Movie Info
Movie Name: Zombi 2
Studio: Variety Film Production
Genre(s): Horror/B-Movie
Release Date(s): August 25, 1979
MPAA Rating: R
No, I’m good…just a little worm in the eye…
A mysterious ship shows up in New York City. The guards find the yacht destroyed inside, but also housing a zombie. When one of the officers is attacked, the ship is quarantined. The daughter of the ship owner Ann Bolt (Tisa Farrow) and a reporter named Peter West (Ian McCulloch) head to the Caribbean to track her father’s last actions and find where he is. Hiring Bryan Curt (Al Cliver) and Susan Barrett (Auretta Gay) to help them locate the island of Matool, they discover an island suffering from a voodoo plague of zombies. With the help of Dr. David Menard (Richard Johnson), they hope to survive the island and reach civilization.
Directed by Italian director Lucio Fulci, Zombi 2 has a ton of different titles and is the most well-known of Fulci’s films. It faced some criticism for its gore It is a big fan-favorite among horror buffs and has a large cult following.
Mega-Shark Vs. Soggy-Zombie
Zombi 2 has a strange history. Dawn of the Dead (which was called Zombi in Italy) was a big hit, and Zombi 2 was marketed as a sequel to this film although it has no ties to Dawn of the Dead. It was also called Zombie, Zombie Flesh Eaters, Island of the Living Dead, Woodoo, and Zombie Island. The movie did have a sequel in 1988 called Zombi 3.
The movie has lots of edits due to the high level of gore. Like a lot of Italian horror films, the movie is very violent and very gory. When the zombies attack, they are seen biting and tearing the victims apart. The blood is profuse and overly red, but it is also helped with some great special effects on the wounds.
Don’t blink!
There are two notorious scenes in the movie that always get referenced to Zombi 2. Even if you don’t watch the movie, they are worth seeking out on YouTube (and no, they aren’t kid friendly). One scene involves a nude diver attacked by a zombie underwater and then battling (and eating) a shark. The scene was shot in a tank with a drugged shark and it is quite entertaining. The movie also has a really intense eye popping scene with Olga Karlatos as she is slowly impaled on a splintered board by a zombie.
Just for good measure, you can’t get enough of zombie vs. shark!
Zombi 2’s story is pretty generic zombie movie fodder. A group gets trapped on an island by zombies, and they have to get off. The logic of course to hide out in a place where bodies are being stored as the zombies start rising from the grave also is typical, “bad decision” planning by people in a horror movie. I do like that the movie blends the popular flesh eating zombies with aspects of the voodoo zombies.
Zombi 2 is bloody fun with all the classic horror (including nudity and buckets of blood). For those who aren’t fans of zombies, it is more of the same, but for zombies fans it is a good solid film. Players of the game Dead Island will also recognize some similarities. If you’ve never seen Zombi 2 I can recommend it and you don’t have to worry about continuity since you probably have already seen Zombi even if you didn’t realize it.
