Who else found Zombi 2 to be majorly disappointing?
 

A question like that is probably blasphemous around these parts, but I feel I have to say it.

The good parts of this film are obvious; the make-up still holds up very well, the gore is creative and very nasty, the cinematography and music are both nice, and the zombies themselves have a very haunting feel to their shamble.

Now, the rest of the movie is where I found things disappointing. Fulci seems to be praised for his atmosphere in his horror films, for the most part, there seemed to be absolutely no atmosphere throughout this one; the build-up gets stagnant when very upbeat music plays over sunny locations, while I think it's good later events in the movie get to contrast to this notably, it doesn't have much of a great effect.

The characters are tough to care about, especially when the journalist and the daughter of the scientist seem to randomly get horny before a zombie attack after knowing each other for about a day, or just over. Also, as much as I like the music, the soundtrack is very limited; when it cuts to the characters on the boat just after the shark scene, the way the music bluntly ends from the shark sequence steals any effect it was holding.

A bit more of a minor complaint now but the dub is very distracting, I think I would have rather have seen it dubbed into Italian to be honest, because then I don't think I would notice their inflections and intonations. Also, I really wish the model used for the eye-penetration sequence had a bit more work done on it, because the colour of the skin just doesn't seem human at all. The sequence is still very cringeworthy, but I can't help but wish they had a bit more budget to make it into an uncut shot that manages to make it look like the woman's face is really being punctured.

It has to be said though, the first scene with the boat, the final struggle, and the ending in New York are excellent scenes, and when you take into the account the film was made on a very low budget, it's very startling. I just can't shake the ineffective screenplay and how the film bluntly isn't scary, and despite my earlier complaint about atmosphere, I quite like how this is a very colourful-looking zombie movie. I only felt the atmosphere was good though when more zombies began to appear toward the end. I don't hate this film, but I think it's very overrated.

On a crazy note, the massively technically-inferior Zombi 3 is something I almost consider to be a better film, if not for entertainment value alone (cheap call I know), but having a few more unsettling gross-out moments in it, along with a better soundtrack. If Zombi 3 had the same level of seriousness as this one (and was generally better made) I'd probably call it a decent film.

On the other hand, City of the Living Dead is one of my favourite zombie movies, but I can't help but feel this one reflects badly on it, because City seems to lift that "you shouldn't drink so much" scene along with the ending, granted, City's ending is definitively more grim, there was a chance in Zombi 2 there was still a slim chance of survival for humanity.

I would liked to have been shocked by this, oh well, maybe if I have kids...

I have to give all my praise for that shark scene though!

Sacrebleu (pardon my french) blasphemous indeed. Nah everyone has their own opinion, For me Zombi 2 is a classic plain and simple. It probably has to do with watching it at a young age and it having a big impact on me. Zombi 3 on the other hand I found utterly terrible, I couldn't wait for it to finish.

I agree with you to some degree, VE.

I personally don't understand the huge love this film sometimes gets - I consider it vastly inferior to The Beyond and COTLD.

However, that said, I still consider it to be a definitive classic of both zombie, and Italian horror cinema.

Like you, I also have a soft spot for Zombi 3, although I do prefer Zombi 2.

Zombi 2, or Zombie Flesh Eaters as I prefer to call it, is my favourite ever Fulci horror film, closely followed by City of the Living Dead.As Ashy says it probably has a lot to do with nostalgia as it was the first video nasty I ever saw back in the early days of home video, but I also think it's a bona fide horror classic! I personally find The Beyond the most overrated of Fulci's films.

Zombie flesh eaters would be in my top 20 favourite films of all time. It is my second favourite zombie film after Dawn of the dead.


The zombie make up has never been equalled never mind bettered, and the atmosphere I have always found to be outstanding.

Add to this, that it was one of the first horror films I ever saw (at the age of 8) and one of only 2 horror films to truly terrify me on first viewing (the other being the hills have eyes)

It is also my favourite Fulci film as I have always found The Beyond and City of the Living the Dead, a little slow moving.

To me a perfect double bill would be zombi 2 and zombie holocaust thankfully both of which should be on blu-ray by next year.

When I first watched Zombi 3, as Zombie Flesh Eaters 2, I thought it was actually pretty unmemorable and considered it more of a Fragasso film than a Mattei one. After seeing After Death, it's definitely a Mattei film now in my eyes, and as painfully stupid as it times (even for a Mattei and Fragasso collaboration) I have it reserved as a pleasure now.

I wish I had seen Zombi 2 when I was younger, I feel a lot of gory flicks (I actually hate calling it, really cheapens it) are much more shocking when you're growing up and the zombies would have no doubt had a bigger impact on me (granted, I got a small chill seeing some of them).

