Extreme Cinema: Day 1

Part one of my Extreme Cinema week, I have decided to embark on a few days of the macabre, to revel in all things nasty and perverse. Depending on how much I'm willing to watch will depend of whether there'll be five or seven parts (a working or a full week) but I'm also hoping the films I've picked are diverse enough to remain interesting.

Day 1: Zombie Flesh Eaters (Lucio Fulci, 1979)

My first foray into the world of Fulci could only have been with arguably his most famous work (second only to The Beyond, a film that I have been eager to watch for a while). Born as an Italian sequel to George Romero's Dawn of the Dead (known as Zombi in Italy, hence Flesh Eaters moniker of Zombi 2 upon its release), it feels akin to a fan film, a cheap nasty exploitation flick that revels in the gore and seldom thinks of things like character motivations or even plot and narrative structure.

It is easy to see why it caused such a shit storm upon its release in Britain (it was featured on the Video Nasties list, along with three others of Fulci's works): despite being slow, the gore is extreme and Fulci shoots it with a lovers eye. In probably its most infamous moment, one victim is pulled towards a splintered dod of wood, puncturing her eye very, very slowly. The camera never once shies away and the ordeal becomes almost excruciating, the only audible noise the victim's screams.

The things is, with the reputation this film carries, I was expecting more. It's nasty, horribly so at times, but there is nothing that hasn't been seen before. Romero's own Dawn and Day of the Dead were worse (apart from the aforementioned eye puncturing scene) and the between gore downtime is slow. But there is a charm about it (if a film this horrible really can be said to have any charm) that I liked very much, not least in it's grimy, cheap, shoot-on-the-fly aesthetic. This is a grindhouse pic by definition and to hell with continuity and a cohesive plot. The disease that causes the plague goes unspecified, the Doctor's reasons for staying on the island whilst everyone around him dies is ropey and once our protagonists arrive, the choices they make often defy logic. One woman merely stands still and watches a zombie approach from a distance. I half expected to a second beast to attack her from behind but no, she merely stands and watches and then seems surprised when it rips her throat out.

But Fulci is a man that at least understands that Zombies are inherently frightening and the moments before the eye puncturing scene (in which the victim barricades herself in her room) are fairly unnerving. As so during the climax, where we see many a Zombie shuffling their way out of the woods towards our heroes. The ending is relentlessly bleak and the final shot of the beasties making their way across the Brooklyn bridge was fitting (although the traffic still seems to running as normal. Curious seeing as they state the Zombies have effectively taken over New York). The synthesized score, a token of the zombie movies of the 70's an 80's is also suitably ominous.

Taking it for what it is, Zombie Flesh Eaters (or Zombie, or Zombi 2, or whatever the fuck it's called) does what it set out do: to be a cheap knocked off of the popular Romero brand. It's got it's faults and it's not what it's reputation would have you believe but in the company of a few close friends and a six pack of beer much fun can be had.

It has a zombie vs a shark. A fucking shark! Nuff said.

3/5