| Zombi 3 | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Lucio Fulci Bruno Mattei (uncredited) |
| Produced by | Franco Gaudenzi |
| Written by | Rossella Drudi (uncredited) Claudio Fragasso |
| Starring | Deran Sarafian Beatrice Ring Ottaviano Dell'Acqua Mike Monty Ulli Reinthaler Deborah Bergamini |
| Music by | Stefano Mainetti |
| Cinematography | Richard Grassetti |
| Editing by | Alberto Moriani |
| Distributed by | Shriek Show (U.S. DVD) Vipco (UK DVD) |
| Release date(s) | July 29, 1988 |
| Running time | 85 mins. |
| Language | Italian, German, English (English dub) |
Zombi 3 (known as Zombie Flesh Eaters 2 in the UK) is the 1988 followup to Zombi 2, itself an unofficial sequel to 1978's Dawn of the Dead (released in Italy as Zombi). Beyond its title, Zombi 3 has little to no relation with the characters or plotlines of Zombi, Zombi 2 or in fact any subsequent Zombi films. Its only major similarity is in that it is another zombie horror film. It is also a much less revered film than its predecessor was, generally hailed only for being "so bad it's good".[1] The movie has an opening theme song that greatly resembles the theme of The Return of the Living Dead.
Contents |
When a terrorist's body, infected with a stolen chemical, is recovered by the US military, the corpse is cremated, unintentionally releasing the virus/bacteria into the atmosphere over a small island. Soon the infected populace mutate into flesh-hungry zombies, and a trio of soldiers on leave must team up with a group of tourists and board themselves up in an abandoned hotel as they try to fend off the agile and aggressive living dead
Though Lucio Fulci is cited as director in the film's opening credits, Fulci really only directed portions of the film, bowing out after a few weeks of filming. This has been largely attributed to an illness that was aggravated by the Philippines filming location. The footage amounted to approximately 70 minutes worth and was found wanting.
Bruno Mattei was asked to step in and the resultant film, with its running zombies and a more sci-fi/action-oriented story, ended up resembling Mattei's films much more closely than anything Fulci had done up until then. In a filmed interview found on the Shriek Show DVD release in 2004, Mattei estimated that Fulci's surviving contributions constitute approximately 50 minutes of the finished film, or roughly 60% of what is onscreen. Mattei also stated that he still considers it to be Fulci's film, not his.[2]
Zombi 3 was released to theatres in its native Italy on July 29, 1988. Although it has gained some notoriety over the years, it has never received an official theatrical release outside of Italy.
In the United States, Zombi 3 was released in 2002 as a special edition from Media Blasters' Shriek Show division,[3] who released the uncut version of the film. The film used many sources including VHS footage in order to be uncut. It also features trailers and interviews. The disc was then re-released with a commentary track. Media Blasters subsequently re-released the film as part of the Zombie Pack in 2005 alongside After Death and Killing Birds.
In the United Kingdom, Zombie Flesh Eaters 2 was issued as part of Vipco's Vault of Horror collection (cat no. VIP094). Vipco later re-issued Zombi 3 as part of their budget 'Screamtime Collection'(VSC028)
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|||||