00:00hey everyone it's me Bo back once again with another cult movie review in today's
00:19video I'm going to be reviewing the 1979 horror movie zombie flesh eaters if you
00:28guys like the content that I do here please consider subscribing I do really appreciate
00:34all the support as I'm obviously trying to grow the channel so zombie flesh eaters from 1979 was
00:43directed by the Italian Lucio Fulci the filmmaker produced some intriguing cinema throughout his
00:52life and worked in a wide variety of genres but it's safe to say that it was Fulci's involvement
01:03with the horror genre that really defined his career you know Fulci was a seasoned director
01:12and had already directed over 30 films before he even attached himself to this project and you know
01:20with all things considered his experience really showed as he was able to produce a grandiose
01:29stylized zombie film on you know such a limited budget now in most european markets the movie
01:39served as a sequel to george a romero's dawn of the dead and was released under the name zombie 2
01:47however here in the uk the movie was titled zombie flesh eaters which yeah is a name that i much prefer
01:57over the unoriginal zombie 2 so i saw this movie many years ago maybe when i was about 14 or 15 at the time
02:09i was uh just getting into horror movies and horror fandom in general i'd go and pick up these cheap dvds
02:21while i was shopping with my family and you know rush home and go watch them i'd have all the lights
02:26turned off eating sweets or popcorn simpler times anyways one day out shopping i stumbled upon the zombie
02:35flash eaters dvd and immediately purchased it it was the vipco vaults of horror dvd release the extreme
02:45version with the awesome cover art of the green hand on the front yeah i don't want to get too sidetracked
02:52here but um just quickly say you know vipco were a good horror movie distributor here in the uk back
02:59when the internet was still in its infancy and dvds were a new thing vipco along with anchor bay catered
03:08to the growing demand for horror film titles now for those who don't already know back in the 1980s
03:18uh zombie flash shooters this film was one of many titles that was unfairly banned here in the uk
03:25the bbfc classification board deemed the film too violent for public consumption and banned the film for
03:34many years dubbed the video nasties by the uk mainstream media this movie along with several
03:42others became notorious over time due to the censorship so the movie starts with the character
03:50peter west a local reporter played by actor ian mcculloch his boss sends him down to the new york docks
03:58to cover a possible murder story that has taken place on an abandoned boat during peter's investigation
04:07he ends up meeting the murder victim's daughter and he bows played by actress tisa farrow after some
04:15discussion they both agreed to work together to solve this mysterious murder on the strength of an
04:24uncovered letter written by her father anne and peter traveled to matul an island in the caribbean in search
04:33for answers while on their way they befriend an american couple called brian and susan to help assist them
04:41on their journey to the island now as soon as i saw this couple introduced i immediately knew that they
04:48were going to be killed off at some point i mean uh with their introduction it felt kind of implausible that
04:57this random couple with this boat would take peter and two complete strangers all the way to matul i
05:06don't know maybe brian and susan were just super nice but uh yeah it did seem a little bit far-fetched
05:13and so once both couples were shown traveling to the island i knew it was just a matter of time before
05:21the zombies attacked meanwhile on the island of matul dr menard and his team were researching the zombie
05:31reanimation process doctor played by actor richard johnson was harvesting dead bodies and studying their
05:42transition into zombie form yeah a few times in the movie we saw the doctor actually question the
05:51cause of the outbreak and its relation to voodoo and black magic i must say i found the whole
06:00superstition religious aspect quite interesting though it was not heavily focused on actor richard johnson
06:10gave a nuanced performance as the emotionally frazzled doctor you know i understand that the film
06:17gets criticized for his poor acting but i honestly thought that johnson delivered in his role as dr maynard
06:24i don't know there was there was just this real sense of dread in his eyes now there were three key
06:33standout scenes in this film that i have to talk about three scenes that have been visually imprinted
06:41into my brain the first was the fight scene between the shark and the zombie so on their way to the island
06:52susan randomly decided to scuba dive as you do she took to the water and very quickly found herself
07:02getting cornered by a shark which in turn would then get attacked by this underwater zombie
