Zombi 2 (1979) (Italy)

aka Zombie/Island of the Flesh Eaters/Zombie Flesh Eaters/Zombie 2: The Dead Are Among Us 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

“The boat can leave now. Tell the crew.” When her father’s abandoned sailboat is found adrift off of Staten Island, a concerned young woman (Tisa Farrow) teams up with a story-chasing reporter (Ian McCulloch) to find her lost parent. A farewell letter leads them to the island of Matul somewhere in the Caribbean. They hire a boat captained by two Americans (Al Cliver and Auretta Gay) to take them to the supposedly cursed island where her dad was last seen. They all come to regret their journey when they discover the island’s doctor (Richard Johnson) has been trying to figure out the scientific reason behind the native people’s voodoo and the regeneration of corpses and has lost control over the mounting number of the flesh-hungry dead. Fabio Frizzi’s absurd soundtrack is a thing of beauty, Gianneto De Rossi’s special effects are wonderfully icky, there’s nude scuba diving, the beautiful Olga Karlatos has a small role, a zombie fights a shark, bald spots, eyeball splinters, braindead dialogue, Al Cliver’s beard, Richard Johnson’s class, an ill-advised walk through a conquistadores cemetery and did I mention a zombie fights a fucking shark? The film put Lucio Fulci on the radar of many gorehounds when it landed on VHS. Later on we would come to realize just how important Mr. Fulci was when the DVD boom allowed for a wide release of his other films (the essential Don’t Torture a Duckling and his masterpiece The Beyond finally uncut, to name a few). Essential viewing. Zombi was the Italian release name given to Romero’s Dawn of the Dead and this film was given the title of an unofficial sequel to cash in on the success of Romero’s classic. Fulci claims to have not given his consent to the producers for a title change and with how the industry was for so long, I am inclined to believe him.