Rating: NR
Genre:
Horror
Theatrical Release: 07/29/1988(Italy)
Release Date: 09/24/2002
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD
Run Time: 96 min
Flags: Graphic Violence, Not For Children, Gore
Distributor/Studio: Shriek Show
The muddled production history of this sloppy
horror film was so convoluted that for years it was assumed that schlockmeister
Bruno Mattei (
Inferno dei Morti-Viventi) had completed the project after the failing health of principal director
Lucio Fulci had forced the cult legend to abandon it. It was subsequently revealed that co-producer
Claudio Fragasso, who had directed such abominations as
Monster Dog and
La Casa 5, was the man responsible for the resultant mess (albeit with
Mattei's assistance on location in the Philippines). The story line and approach bear little resemblance to
Fulci's much-admired 1979 cult favorite
Zombi 2, revolving around scientists at a top-secret research facility working on a biological weapon called Death One, which mutates and kills the living and reanimates the dead. Naturally, there is a leak, and the rest of the film concerns the spreading infection, zombie attacks, and their effect on a trio of vacationing soldiers and a group of stereotypically daft young people in and around a contaminated hotel. Where
Fulci's
Zombi 2 had taken elements of
George Romero's
Dawn of the Dead (released in Italy in a re-edited
Dario Argento version as
Zombi) and introduced more traditional Haitian voodoo mythology to the plot line, this film attempts to play off not only its predecessors, but
Day of the Dead, the jokey American remake
Return of the Living Dead, and
Romero's own 1972 bio-terror film
The Crazies as well. Lowlights include a zombie baby ripping from its mother's womb
Alien-style to tear off someone's face, a legless zombie attacking her ex-boyfriend in a swimming pool, and -- most groan-inducing of all -- a zombie DJ concluding the entire sorry affair by dedicating a record to "all the undead around the world." American
exploitation director
Deran Serafian leads a cast including
Beatrice Ring,
Luciano Pigozzi, and
Massimo Vanni, while
Franco Di Girolamo handled the gore effects.
~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
