zombie blu ray

Fulci Lives! Never heard the expression? Attend any horror convention across the country you’ll see more T-shirts with this slogan than mullets at a rodeo. That’s because Lucio Fulci, the Italian director behind Zombie, really knows how to impale an eyeball. Zombie is, if not the director’s most accomplished film, certainly his most bankable thanks to the pseudo-sequel tie-in with Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. Fulci, though, doesn’t waste his time with social satire or dark comedy but gets right down the bloody business of loosing his zombie horde on the world (or at least, the parts he can afford the location costs). The film opens with a very effective Nosferatu image of an abandoned sailboat drifting into New York harbor. Well, almost abandoned. On board is a decomposing but dangerous zombie escapee from a mysterious South Seas island. This discovery prompts a couple of amateur sleuths – actors Tisa Farrow (Mia’s sister) and Ian McCulloch (not the Echo and Bunnymen singer) – to track down these terrors from the tropics. They wind up stranded along with the well-meaning doctor (Richard Johnson) who stirred up all this bad voodoo to begin with while the undead rise from their shallow graves to feed. There are flashes of genuine artistry in Zombie’s scope cinematography (something you can appreciate even more in hi-def) and the warm-weather setting brings something different to the story, especially since modern zombies seem to exclusively inhabit major metropolitan areas anymore. Fulci wastes little time winding up his mummified monsters to take chunks out of anything that crosses their path. The joy of Zombie is pure exploitation: topless scuba divers, eyeball impalement, gushing jugular veins, and an unforgettable zombie vs. shark showdown. Seriously, a stunt guy in full zombie make-up ripping off bits of Great White. You’re guaranteed to see things in Zombie you’ve never seen before, but most of them you’ll want to keep to yourself. Now out on Blu-ray from Blue Underground, it’s safe to say Zombie never looked so good, even through Fulci’s eyepiece. The 2-disc set includes all new HD extras as well, including interviews with most of the cast and crew and a conversation with director Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy) who points to the film as a major inspiration.