Review of Zombie Flesh Eaters 2 (1988) by Mark D — 21 Jun 2010

Zombi 3 is what I like to call an epic failure; a film that is bad on such a grand scale that it becomes something special. First, I must clarify that this film is nowhere near as great as Fulci's Zombi 2, which is one of the most terrifying and distinctive zombie films ever made. I would be hesitant to call this a true sequel to Zombie 2, but then again, I would be hesitant to call that film a true sequel to the original Zombi (which is just the italian release of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead). Regardless, this is the closest thing to a sequel made by Fulci to his own film.

Zombi 3 was originally shot by a sick Lucio Fulci, who delivered a final cut that was far too short (apparently around 50 minutes). The film then went through severe additions and rewrites by two other directors in order to flesh it out to a full 90 minutes. The result is quite literally a mishmash of several different styles of filmmaking, the best of which comes from Fulci's fantastically atmospheric zombie action, and the worst of which comes from some of Bruno Mattei's scenes dealing with the military and the scientists. The result is not a good film, but the constant change of tone offers the unique feeling that anything can happen, and several surprising twists keep a high interest level right until the shocking conclusion. Characters are killed off unexpectedly, some in truly terrifying ways and others in in cheesy hilarious ways, but the whole time you genuinely do not know who will make it to the end. There are some great zombie scenes done in a classic Fulci style (most notably all the scenes of claustrophobic zombie chases and zombies in or around water) as well as some truly absurd moments (flying zombie head, talking zombie, zombie in pregnant woman's stomach, etc). Also, the massive cop-out ending (where the protagonsits luckily stumble across the freaking "holy grail" in zombie movies) is so ridiculous that it works out of sheer hilarity. Basically, if you're a fan of shlocky B-movies and cult classics that you can laugh at with a group of friends, Zombie 3 will deliver the goods and keep you entertained, while offering just a tiny taste of that unique flavour that Fulci gave to his masterpiece Zombi 2.