07:08now i remember watching this scene for the first time and just being amazed by the visual it um it just
07:17kind of came out of nowhere and it was yeah completely unexpected we saw the zombie riding the back of
07:24the shark as it tried to wriggle free eventually the shark bit the zombies arm off and we saw this black
07:32blood flowing out it's uh it's such a memorable scene and huge credit to the filmmakers for showing
07:42such ambition i mean you know the concept enough was pretty crazy but for them to actually go ahead
07:50and pull it off was simply amazing working with animals on a movie set is hard enough but for someone to
07:59actually go and wrestle a shark underwater with a camera crew trying to film it you know it's just a
08:06monumental task but you know it really was an achievement that i don't believe has been repeated
08:12since and there is absolutely no way that we would see anything like this in today's cinema the best we
08:21could hope for would be some fake looking cgi shark another scene i wanted to mention was the death scene
08:29involving the doctor's wife paloma so while the doctor was out conducting his research on the island
08:38his wife was left home alone sometime later on in the film we see her get attacked by a zombie and in the
08:48process lose an eye it was a very gory scene but brilliantly executed on screen it it really showed the
09:00true horrors of what could happen in a zombie home invasion while the shot of the eye getting impaled
09:08was very brutal to watch it did bring a sense of grotesque realism to the overall film
09:17lastly i have to mention the final scene at the end of the film where the zombies take over new york and
09:27we see an army of them walking slowly across brooklyn bridge the haunting zombie flesh eaters theme composed
09:36by fabio frizzy played out as the credits scrolled down the screen just another brilliant sequence that i
09:43loved and credit to the cinematographer sergio silvati the shot was perfectly framed with the bridge
09:51and the twin towers in the foreground also the weather on that day was wet and gray which lent itself to
10:00the story's doom and gloom ending it's all dislikes for zombie flesh eaters 1979 now it's not a huge
10:11thing but my main dislike would be the bad dubbing the film has while i understand that there were some
10:19technical issues surrounding the production sound quality i have to say the dubbing really does lower
10:29the film's overall quality it's quite funny because zombie flesh eaters is a movie that had many strong
10:39visuals but sadly also featured poor quality audio where some of the dialogue didn't match with the actor's
10:49mouth as i said it's not a huge issue but it can be distracting at times also for a younger audience
10:58i'd imagine they'd find it quite jarring also the poor quality audio does kind of date the movie because
11:07bad dubbing issues was something we only really saw from films from that era and so ratings for zombie
11:16flesh eaters i'm going to be rating this movie a solid 6 out of 10. this movie is a cult classic zombie
11:27horror that is well made and wildly entertaining at times yes it was bombastic at times it was brutal and
11:37while zombie movies usually take place in kind of dark or gritty settings the island backdrop with the
11:45picturesque landscapes made a big difference now while this movie did have its thoughts
11:53the film did feature some brilliant special effects that were quite pioneering for its time makeup artist
12:01gianetto de rossi produced some truly impressive work as i mentioned the effects were executed brilliantly
12:11and they also blended well with the colorful aesthetic that was presented on screen all love to tom savini
12:20but in this instance de rossi delivered better results when it comes to the plot it was easy to follow
12:28and i did like the added food element which distinguished it from other zombie films from that period
12:35when i think about zombie flesh eaters you know it was a movie that was played with tough guy heroes trying to
12:44save the day there was no like excessive shootouts or gunslinging instead it featured a small group of
12:53characters regular people just trying to survive the zombie outbreak and yes while the film was definitely
13:02outlandish at times the core characters remained strong and resilient as the madness ensued around
13:11them overall it's just a fun zombie cult classic that i find myself re-watching every couple of years
13:20if you guys have seen this movie let me know what you guys think in the comments section below
13:24is it a better movie than dawn of the dead or is dawn of the dead better than zombie flesh eaters
13:28and for those out there who love zombie horror and haven't seen this one yet make sure you do
13:36you will not be disappointed well that's all for me today guys i hope you've enjoyed the video
13:42i will be back very soon with more cult mover reviews stay safe everyone and take care
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