My goodness..
Zombi 3 (1988)
Directed By: Lucio Fulci (sorta), Claudio Fragasso and Bruno Mattei
Where to get it: Shrek Show
The Prologue
As if the “Zombie” films weren’t confusing in their order enough, we have the even more confusing Zombie 3. Dawn of the Dead was called Zombie in some areas, so Lucio Fulci’s classic, Zombie got titled Zombie 2 in some areas and just Zombie in America. Now we have the unofficial follow up (I suppose) to Zombie, in Zombie 3! A movie that is billed as another Lucio Fulci film, but he only filmed around 70 minutes before he got sick/had a stroke (Depending on the report you hear), and the film was left for Claudio Fragasso and Bruno Mattei to complete, originally uncredited. Of course they cut Fulci’s work down to about 50 minutes, and perhaps that is why what we get here is one big (and still at times amusing) mess.
The Movie
When a terrorist’s body, infected with a stolen chemical, is recovered by the US military, the corpse is cremated, unintentionally releasing the virus/bacteria into the atmosphere over a small island. Soon the infected populace mutate into flesh-hungry zombies, and a trio of soldiers on leave must team up with a group of tourists and board themselves up in an abandoned hotel as they try to fend off the agile and aggressive living dead.
As you’d probably expect, to spite being called Zombie 3, there really isn’t much here at all connecting this film to Zombie (aka Zombie 2). The film is just all over the place in style and in plot, and we have parts that resemble everything from Return of the Living Dead to The Crazies. Some stuff is still funny in a “this is soo bad it’s funny” kinda way. But if you are looking for logic at all you have came to the wrong place as far as Zombie 3 is concerned. I know it only has around 50 minutes of the footage left in it that Fulci shot, but it’s hard to determine what came from him and what didn’t. That’s not good either. So perhaps before he got sick, Lucio himself just said “F-it”.
Not even the zombies here seem to be sure as to what kind of zombies they want to be. Some zombies are slow, some are fast, some zombies even seem to know kung-fu and swing around knifes. We even have a flaying zombie head that doesn’t have a body. Can you imagine how all of this comes across on the TV screen when you watch it? Even the flying head was Lucio’s ideas (Credit IMDB for that fact)..So, maybe he really was going mad during this time period? And as far as the actors go, there’s nothing much to write home about as they all seem pretty dull and cookie cutter. But it still comes together in a car crash fashion that makes you sit with a confused look on your face, but you still keep watching none the less.
If you take nothing else from this film, it at least has some cool gore going on. It’s the complete cut if you are watching the Shrek Show?Media Blasters release and they even used VHS to ensure that this cut is 100% complete. So even if you have no idea at all what they are trying to accomplish in the movie at different times, you at least have some nice blood and such going down to make it semi-interesting. All this of course leads us to a typical zombie movie ending that you’ve seen before. But this film isn’t the only film guilty of somewhat copying an ending now is it?
The Conclusion
Well, it’s not what you’d necessarily call a “good” movie. But it’s got some stuff like the gore going for it. I suppose we can just call it a semi-amusing car crash. Ninja Zombies, flying heads, and even a very odd baby scene all makes up something some of you might enjoy..a little. So if you love Zombie (Zombie 2), don’t go into looking for the same type of film and you should be OK. One of these days when I’m feeling brave I plan to checkout Zombie 4 and 5 as well..Pray for my soul!
The Rating (5.5/10)
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