Zombi 2

Zombi 2
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Produced by Ugo Tucci
Written by Dardano Sacchetti
Starring
Music by Fabio Frizzi
Cinematography Sergio Salvati
Edited by Vincenzo Tomassi
Production
company
Variety Films
Release dates
  • September 1979 (1979-09)
Country Italy
Budget ₤410,000,000
Box office ₤3,000,000,000

Zombi 2 is a 1979 zombie film directed by Lucio Fulci. The film was adapted from an original screenplay by Dardano Sacchetti to serve as a sequel to George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead, released in Italy as Zombi. It stars Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch and Richard Johnson, and featured a score by frequent Fulci collaborator Fabio Frizzi.

The film tells the story of a Caribbean island cursed by voodoo, whose dead residents rise as zombies to attack the living. A scientist's daughter journeys to the island after her father's boat turns up abandoned in New York City. Intended as a return to "classic zombie tales" by its writer, Zombi 2 was filmed in Italy, with further location shooting in New York and Santa Domingo.

Produced on a small budget of ₤410 million, the film earned several times its production costs back in international gross. It attracted controversy upon its United Kingdom release, becoming listed as a "video nasty"; however, later years have seen a greater appreciation for the film from critics. Frizzi's score has also been released independently of the film, as well as being performed live on tour by the composer.

Plot

Investigating an abandoned boat in a New York harbour, a patrolman is killed by a zombie before his partner chases it overboard. The dead patrolman's body is taken to the morgue. Anne Bowles (Tisa Farrow) is questioned by police, as the boat belonged to her father. She claims he is conducting research on Matul, a Caribbean island. A newspaper reporter, Peter West (Ian McCulloch), is investigating the story. He and Bowles learn that Bowles' father is suffering from a strange illness on the island. They hire a boat and two guides—Brian Hull (Al Cliver) and his wife Susan Barrett (Auretta Gay)—to reach Matul.

Meanwhile, on Matul, Dr. David Menard (Richard Johnson), and his wife Paola (Olga Karlatos) have been researching the phenomenon of zombie reanimation. Paola wishes to flee the island but Menard insists on staying. That night, Paola is alone in the house when a zombie tries to enter. He pushes the door shut but it breaks through with one arm. Paola is dragged through the hole and killed, with her eye being gouged out by splintered wood.

Approaching Matul, Barrett dives in the ocean around the boat. She encounters a shark and flees behind a reef, only to be accosted by a submerged zombie. Surfacing, she reaches the boat while the shark and zombie attack each other. Eventually, the boat docks at Matul.

Menard is alarmed to find that one of his colleagues has died of the zombie infection; he waits for the body to reanimate before shooting it in the head. While digging a grave for the body, he hears gunfire and follows it to discover the boat group. Menard takes them back to his mansion, discovering Paola's corpse being eaten by zombies. The group fends off an attack and escapes in a jeep, with West suffering an ankle injury when the vehicle veers off-road. Resting in a jungle clearing, the group realise they have encountered a Conquistador-era graveyard; Barrett is killed when one of the corpses rises from the earth and bites out her throat.

As more corpses reanimate, the group flees to a hospital, where Menard explains that the dead are rising as a result of a voodoo curse which he has been trying to stop. The hospital is besieged by zombies, and Menard is killed by one of his former staff. As the zombies attempt to enter, those being treated for infection inside the hospital also reanimate, killing several hospital staff who have stayed behind. As the dead outside breach the door, Bowles sets the building on fire. The undead Barrett attacks Hull but is shot in the head by West. Bowles, West and Hull escape to the boat and leave the island.

At sea, Hull dies of his infection, and his body is locked in a cabin to be used as evidence of what has happened. However, as the boat approaches New York again, a radio broadcast reports that the city is under attack from zombies—the result of the initial attack in the harbour.

Production

[Zombi 2] did not have the greatest of scripts but Richard [gave] every scene authority and colour. In the sequence where he was driving me in a Land Rover he extemporised in such a lyrical and poetic fashion that it reminded me of my days with the RSC.

—Ian McCulloch on his co-star Richard Johnson[1]

Pre-production

Zombi 2 serves as a sequel to Zombi, a re-edited Italian release of George A. Romero's 1978 film Dawn of the Dead; Zombi had been edited by Dario Argento and given a new score by the Italian band Goblin, and proved successful upon its release in Italy.[2] As Italian copyright law allows any film to be marketed as a sequel to another work, the film was quickly greenlit and financed by producer Fabrizio De Angelis.[3] Enzo G. Castellari was offered to direct Zombi 2, but turned it down as he didn't feel he would be the right director for a horror film.[4][5] Director Lucio Fulci was De Angelis' second choice for the project, and was hired based on his handling of violent scenes in his previous films Sette note in nero and Non si sevizia un paperino.[3]

Screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti had already worked with Fulci on Sette note in nero. Sacchetti has since stated that his initial script for Zombi 2—originally written under the title Nightmare Island—had been influenced by The Island of Doctor Moreau and had been intended to return to "classic zombie tales" such as I Walked with a Zombie, The Walking Dead or Voodoo Island.[3] Sacchetti began work on this script in July 1978, before it was optioned by Angelis' company Variety Films that December and re-tooled as Zombi 2.[6] Lead star McCulloch was cast primarily on the success in Italy of the 1975 BBC television series Survivors, which had impressed producer Ugo Tucci.[7]

Filming

Production occurred during June and July 1979.[3] Filming took place in Latina, Italy,[1] as well as in New York City and Santo Domingo.[8] Several of the actors' contracts had specified being provided with trailers for the duration of production; however, none were present when filming started and only Johnson was able to convince the producers to provide one. McCulloch and Johnson had known each other for many years by the time they collaborated on Zombi 2, having first met while they were members of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1962, with the younger McCulloch coming to idolise Johnson's work.[1]

Music

"Lucio was an important director in my career and also a friend, a person for whom I had strong feelings".

—Composer Fabio Frizzi on collaborating with Fulci[9]

The score to Zombi 2 was composed by Fabio Frizzi, who frequently scored Fulci's works, including Sette note in nero, I quattro dell'apocalisse and Sella d'argento previously.[10] Zombi 2 marked the first time the two had worked together on a straight horror movie as opposed to their previous spaghetti western and giallo thriller work; Frizzi would go on to compose for many more horror films with and without Fulci.[11]

Frizzi's work on Zombi 2—particularly "Seq. 6", the sequence composed for the eye-gouging scene—was inspired by the melody of The Beatles' 1967 song "A Day in the Life". Elsewhere in the score, Frizzi included Caribbean musical cues, which he noted were intended to "pleasantly deceive" the audience.[11] A medley of the score was later included as part of Frizzi's 2013 Fulci 2 Frizzi live tour, including the 2014 live album release Fulci 2 Frizzi: Live at Union Chapel.[12][13] The score itself was released on vinyl by Death Waltz Records in 2015, with new artwork by Tom Beauvais.[14]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Fabio Frizzi. 

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "Sequence 1"   3:57
2. "Sequence 2"   3:09
3. "Sequence 3"   2:32
4. "Sequence 4"   2:31
Side two
No. Title Length
1. "Sequence 5"   1:20
2. "Sequence 6"   3:01
3. "Sequence 7"   3:06
4. "Sequence 8"   2:59

Release

Zombi 2 was first released in September 1979 in Italy, before being released in English-speaking markets in 1980. The film would go on to gross over ₤3,000,000,000 worldwide, significantly higher than its ₤410,000,000 budget.[15] Zombi 2 has also been released under the titles Sanguella, The Island of the Living Dead, Zombie Flesh Eaters, Zombie, Zombie The Dead Walk Among Us,[16] Gli Ultimi Zombi,[17] Woodoo, L'Enfer de Zombies, Zombie 2: The Dead Are Among Us and Nightmare Island.[18]

Upon its release in the United Kingdom on 2 January 1980, the British Board of Film Classification required a total of one minute and forty-six seconds of material to be cut in order to obtain an X rating;[19] its most recent home release on 1 August 2005 passed for an 18 rating with no cuts required.[20] However, the 1980 release found itself classified as a "video nasty", having been considered a breach of the Obscene Publications Act.[21] This classification, and the de facto "ban" it involved, has subsequently been used for publicity when advertising future home releases [22]

Zombi 2 has been released several times on home video, beginning with a 1981 VHS version by VIPCO following the theatrical cuts directed by the BBFC.[23] VIPCO produced an uncut release, marketed as the "strong uncut version", on VHS the following year; this is the release which was widely confiscated as a "video nasty".[24] Further VHS releases followed in 1991 and 1994, with the latter being edited for widescreen viewing.[25] The film was first released on DVD by VIPCO in 2004, with minor cuts, and uncut by Anchor Bay Entertainment in 2005.[26] Other DVD releases include a 2004 version by Cornerstone Media,[27] and a 2012 DVD and Blu-ray version by Arrow Films.[28]

Reception

Zombi 2 grossed higher in the domestic Italian box office than its predecessor, leading to future sequels—Fulci began directed Zombi 3 before illness forced him to hand over the reigns to Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragasso, the latter of whom would also direct Zombi 4.[2]

In a contemporary review, Tom Milne reviewed a 89-minute English-language dub in the Monthly Film Bulletin and compared the film to Dawn of the Dead. While noting that the cast was competent and the film featured "sometimes effective make-up work", Milne opined that the film "lacks-for all weaknesses of Romero's film—even a tenth of the minatory charge harboured by Zombies."[29] The review noted that the censorship trimmed a "promisingly gruesome sequence" with a corpse undergoing an autopsy.[29] In Italy, La Stampa described the film as "pedestrian", as well finding it hard to bear Olga Karlatos' character's death scene.[30]