To be honest, I never liked Dawn of the Dead upon first screening either, I grew to like it more when I took into account it had depth for a horror film at its time, and would like to re-evaluate it still. I wouldn't doubt Zombi 2 definitely stands above many, many other zombies and it does have a great charm to it.

love zombie2/zfe.this was my first zombie film i think,then it was dawn of the dead.always wanted to see zombie swamp when i was a kid,and now i own it i have to admit i wasnt missing much!!!

Imo ZFE is one of the all-time great gut-munchers but the film simply wouldn't exist if the original Dawn Of The Dead didn't take the first bite out of the box-office. Success breeds imitation.

Also, Fulci's vintage gorefest takes a good while to get going after the harbour cop comes a cropper on the boat in the movie's opening moments. However, once the blood starts to run and the flesh starts getting ripped then there's no stopping those Zombie Flesh Eaters.

"I've just been informed that zombies have entered the building! They're at the door!! They're coming in!!! AAAARRRGGHH!!!!";)

An overrated film? Personally i believe so but still a must-see grand and grisly slice of Italian splatter.:)

im not a huge fan of Zombie Flesh Eaters or Zombi 2 as i find the film a bit of a chore to watch and i think his 3 gothic 'zombie films', the Beyond, City of the Living Dead and House by The Cemetery are often over shadowed by Zombie which is a shame because i feel they are better made films.

The Beyond & House by the Cemetery are the ones I find a chore to sit through, especially Cemetery. :yawn:

I also prefer City and The Beyond,but it's still a gore classic IMO.

You may find yourself in a minority Ven.....:lol:

To be honest it is the ONLY zombie-themed film (i think of City of the living dead more of demon-themed as the undead do not really act as stereotyped zombies do) that unsettled me and i would classify as horror. The first 40 minutes are slow, but overall it gets faster to a climax, unlike Dawn of the living dead which people say is the greatest, but i think of as action rather than horror.

I especially like this opinion because it's probably the most true one I've read about zombies and their appearance in movies, nice to read your say.

I'd have to say if I first saw Zombie 2 now I would be majorly disappointed. Fortunately I saw it at a movie theater in college in the early 1980s. The theater was fairly empty which added to the atmosphere, except for a couple that stupidly brought their middle school-aged kids with them. My friend and I were blown away at the gore scenes so the story line only had to be borderline. The underwater scene with the hottie and the shark were like nothing seen before. During the eyeball splinter scene one of the kids in front of us literally got up and ran out of the theater vomiting in his hands. It was one of those great "at the theater" horror movie experiences branded forever in my mind, along with Alien, Psycho, The Exorcist, Night of the Living & Dawn of the Dead, etc.......It's why I love this genre!!

I love Zombie 2/Zombie Flesh Eaters simply because it brings back memories of getting my videos from "under the counter" in my local shop. The owner was sympathetic to my bloodthirsty needs. I think he rented more "under the counter/banned titles" than he did regular ones. lol
Anyway, there was a sense of rebellion watching that then which is missing now because we're "allowed" to see it. Although, the scene of the zombie rising from the grave, his whole head rotted but the shoulders are completely fine and decay free, still cracks me up.

I've long been a big fan of Fulci's work and I adore ZFE. But, again, as with others here, there's probably a bit of a nostalgia thing going on with that. However, ZFE's long term impact on horror cannot be underestimated. Whereas Romero's zombies were pale blue-faced creations, Fulci's zombies are worm-infested and rotting monstrosities. And I have no doubt that this had an impact on the zombie genre - I mean, can you recall ANY film prior to ZFE that featured zombies like that?

Saying all that, each to their own. Different things affect different people. If we were all the same it'd be well boring. I like it when people make contentious statements, it gets everyone thinking and generates interesting discussion. ;)

As a piece of cinema it is certainly a lesser work than The Beyond or City Of The Living Dead, but it has phenomenal verve and I find it carries one along most effectively with its flaws easy to ignore in the grander scheme of things.

There is no question Fulci is a major force in the history of horror. His over-the-top gore by way of the FX maestro, Giannetto De Rossi, set the course for so much of the 80s and 90s horror along with the American contingent of Romero, Savini, etc. I will always prefer the brooding slow moving zombies from the Fulci and early Romero films as I found it more creepy and other worldly. Fulci and many other European horror directors always seemed ahead of their American counter parts when it came to grisly FX with details such as the rotting corpses, flies and maggots, etc. It always seemed more real to me. So for movies made around 30 years ago (Zombi 2, The Beyond, City of) they still visually pack a punch.

