Zombie

Zombi-poster-328x500 — US Theatrical Release Poster 1979

Zombie (also known as Zombi 2, Zombie Flesh Eaters, and Woodoo) is a 1979 zombie horror film directed by Lucio Fulci working from a screenplay by Elisa Briganti and Dardano Sacchetti. It is perhaps the best-known of Fulci's many genre films and made him a horror icon. Though the title suggests this is a sequel to Zombi (the Italian title of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead), the films are unrelated. When the film was released in 1979 it was condemned for its extremely bloody content, notably by the UK's Conservative government.

Plot[]

What appears to be an abandoned yacht drifts into New York Harbor. As two Harbor Patrol officers investigate, a huge, decomposing, flesh hungry ghoul attacks the officers; biting one in the neck. The remaining officer shoots the hulking zombie and it topples overboard. The body of the deceased officer is deposited in the morgue. Anne Bowles (Tisa Farrow) is questioned by the police because the boat belonged to her father (Ugo Bologna). All she knows is that her father left for a tropical island to work on some research. Reporter Peter West (Ian McCulloch) is assigned by his news editor (director Lucio Fulci in a cameo) to report on the mysterious boat and there he meets Anne. While on the boat, Anne and Peter discover a note from her father explaining he is on the island of Matool (Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands) suffering from a strange disease. They decide to continue to investigate together. Upon their arrival in the tropics, they enlist the aid of a seafaring couple, Bryan Curt (Al Cliver aka Pier Luigi Conti) and Susan Barrett (Auretta Gay), to assist them in finding the island. Matool is a cursed place where the dead have risen to attack the living. Dr. David Menard (Richard Johnson), a resident on the island and physician at the local mission, is investigating its secrets. His contemptuous, high-strung wife Paola (Olga Karlatos) wants to leave the island in fear of the increasing zombie attacks, but Dr. Menard insists on continuing his research. The group is nearing the island when Susan decides to go for a dive. Anne and Peter look on as she brazenly goes into the water topless. While in the water, Susan encounters a shark, which tries to attack her, but she manages to hide among the coral reefs. She immediately surfaces and begs for help as the shark prepares to attack her. Bryan gets a gun and shoots the shark, but the shark hits the boat, causing them to lose control. Susan dives under again and tries to escape, and the shark narrowly misses her in its attack. As she is hiding in a coral reef, however, a zombie attacks her, but she manages to avoid the creature by slashing its water-bloated face with a piece of coral. The shark then turns and attacks the zombie, which proceeds to tear a chunk out of the shark; the two creatures battle until the shark mangles and severs the zombie's arm, after which the shark swims away, while the zombie seemingly gives up and heads in the opposite direction. Susan manages to get on the boat as Anne, Peter and Bryan help her. She explains what she saw to them. Meanwhile, Dr. Menard and his nurse (Stefania D'Amario) continue to study the zombies. Some of them are newly bitten, some are on the stage of zombiefication and some are already decomposing. Menard's local assistant Lucas (Dakar) appears at the door, and asks him how to kill the zombies. He also says that the zombies are attacking everyone on the island. Night falls and Menards wife, Paola, takes a shower. The camera shows a zombie spying on her from outside the house. Paola get out of the shower and she sees the zombie. The zombie comes in and tries to open the door just as Paola was trying to close it. She manages to close the door and barricaded herself by putting the weight of her body against the door. While blocking the door the

Zombie Flesh eaters — Italian European Theatrical Release Poster 1979

zombies hands breaks through the door and grabs her hair. In possibly the most famous scene from the movie, Paola's eye is pierced by a large splintered piece of wood and she is then killed off camera. The boat finally arrives at the dock. Back at the hospital the nurse wakes Dr. Menard from a deep sleep. She tells him that Matthias (Franco Fantasia) died because of the infection. Dr. Menard waits for his friends body to reanimate and proceeds to shoot him in the head. As Lucas is digging the burial of Matthias and the others that died from the contagion he saw a flare gun fire. He follows it and discovers the crew from the boat. Dr. Menard tells Anne about her Father and when the contagion started. As they arrive, Lucas says that something happened to Fritz (Leo Gavero). He tells the group to go to his mansion where Paola is located. He approaches Fritz and he says that he was bitten. The group arrive at the mansion where they discover the horribly mutilated corpse of Paola being hungrily devoured by zombies. A swarm of zombies attack them but they escape. They get in the jeep and drive down the road when they lose control and drive off the road. Peters knee is badly hurt. The group traverse through the jungle when Peter takes a rest. Anne takes the time to examine his wound. Susan and Bryan explore the surrounding when Bryan finds an old helmet. It appears that the group have stumbled onto a Spanish Cemetery. Anne and Peter are laying on the ground and proceed to have an ill timed love session when a zombie grabs her hair and another zombie grabs Peter's foot. Bryan hear Anne's scream and he follows it and leaves Susan. In another famous scene, a petrified Susan watches in horror as an ominous, worm infested zombie Conquistador rises through the earth, lunges at her and tears out her throat. Bryan saves Anne and Peter but fails to save Susan. He shoots the rotting zombie in the back twice but it still stands, until Peter grabs a nearby wooden cross and smashes the zombie's head, destroying it. The group then head back to the hospital. More and more zombies rise from their graves. The group finally arrive at the hospital and barricade themselves inside. Dr. Menard asks what happened to Paola. The group explain that she is dead. Dr. Menard explains to them that it's a voodoo curse which make the dead rise. He also explains he is still searching for an answer to stopping the curse. The zombies then begin their assault on the hospital. Dr. Menard goes to look for bullets, but is attacked and killed by a reanimated Fritz. Bryan sees the attack and shoots the rabid Fritz in the head as he ravenously gnaws on the doctor's cheek. The ones that have been infected in the hospital begin to reanimate and a frothing black zombie bites a huge chunk of flesh and muscle out of Lucas' forearm, Lucas lets out a blood curdling scream then silently dies of his horrific injury while the zombies start attacking the nurse. Peter hears her scream and tries to help her but a zombie breaks out the window. Peter shoots the zombie. He helps the nurse and continues his defense against the undead. The nurse goes to get some supplies but a reanimated Lucas grabs and bites her. The zombies finally destroy the main door and break in. Peter and Bryan shoot at the zombies while Anne throws Molotov cocktails at them. They manage to stop some of the zombies and escape the hospital which is now burning down. The last of the group are on the road heading to the boat and all the while destroying more zombies but a reanimated, blood caked Susan appears in front of Bryan and bites his arm. Peter shoots the reanimated Susan in the head. They reach the boat and sail away. Now out at sea, Bryan is showing bad signs of contagion. He dies and they lock him in one of the rooms on the boat, taking the reanimated Bryan with them as evidence. When they reach the open ocean, however, they receive a radio report that a plague of zombies has attacked New York City. As the credits roll, the zombies are walking on the Brooklyn bridge, leaving an unknown fate to Peter and Anne.