In a 2012 review for The Guardian, Phelim O'Neill described the film as "the ultimate undead movie", praising its commitment to gory scenes and convincing effects. O'Neill felt that the film stood the passage of time well, and explained that this was "because it delivers, plain and simple". He also highlighted Frizzi's work on the score, and summed the film up as "a real influence on what followed".[31] Anne Billson, writing for The Daily Telegraph in 2013, included Zombi 2 in her list of the top ten zombie films, describing its opening scenes as "sublimely creepy" and the eye-gouging scene as "memorably nasty".[32] Writing for the Daily Mirror, James Kloda praised Fulci's directing, finding that he consistently made evocative use of particular shots to accentuate the film's action or horror. Kloda felt that the film "can often blind with its shock violence but is well worth the look".[33]

Writing for AllMovie, Robert Firsching described Zombi 2 as a "relatively well made shocker" which "led to the zombie-gore film becoming the dominant motif of 1980s Italian horror". Firsching rated the film three stars out of five.[17] Empire's Kim Newman awarded the film two stars out of five, chalking up much of its "video nasty" reputation to the "eye gouging" scene, comparing this unfavourably to similar material in 1929's Un Chien Andalou. Newman did compliment several sequences as interesting, particularly one underwater scene depicting a zombie attacking a shark, but found that overall the film did no "keep up the pace or plausability sufficiently".[34]

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 McCulloch, Ian (26 June 2015). "Exclusive Memoir: "Zombie"'s Ian McCulloch remembers co-star Richard Johnson". Fangoria. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  2. 1 2 Pulliam & Fonseca 2014, p. 307.
  3. 1 2 3 4 2012 DVD liner notes, p. 10.
  4. ↑ Curti, 2013. p. 290
  5. ↑ Curti, 2013. p. 291
  6. ↑ 2012 DVD liner notes, pp. 14–15.
  7. ↑ 2012 DVD liner notes, p. 13.
  8. ↑ 2012 DVD liner notes, p. 15.
  9. ↑ Frizzi 2 Fulci, p. 1.
  10. ↑ Frizzi 2 Fulci, pp. 1–3.
  11. 1 2 Frizzi 2 Fulci, p. 4.
  12. ↑ Frizzi 2 Fulci, p. 16.
  13. ↑ Rife, Katie (28 August 2015). "Italian film composer Fabio Frizzi to play his first-ever U.S. shows this fall". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  14. ↑ Adams, Gregory (23 February 2015). "'Zombi 2' and 'Maniac Cop 2' Treated to New Reissues by Death Waltz/Mondo". Exclaim!. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  15. ↑ 2012 DVD liner notes, pp. 10–11.
  16. ↑ "Zombi 2 (1979) | BFI". British Film Institute. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  17. 1 2 Firsching, Robert. "Zombie (1979) – Lucio Fulci". AllMovie. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  18. ↑ 2012 DVD liner notes, p. 6.
  19. ↑ "Zombie Flesh-Eaters (1980)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  20. ↑ "Zombie Flesh Eaters (2005)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  21. ↑ Petley 2011, pp. 213–215.
  22. ↑ Hubner, Leaning & Manning 2014, pp. 46–48.
  23. ↑ 2012 DVD liner notes, p. 25.
  24. ↑ 2012 DVD liner notes, pp. 25–27.
  25. ↑ 2012 DVD liner notes, p. 27.
  26. ↑ 2012 DVD liner notes, pp. 27–28.
  27. ↑ "Zombie Flesh Eaters (Export Only)". Cornerstone Media. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  28. ↑ "Zombie Flesh Eaters". Arrow Films. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  29. 1 2 Milne, Tom (1980). "Zombie Flesh-Eaters "(Zombi 2)"". Monthly Film Bulletin (London) 47 (552): 55. ISSN 0027-0407.
  30. ↑ "Zombi volenterosi". La Stampa (in Italian). 28 August 1979. p. 19. Retrieved 19 September 2015. In Zombi 2 tutto e pedestre, invece e spesso ripugnante: al limite del sopportabile la scena raccapricciante dell'accecamento e della morte di Olga Karlatos.
  31. ↑ O'Neill, Phelim (1 December 2012). "This week's new DVD & Blu-ray". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  32. ↑ Billson, Anne (21 June 2013). "10 best zombie films of all time, chosen by Anne Billson". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  33. ↑ Kloda, James (31 October 2013). "Schlocky horror: 10 of the most distasteful, insane and untamed horror films to terrify you on Halloween". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  34. ↑ Newman, Kim. "Empire's Zombie Flesh Eaters (Zombi 2) Movie Review". Empire. Retrieved 11 September 2015.

References

External links

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