Lucio Fulci's Zombie (a.k.a. Zombi 2 ) is arguably the best of the Italian zombie/gore films to follow in the wake of George A. Romero's classic, Dawn of the Dead . That's not to say it's a good movie (the term, "good Fulci film" could probably qualify as an oxymoron). It's actually a pretty stupid movie, with none of Romero's humor and social commentary, but it's well-made and delivers exactly what it promises, gleefully pushing the audience tolerance envelope for on-screen violence. In the process, Zombie (billed in Italy as an unofficial sequel to Dawn ) became a cult classic in its own right. For its 25 th Anniversary, Blue Underground has lovingly restored the film, and fans will absolutely love the results.

A derelict boat drifts into New York Harbor, seemingly abandoned. When the harbor patrol jumps on-board to investigate, one of them gets his throat bitten out by an undead stowaway. Tisa Farrow (Mia's sister) plays Ann, the daughter of the boat's owner, and wonders what happened to her father. Equally curious is a nosey reporter Peter West (Ian McCulloch), who senses the police are covering up what really happened on the boat. After discovering a disturbing letter from her father, Ann and Peter travel to the island where he was last seen alive. There they discover Dr. Menard (Richard Johnson), who's been trying to determine the cause of a phenomenon in which the dead are coming back to eat the living. The natives claim it's voodoo, but Menard poo-poos that idea, convinced there is some natural explanation for this. Meanwhile, the undead are slowly beginning to overrun the island, looking to chow down on the few remaining human inhabitants on the island. The plot of Zombie is perfunctory, and the acting is uniformly awful by the entire cast, working with a script that contains more than its share of banal dialogue (made even more glaring with the terrible dubbing). None of that really matters, because Zombie has one goal...to show as many ways as possible to violate the human anatomy. The make-up artists are the real stars of the movie, and they deliver in spades. Throats are ripped out, heads are crushed, limbs are torn off. Then there are the two scenes which garnered Zombie its notorious reputation. The first is a hilarious (intentionally, I think) homage to Jaws , where a zombie and a tiger shark go at it mano y fisho. The second, in which a large splinter punctures the eye of a female victim, shot in loving close-up, has gone down in cult movie lore as one of the most nauseating, butthole-puckering scenes in horror history (though no one I've ever talked to who've seen the film has ever wondered why she never blinks). The zombies themselves are elaborate creations, walking around with exposed muscle tissue and worms crawling around in their eye sockets. They are easily some of the most impressive looking ghouls I've ever seen in a film of this genre. This is also director Lucio Fulci's most coherent horror film from a narrative perspective. Many of his subsequent gore movies would be far more graphic, but pieced together by the murkiest of plots.

Quite simply, this is the best Zombie has ever looked and sounded. Remastered from the original negative, this looks like a brand new film, easily better than any previously released version. Being that the movie is 25 years old, there are some unavoidable scratches in the negative, but Blue Underground has done a great job cleaning the film up. Colors are vibrant and black tones are dead-on accurate. The sound has been restored with equal care, and is offered in 5.1 Dolby Digital for the first time.

There aren't too many extras included with this version (though a 2-disc version of the film is being released by a different company, Media Blasters, which is chock-full of goodies). Most of it consists of text, as well as a smattering of theatrical trailers and an extensive bio of Lucio Fulci. Useless Trivia: Zombie has been released over the years under many titles, including Island of the Living Dead, Sangualia, Zombie Flesh Eaters, Zombi 2, Woodoo, Zombie 2: The Dead Are Among Us and Gli Ultimi Zombie . Olga Karlatos, the woman whose eyeball encounters a chance meeting with a splinter of wood, went on to play Prince's mother in Purple Rain . Similar Films: Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, The Gates of Hell, Zombi 3, Zombi 4

If you're looking for intriguing characters, clever satire and an intriguing story, it's best to stick with one of George A. Romero's films. But, if all you grave are disturbing images of graphic (and realistic) gore, look no further than Zombie , a film which practically dares you to watch the gruesome goings-on while eating a Domino's Pizza. This version is light on extras, but there's no arguing the quality of the picture and sound.