Zombie (1979, It.) (aka Zombi 2, or Zombie Flesh Eaters)

This gory Lucio Fulci horror-sci-fi film was one of many Italian redos (or unofficial sequels) of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978) (released in Italy as Zombi), although the two films were unrelated. Therefore, this one was alternately titled Zombi 2. Its tagline was: "WE ARE GOING TO EAT YOU! ZOMBIE...The Dead Are Among Us!" Its screenplay was written by uncredited Dardano Sacchetti, and released with writing credits given to Elisa Briganti (Dardano's wife).

• before the opening title credits, a silhouetted, backlit figure aimed his gun (shown in closeup) at the camera - toward an individual sitting up on a cot (completely covered and tied up in a canvas bag); the gun was fired into the person's head, producing blood-splatter; the shooter spoke: "The boat can leave now. Tell the crew"; the title of the film (ZOMBIE) appeared in white letters on a black screen [Note: This short scene was a flash-forward to a later scene.]

Pre-Title Credits Flash-Forward

• after the title credits, the film officially opened with an eerie scene as an abandoned yacht-ship or sailboat (un-manned except for one fat, bald, deformed flesh-eating zombie) (a rip-off of Nosferatu (1922)) entered NY harbor, and threatened to collide with other vessels in the area; one of two harbor patrolmen from the Coast Guard investigating the strange vessel found the deck covered with strewn trash, and inside the cabin, there was rotting food, flies, slimy centipedes crawling on a piano keyboard, and a severed bloody hand
• the patrolman below deck was attacked by a flesh-eating zombie and bloodily bitten in the neck; on the open deck, the second patrolman riddled the zombie's body with bullets when it didn't heed his warnings to "freeze where you are," and it tumbled into the water [Note: This zombie was the one that apparently went on to create havoc in NYC, as evidenced in the film's conclusion.]
• Peter West (Ian McCulloch), a British newspaper reporter, became involved in the investigation by police into the death of the patrolman from the zombie's attack
• Anne Bolt/Bowles (Tisa Farrow, the sister of Mia) was questioned, due to the fact that her father, a scientist named Dr. David Bowles (Ugo Bologna), was the boat's owner; Dr. Bowles had recently set sail to a Caribbean island in the Antilles, presumably the source of the boat with a zombie onboard

Peter West (Ian McCulloch) - British Newspaper Reporter

Anne Bolt/Bowles (Tisa Farrow) - Daughter of the Boat's Owner

• Anne told investigating police that she hadn't heard from her father in over a month, and last spoke to him 3 months earlier - when he set sail for the Antilles. (Her father first came out to the islands three years earlier.)
• in a NYC morgue, two morticians examined the decaying body of the dead Coast Guard patrolman, who had been attacked in the neck and apparently died of severe hemorrhaging due to neck bites; they didn't notice that his corpse was reanimating; meanwhile, during a dark night, Anne snuck onto her father's boat (being guarded by a policeman at a dock), and was accosted by Peter West inside the cabin; he held her mouth to prevent her from screaming, and explained how he was conducting his own investigation because "the police version" wasn't convincing enough to him; he suggested that they work together, and decipher a note that he had found in the cabin, written by her father to her from the island of Matool in the Antilles; to evade suspicion when the policeman heard noises and entered the cabin, they pretended to be making out; he let them go without charging them for trespassing
• in the note, her father expressed gloom about his prognosis: "Contact my daughter Anne if anything should happen to me. Due to my morbid curiosity, I have managed to contract a strange disease. They are taking care of me as if I was some sort of guinea pig, but I know I'll never leave this island again, at least not alive"; there appeared to be a plague of zombie attacks on the island, causing a rampant contagious disease

Bryan Curt/Hull (Al Cliver) - An Ethnologist

Susan Barrett (Auretta Gay) - Bryan's Girlfriend

• Peter (through his boss) and Anne were given the go-ahead to travel to the island together to further investigate; after arriving by plane at St. Thomas (US Virgin Islands), the two hired a couple (two American guides) to provide them with a boat ride to the island of Matool; the two were Bryan Curt/Hull (Al Cliver), an ethnologist, and Bryan's sexy girlfriend Susan Barrett (Auretta Gay). However, they were explicitly warned by Bryan: "That's not a cool place to head. Natives claim it's cursed. They avoid it like the plague"

