I did not read all posts in this thread, it was too confusing - I love Zombi 2 (or Woodoo as it was called when I saw it at a cinema at the age of 14 - shortly before I saw Dawn otD for the first time - it shaped my taste in films, some might say "not in a good way" I tend to disagree to that.

There are worlds between Dawn and Zombi 2, but still, Fulcis film holds the flame high and bright in this genre, I did not see much bad in it when I recently rewatched it on the excellent BD from Blue Underground...

for me zfe is best zombie pic made(i do love the romero's first 3 dead pics) but zfe has real downbeat feel,which a horror movie i think should have,don't get me wrong it does have its faults but i can forgive them,i just love the island setting,the begining is stunning and the photography and sfx are up there,in my view anything hollywood could produce.:)

Not watched it for a while but i do rank it as one off the all time best zombie films. Dawn was good but the protagonists feel too safe at times, in Fulci's film you feel that there is no safety and no way to escape.

While i agree that ZFE is a fantastic zombie movie,for me personally it ranks at number 3 in my all time favourite zombie movies. One and two being Day of the dead 1985 and Dawn of the dead from 1978. I'm really looking forward to the bluray release of ZFE from Arrow.

I didn't read all the posts on this thread but I'm sure someone has already mentioned that everyone is entitled to their own opinions. One major factor, especially in this genre, is how old you were when you first discovered it. The younger you were, weather you were scared, grossed out, or simply amused by it matters quite a bit if you ask me. One can't deny the "nostalgia factor" when relating to our favourite horror flix.

I was 18 when I first saw it in the first Box of the Banned set and it was the best film there. just before Christmas there, I bought the 2 disc Arrow version. Brilliant commentaries and special features!

I've already said it, but even if I put my nostalgia to one side, if you compare it to similar productions of the time it was a pretty amazing achievement by Fulci & co. And if you look at the Zombie genre as a whole, surely it ranks as one of the best, outside of the Romero films.

I agree, especially with Cenetery. I do really like The Beyond, but despite it having more big set-pieces than any of his other films something about it leaves me slightly cold. Maybe the score - probably my least favourite Frizzi score.

My faves out of his big horror flicks are probably:

1. ZFE
2. COTLD
3. The Beyond
4. New York Ripper (much better than I'd expected, only saw it recently, although it took me two watches to really like it, gets better with every viewing)

I don't even consider House a fave - never got into it, and I've given it several attempts (could be that kid's fault). Recently saw DOn't Torture A Duckling for the first time, really liked that even though it's pretty all over the shop. Lizard In A Woman's Skin soon, then I'll delve into the lesser entries. Seen Cat In The Brain and The Black Cat, thought both were pretty gash but still enjoyably mental!

A long shot maybe, but anyone who's been disappointed by ZFE when watching it for the first time recently might actually be pleasantly surprised by Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue - it suffers from even worse dubbing and a slower pace but arguably has better characters, a creepier atmosphere and similarly amazing cinematography, soundtrack, downbeat tone, and scary zombies. I only saw it for the first time a few years ago and thought it was a bit too slow but it actually gave me a nightmare, then I watched it again and really got into it. It's really creepy, has some good gore too but you have to remember that it was made more towards the start of the 70s. Really strong and unusual film though, highly UNDER-rated IMO.

...Manchester Morgue is inordinately better than Zombi 2 in my book.

I watched ZFE recently and noticed a few seconds missing from the opening shot, anyone else noticed this......hang on, haven't we already covered this :lol:

I prefer ZFE to Manchester Morgue, but only just mind as they're both fine examples of Euro zombie films. I think one of the reason why I like ZFE so much is because it was my introduction to Italian Horror 20 odd years ago via the cut Vipco VHS(one of my few remaining VHS's) and had to wait almost 10 years before seeing it fully uncut courtesy of Italian Shock after having read about it countless times in The Dark Side and their Zombie book plus other genre publications. When I did finally get to see the infamous "splinter scene" I was shocked that it had been cut in the UK because it's so blatantly fake part!

I won't be reading that one. :tongue1:

It does have the lovely Cristina Galbó though.

I too grew up seeing the cut versions of this and Evil Dead and agree with arguments against censorship that say that the censored versions of the eyeball, throat-rip, and ankle-gouge from ED are more disturbing than the intended, OTT and fake rubbery versions because they retain the initial shock before the gore slips into excess. Interesting! I'd still take the gore, fake or not though . . .

Me too, I have a cut version of Evil Dead on VHS from the early 90's and until Anchor Bay released it uncut in 2000, I hadn't seen the full version, I now have it uncut on VHS, plus the Book of the Dead edition and in the Evil Dead Trilogy boxset from AB and just recently the BD steelbook, which I watched for the first time last night along with Army of Darkness.

And much better than Dawn of the Dead too, in mine!

We must read similar books. :nod:

I think you're both insane, Dawn of the Dead is miles better than ZFE, for one reason alone-Tom Savini's mustache comb!

I agree Rik, Dawn is better than Zombie 2 and Living dead
at the Manchester morgue.

It's certainly a dashed close call indeed.

Dawn is easily my favourite of the 3, I watch it at least once a month, just slightly more often than ZFE and definitely more often than Manchester Morgue. All three are fantastic zombie films though, and all have great Blu Ray editions out there (forgetting the mistake on Arrows ZFE, it's still the best we'll get for a long time)

Me too and in that order. All great movies though.

To quote myself I said the music is all over the place. Its not. I hadn't seen the film in so long and when I did recently the music brought tears to my eyes, very nostalgic.

I recently watched it with a friend.
This guy isn't into cult/horror/... but after the movie he said:
"I don't know what it is but I realle liked it!"
This just proves to me that Lucio Fulci was a great artist...RIP

While he could create an uneasy atmosphere all of his own. Sometimes his love of SFX could admittedly weaken some of his films. But even then, I can't help but love the guy, as he comes across like a big kid at times, with his love of the wet stuff. Imagine having a Grandad like him!