this movie. British actor Ian Mcculloch plays his role with a very stiff upper lip reserve ( It's probably not the only thing thats stiff when he pervs lustilly at topless Auretta Gay changing into her diving gear in one scene). Mcculloch seems a bit out of place amongst the American and Italian actors that surround him, but I think that's kind of the point, the sheer Britishness he brings to the part gives his character a kind of "Boys Own" action hero flair and works to make him memorable.

Richard Johnson is great too, playing a scientist who is massively out of his depth among the madness of the Zombie outbreak  - Is his character partially responsible, or is he just as much a victim as everybody else ? He - and we the audience - never find out. 

The question that hangs over the plot is where are these Zombies coming from ? 

Why are they reanimating ? 

Is it science or the supernatural that is causing this ? 

Johnson's character is a man who has had his very belief system shaken to the core. His character is suitability traumatised and world weary as a result.

Auretta Gay has very little to do except take her top off and get eaten alive by Zombies and Tisa Farrow mainly acts as Mcculloch's love interest, It would be a  few years until we would start to get strong, female protaganists in Zombie films unfortunately. 

SFX - Some very good blood and gore effects and some suitably grotesque Zombies make these scenes memorable.

Perhaps the best Zombie make up effects are in the graveyard scene. The main characters are taking a rest in a Conquistador cemetery. Seriously, In the middle of an outbreak of the walking dead you choose to hole up in a cemetery of all places ? As bad ideas go that's  got to be up there with hiring Jimmy Saville as a babysitter...

Anyway, predictably enough, the dead start rising from their graves, presumably having sniffed out the presence of these pesky but tasty humans. It is in this scene that we get some of the most iconic zombie designs in the movie - including the fellow that appears on the movie's poster.

There is also a great underwater fight scene between a Zombie and a Shark. To be honest, the Zombie make up is not as effective in this scene,  as you can clearly see bits of it floating off the actor's face underwater. However, what's really impressive about this scene is that it's a real stuntman wrestling a real shark. If this film was made today this entire scene would probably be shot in CGI and would look much the worse for it. However, this a real person risking life and limb to entertain us. Therefore any faults deriving from non-waterproof Zombie makeup can, I think, be excused.

The other great effect is THAT eyeball scene....

You've probably all heard about it but to the uninitiated - yes - a lady DOES get her eyeball pierced by a shard of wood, and yes, it looks as realistic and horrible and bloody painful as the worst visions your mind's darkest fever dreams can conjure.

SEX & VIOLENCE  - I've pretty much covered the violence above, the main sex part is provided by Gay donning her diving suit - the camera lingering lasciviously over her as she does so. As I've said, she does little else except die horribly, indeed all of the women are either sex objects or victims in this film - you don't  see any blokes getting their eyeballs, or any other parts of themselves, penetrated do you ?

RATING - This movie is generally regarded as a classic of the Zombie genre and rightly so. It's not as good as the Romero Zombie films ( few things are,to be fair ), but its a triumph of practical effects work, make-up and atmosphere.

I'm awarding it - 4 and a half carnivorous corpses out of 5.