Scuba-Diver Susan Barrett Entering Water Topless

• during the trip to the voodoo-worshipping Caribbean Island of Matool, Susan decided to go scuba diving without her bikini top; during her underwater excursion, she was attacked first by a tiger shark, and then a zombie; she fought off the zombie with a sharp piece of coral - who then turned and took a big bite out of the shark, until the shark grabbed the zombie's arm and tore it off
• meanwhile on the disease-stricken island during an ongoing plague, the suspicious Dr. David Menard (Richard Johnson), an expert on zombie reanimation (through miraculous voodoo), lived with his estranged wife Paolo (Olga Karlatos); she considered his research experiments "crazy, demented, cruel, evil...You're no better than one of their witch doctors....You're no better than one of their witchdoctors...Research! You call fooling around with superstitions and voodoo rites research?"; she was desperate to leave the island as soon as possible, although communications were cut off: ("I don't want to stay on this island one more hour. You won't be happy until I be one of your zombies!...I don't believe anything you say anymore")

A Shower Scene As Dr. Menard's Estranged Wife Paolo Was Beginning to Be Assaulted by a Zombie Hand

• Paolo was at first seen taking a shower, when a creepy zombie hand emerged at the bathroom window as it spied on her; when she realized she was being assaulted, she squished the zombie's fingers in her door, locked it, and then hid behind it to avoid the undead, marauding flesh-eating zombie from attacking; with great effort and exertion, she struggled to push a large, heavy cabinet over to the locked door to try and blockade it, as it was being splintered

Paolo Grabbed by the Hair by The Zombie

• in one of the most gruesome and scary eye gouging or 'splinter-into-the-eye' death sequences ever filmed [Note: A similar scene appeared in director Lucio Fulci's The Beyond (1981, It.).], through gaping slats in the broken-down door, the zombie reached in and grabbed her by the hair; it slowly dragged her right eyeball into a serrated shard of wood sticking out - horrifyingly filmed from her POV; after her death (off-camera), she was consumed by zombies
• at around the same time, Dr. Menard came upon the stranded group from the boat, and told Anne about his acquaintance with her father Dr. David Bowles, and his recent death: "When he became a victim of the disease, he insisted upon staying, in spite of everything I said to him. I insisted that he should leave, but he wouldn't. He felt that he could, in some way, become a guinea pig. That he could help in discovering what was causing the horrors that were destroying our island, transforming it into a wasteland of terror. Extremely courageous man"

The Stranded Boat Group

Dr. Menard With the Group

• there was a brief flashback to the day that David died when he begged Dr. Menard: "Make sure that my soul rests in everlasting peace"; shortly later, as David became zombified and came back to life, Dr. Menard reluctantly "released" his soul by shooting his canvas-wrapped body in the head (a repeat of the pre-title credits sequence)
• Menard regarded the phenomenon of "the undead" as the result of a voodoo curse: ("It makes the dead stand up and walk. I've seen it with my own eyes...Some evil witch doctor who creates these zombies"); others were skeptical, however, especially ethnologist Bryan: "Voodoo is just plain superstitious horses--t"; Dr. Menard was determined to find if there was a "natural explanation"
• after the boat group was sent back to Menard's cottage to check on his wife Paolo, they discovered her corpse being consumed by zombies; the group fled in a Jeep from the ravenous zombies, and ended up in the jungle near a Conquistador-era graveyard; Susan was attacked and bitten by a zombie-conquistador who had burst from the ground in the cemetery

Susan Attacked and Bitten by a Graveyard Conquistador Zombie

• in the film's blood-splattered climax, the horde of flesh-eating zombies (many of which were Spanish conquistadors, evidenced by their helmets and rising from their gravesites) as well as "living dead" who were reanimated in the hospital, attacked the few human survivors on the island; [Note: It was a siege of the hospital's church similar to the one in Night of the Living Dead (1968).]
• Dr. Menard was bitten in the face by one of his own reanimated patients; fire-bombs worked temporarily to hold back the surge, but the only sure way to eliminate a zombie was to shoot it in the head; Bryan didn't defend himself when he was startled to see his own zombified girlfriend Susan, and she bit him in the left arm; Bryan commanded for Peter to shoot Susan in the head
• those who were able to get off the island included Anne, Peter, and Bryan (although he soon died from Susan's bite); Peter suggested that they lock Bryan up in the bilge to be brought back: "He's the only proof we've got that this all happened. And we will need proof unfortunately. Otherwise, they'll just think that we're crazy"
• in an ironic twist ending (similar to the film's opening), as their boat approached NYC harbor, they listened to a radio broadcast that reported that the entire city was under a zombie attack: "The situation here in New York City since the discovery of the first zombie is getting worse by the hour. There's chaos in the streets...the zombies are taking over. The governor has declared a state of national emergency...The zombies are everywhere. There seems to be no way to stop them. The city is at their mercy"; the film concluded with the reporter and other being assaulted: "I've just been informed that zombies have entered the building. They're at the door... they're coming in! AHHHHH!"