Zombie (1979)

If you haven’t heard of this movie I don’t blame you. It’s pretty obscure and if you’re not a horror movie buff it’s probably under your radar. Lately I’ve been getting into all these Italian movies from the 70’s and 80’s. Grotesque zombie and cannibal movies. They’re really intense and often have scenes of gruesome violence so if you have a weak stomach then for the love of God do not watch. “How bad can it be?” you may be asking yourself. Well I’ll tell ya. In “Cannibal Ferox” (1981) a guy gets his dong cut off and eaten and a lady gets impaled through the boobies. Yep.
Anyway, I’m here to talk about “Zombi 2” or just “Zombie.” They tried to market it as a sequel to “Night of the Living Dead” so they tacked a 2 on the end. This movie is cheesy to the extreme but if you like camp then go for it. It’s a delight. Just don’t let your girlfriend or wife watch it with you because they’ll think you’re a sick bastard. The make up effects, especially when someone gets a chunk of flesh bitten off is surprisingly good and over-the-top. Here’s a no bs synopsis of the movie:
Some guy shoots zombies as they reanimate back to life and then it cuts to an abandoned yacht in New York. Some cops get on. There’s a zombie. One of the cops gets chomped and the other blasts the zombie into the water (no headshot) and the soon to be zombie cop gets taken to the hospital. Some lady is being questioned by the police and then she goes to the yacht, meets up with some reporter dude, they make out, go to the Caribbean, go to some island, then zombies attack. They meet some Dr. Monroe wannabe whose wife is a nervous wreck and raging alcoholic. She’s taking a shower, boobs, then a zombie pokes her eye out with broken shards from a door. Last stand against the zombies. They survive but then it cuts to New York where the zombies are taking over the city. END. There’s a little more to it than that but you get the idea.
This film is pretty famous in Europe since it saved the director’s career and is one of the most violent films ever made. Some of the notable scenes include the alcoholic wife being pulled by the hair into a sharp fragment from a destroyed door and stabbed through the eye.
Of all the times to be sober… Then there’s a scene where a 500 year old conquistador zombie with worms falling out of his eye sockets bites the throat out of a lady. Some of the best, most creative make-up design in the horror genre. No joke. Oh, and let me not forget the best zombie scene I’ve ever seen anywhere.

Check it out. If you dare.