Zombie Flesh Eaters (1980)

Listen: this is NOT by any means a perfect movie, as a matter of fact it's severely flawed. The characters are mostly pretty bland and never develop, some of the banter towards the beginning is more cringe worthy than funny, and the overall pacing and structure are quite off; however, that being said, "Zombie" is, simply put, a damn good time at the movies! Regardless of flaws, this film has enough entertainment and shock value to be thoroughly enjoyable, particularly in its second half in which things go off the rails. There are moments that made me feel incredibly tense, others made me squirm in disgust, others made me laugh, and many made me marvel at the wonderful gore effects and camera work. And my reaction to the very ending was sort of an awkward (but great nonetheless) mix of the aforementioned emotional responses; it is clear that the final shots have a tongue in cheek quality to them, but they are also haunting in a bizarre sense, and this feeling is VERY much appropriate as a closer to a movie that is genuinely and relentlessly strange and goofy, but still unconventionally magic and awfully horrific!

Excellent Movie. The acting and dubbing is OK, not great. The plot is OK, not great. But the zombie effects and kills are great. The wood in the eye. Cemetery scene. The bites. The scene where they discover the doctors wife being eaten by one zombie, then the wide shot of a few zombies eating the wife, it incredible. Great cinematography. Good music.This has been compared to and listed as an Italian sequel to Dawn of the Dead. It's not. I've seen Dawn many times and liked it until I saw it again last year. Then I realized how poor of a movie it is. The best part of the movie is in the beginning, after that the mall section, it is down hill, crap acting, the zombies are poor, and the comic section is stupid and the character motivation crap. Dawn sucks. Night of the Living Dead on the other had is an excellent movie.My rating is a B. A great B movie. 8 stars. 10 stars given for loser reviews.

Zombie Flesh Eaters as I've always known it, on the surface doesn't seem like much more than just another mindless undead movie, but the way Lucio Fulci directs it, and the excellent cinematography and score that always takes you into the world of the movie right away, and the gruesome hard work of a special effects team all work together to just make the movie better than most of its kind and raise it up to classic horror greatness. It was always more than just a cheap cash-in on Dawn, it deserves its reputation as a horror movie phenomenon in its own right. I can still remember when I first ever saw it totally uncut on VHS as a kid, as a big fan of zombies I was thoroughly blown away, it was such a fun gory blast, absolutely everything one could ever want in a zombie movie and it's one of my most favourite zombie flicks today, my second favourite. Right behind Dawn of the Dead, with The Video Dead running a close third! I love the location, it's a beautiful tropical island but the way they film it makes it feel like a somewhat surrealistic nightmare landscape, the constant desolate swirling winds and background voodoo drums give it a deep foreboding ambiance, and that great atmosphere of dread is a big part of the enjoyment and dark wonder of it. I don't even take issue with the dubbing, even though it does bring a certain air of cheesiness the way it continually teeters on the dialogue not quite matching up in time. But to me it doesn't detract anything from the movie, I think it even adds a little to the lore of it somehow. The zombies, for how ridiculously sluggish they are, are still creepy and are some of the most impressive-looking zombies that you'll ever see. They look decayed and rotten and are way more gross than Romero's zombies. I like the mystery of them. You never know if it's a virus, some kind of weird voodoo curse, or the result of Dr. Maynard's experiments. It helps to make the undead and the overall tone of the film mysterious and scary. Man I love that gore! It's so good, I think it holds up stupendously well, when the zombies get their heads smashed with shovels or blown off with shotguns it's satisfying as hell! Most horror movies of note just have one big famous scene in them, but this one has three! The shark vs zombie sequence is unique and bizarrely beautiful, I mean just when the hell do you ever see that!? There's the moment when the signature zombie of the movie slowly rises from its grave and rips out the throat of the poor terrified woman in truly spectacular bloody fashion. The best one though is undoubtedly the iconic nasty that alone gives this picture its reputation, it blows all the other gory scenes right out of the water. Wherein the beautiful Olga Karlotos has one of her dazzling eyes slowly punctured by a shard of wood in agonising close detail. Just when you think they're gonna cut away from it they don't, and you get to see the injury in incredible old school practical effects that cause your stomach to churn and your own eyes to wince. I thought up until her legendary death scene Karlotos gave a good performance. The fiery voice actress really nailed it! And the big climactic battle in the church that burns down is excellent and ends things on a high note before there is a little certain something that reveals that everything that's happened has been mere prelude to a far larger terror to come as the telltale radio broadcast is heard. It's bleak, but there's something so grand and corny in the way the man on the radio says what he does that I find it kinda cheerful and it always makes me smile! It may not appeal to everyone, but it certainly always did to me and I'll always love it, as it is a magnificent zombie classic. Bravo Mr Fulci!

I have seen this movie a few times but this was the first time I saw it on DVD, which I got for just 75p , I could not say no to that.I watched this early today and I was clued to the screen , the movie flowed really well.I actually like the zombies as they were actually kind of scary looking.The make up effects in this was outstanding and really like how they Came back from the dead, very slowly, which I found very creepy.There were some great gory moments, there is one scene that you will never forget as its now known for one of the best horror deaths of all time.That death scene will make you look away from the scene and hide behind your hands.The acting in this movie was great and the ending of the movie was The icing on the cake.