Zombie flesh eater is IMMENSE, the eyeball scene, the shark scene, the totally AWFUL acting. its amazing...it sure as hell aint no romero but its a classic in my eyes (pun intended)

ZOMBIE 2 is an amazing film, not just for the gore but i think that the sheer look of the zombies themselves add to the graphic / gothic style that this film has and prooves that you don't need cgi to create certain effects when a bit of thought can go into it to create realistic and impressive effects without the help of a computer(boring) so not a disappointing film at all but to me a major winner,can't wait for the blu ray edition :woot::clap::rockon:

OK some don't like it, that's cool I guess.

But it's still one of the best zombie films to grace the genre (And of course features one of the most iconic zombies too.)

You just have to look at other similar Italian projects of the time to fully appreciate what Fulci and co managed to do.

I would rank it in the top five living dead films ever made.

Loved ZFE ever since I saw it on a vipco VHS in the 90s. I think nostalgia plays a major part in why so many people love these films. I think it has bags of atmosphere and great FX. I'd place it at the top of the zombie genre along with Let Sleeping Corpses Lie and the Blind Dead films. I think Romero's trilogy are important milestones, and they have important political messages, and I wouldn't be without them in my collection... but they just don't seem to entertain me as much as the European zombie films do.

I saw the film when I was a teenager and loved it then and do now. For me its a punk rock zombie movie. Yes it shambles together in places, the music is all over the place, but it packs a punch. The zombie eating a shark was an amazing scene. The zombies are scary and its influenced everything from resident evil to dead island. This film needs a uncut uk release on BD or dvd for that matter. It's long overdue.

For me Zombie 2 is the greatest zombie film of the modern era.

A film which says a big thank you to the best zombie film ever made in I Walked with Zombie. Taking cues from that films Carribbean voodoo origins and bringing it right up to date with the scariest zombies seen on a screen and the greatest gore effects produced to date.

Always good to hear a dissenting voice when it comes to the Holy Grails... Funnily enough I was gonna start a thread along the lines of The Classics You Hate, but for what it's worth I hated Dellamorte Dellamore.... Hated....

That's a great idea for a thread.

aye, go for the thread. can sort of see why you had that sort of reaction to DD, but it sets its stall out pretty instantly so you know youre nae in...say ZFE, which is a humorless grind of a film (this is a compliment btw) it doesnt let up and the ending is one of the bleakest in cinema history, so yes im a fan. can see why younger viewers get less out of it though, ive shown it to countless dozens over the years, and its always the eating scene that gets to folk, before that theyre usually complaining that "...nothings happening!!" then after theyre usually quieter. happy days....now, where's my net??:laugh:

Get on with it then before someone steals your thunder. :D

I reckon Zombie Flesh Eaters is one of Fulci's most coherently plotted films! Works great as a straight-up zombie movie and the on-location filming adds so much to the atmosphere. I liked the conquistador/voodoo back-story too :D

I've always preferred The Beyond and City of the Living Dead to Zombie Flesh Eaters, although it's still a great film in it's own right (even if a tad over-rated ;)).

Plot?

Atmosphere??

Characters you care about???

What are they?

It has gore and it has violence - what more do you want?

I generally require at least some sort of plot and atmosphere in order to enjoy a movie lol... but maybe I'm fussy!?

I like the crappy potted history that Brian Hull gives, like he's delivering a very basic lesson to kids:lol:

Who else found Zombi 2 to be majorly disappointing?
 

I have always liked THE BEYOND to ZOMBIE
each to their own

I must admit i'm more or less of the same mindset when it comes to my fave horror movies. I can certainly approve of an atmospheric approach but it generally has to be the visuals and violence that keep me entertained. Most of the time pretty much everything else takes a back seat and plays second fiddle.

Personally, i'd rather watch a brainless, plotless gorefest than endure a film with a stunningly original storyline and interesting characters but precious little more.:)

zombi 2 is awesome. what film today would have a guy wrestling a shark. it would be cgi and have smauel jackson screaming.

Zombie Flesh Eaters is my personal favourite of Fulci's horror films, it's probably to do with nostalgia as much as anything else as it was one of the first video cassettes I had the good fortune to rent not long after my family bought their first VCR.I love everything about the film, the atmosphere, the score, the make-up fx, the actors and the locations used.That underwater zombie vs shark scene was something you heard about from school friends and didn't believe existed in any film, simply being a result of their overactive imaginations. :D

I prefer THE BEYOND myself & COTLD (The first Fulci I saw)but it's hugely entertaining with a great score (Always a plus in most Italian horrors),some pretty decent effects for the time & of course the great shark sequence.House By The Cemetery is the Fulci film I'm not as keen on.

HBTC is my least favourite Fulci out of the obvious four. It's just too disjointed and the boy's dubbing is just plain irritating. I like some of the score and the effects are good. It's just nowhere near as good as ZFE, COTLD and The Beyond. They're high benchmarks in anyone's career and Fulci never came close again, in my view.