La Terreur des zombies

One thing I always point out about these Cannibal flicks is that, besides the disturbing subject matter and ferocious gore, these films are also usually have really interesting, dare I say fascinating stories. That's right. Quality B-movies do exist, after all. However, Zombi Holocaust is not one of them. It looks like your stuck with just the gore. I think it'll be fine. I mean, just because this one doesn't hold up against the almighty Cannibal Ferox and Cannibal Holocaust, doesn't necessarily mean it's not worth your time. And really. Who wouldn't want a film called Zombi Holocaust in their Horror collection? Not I.

Besides what I've already told you, the one thing you might want to consider, going in to this film, is that it's a Zombie movie. I suppose you already had that figured out. But still, Zombi Holocaust does include cannibals, as well as a jungle. Best of both worlds? More like a touch of both worlds. Nothing groundbreaking from either side of the fence. And on top of all that, Zombi Holocaust is also a mad scientist flick. We start out at a hospital, where corpses are being mutilated. Eventually, a cannibal is caught in the act. I guess it was shame that drove the poor guy to unconvincingly jumping out the window. Obviously, tomfoolery like this is not something you'd want going on at your local hospital. Curiosity gets the best of Ian McCullough and some hot chick. For some reason, this hospital mystery lies somewhere in the Carribbean. A mad doctor is slowly turning a tribe of cannibals into zombies. Zombies who don't really do much of anything, as the cannibals are the only ones willing to start trouble. Whatever. It's a movie. So, this guy must be stopped, right? And in case you're wondering, all that doesn't turn out nearly as entertaining as it sounds. Ultimately, if you're a fan of such classics as Burial Ground and Jungle Holocaust, I see no reason why you shouldn't get a kick out of Zombi Holocaust, at least out of sheer principle. Well, unless you're not too big on stupid movies with ridiculous dialogue, and awful acting. In that case, you may want to stay clear of this one. 7/10

Dr. Obrero (Dan O' Brien) is experimenting on corpses on a remote Island. Well, an expedition team (which includes Zombi 2's Ian McCulloch) ends up on the island-and runs into the Docotor, who has some plans-as well as cannibals and zombies-in store for them.

Titled "Dr Butcher M.D." when it came to video in the 80's, "Zombie Holocaust" is an interesting-and fun-blend of two different kinds of Italian Gore flicks: The Italian Zombie movie, and the Italian Cannibal movie-only without any of the animal torture and mutilation of the later.

The movie has some nice gore (surgical and otherwise-including an awesome motorboat engine to the head death) and nudity to liven things up, as well as a fun score and tons of camp. Also, unlike other Italian gore flicks of the time, the movie features a little intentional humor to go with it ("The patients screaming disturbed me, performed removal of vocal chords"-that line always gets me), which after the downbeat feeling of Fulci's zombie movies, is something of a breath of undead air. It's nice to see an Italian gore flick that doesn't take itself too seriously for a change.

If there is any problem, it's that the zombie aspect feels rather underplayed, as they aren't used for much. Sure, there's that aforementioned death by boat motor, but they don't do a whole lot to threaten the team, as the cannibals are more of a threat. Still, "Zombie Holocaust" is a blast of exploitation that fans of over the top Italian Horror might enjoy. I know I did.

Put them together and you get a completely mindless movie! Yes, the title of this film is completely misleading (the Zombie Holocaust one) as when I hear it, I imagine hordes of zombies rampaging the countryside. Instead, what we mainly get is a cannibal horror film fused together with a mad doctor film with a dash of zombies in it for taste. It shares a lot of similarities to Lucio Fulci's Zombie movie too as it features Ian McCulloch and another actor from that film and it appears to be on the exact same island! When they first drive to the one doctor's house they go down a street and it looks exactly like a scene out of Zombie, heck the donkey may have even been in Zombie. They depart in terms of plot; however, as this one does not focus on the zombie aspect. Well, it does not really focus on anything, as nothing anyone in this film does makes much sense. I think they just tried to fuse to many sub genres together without a complete script or something.

The story of this one is the weakest element of the film, because at times it almost seems like there is none. There are mutilations in a hospital in New York and it is soon learned that it is the work of a cannibal. Other cannibals turn up here and there because somehow they can just get jobs at hospitals. A group of four people travel to an island for reasons that are really no one's business, because them going makes absolutely no sense. They meet a doctor who provides them with some yummy looking lemonade and then they are off to another island where the cannibals live. The group which now includes three very expendable helpers and another dude soon find themselves under assail from the cannibals who get scared by zombies going "Ah" and nearly everyone is killed, but the two survivors decide to try and figure out the mystery even though it literally accomplishes nothing.

The film moves at a rather fast pace and it features some good Italian splatter and some good nudity too. That makes the film at least watchable, but the plot is so horrendously bad that I just cannot score it any higher. Some of the effects are rather horrible too, as at one point one of the cannibals is caught in New York and he proceeds to jump out a window. It is obviously a mannequin and when it impacts the ground, its arm pops off! I realize they may not want to redo the scene, but they could have at least jump cut and edited that part out! The mad doctor is the only person who seems to know what he is doing, but making a race of ineffective zombies seems kind of a waste of time. Just too much bad in this one to overcome even with the nice gore and very hot blond.

So this film is a combination film, but I think they just tried to do too much. At times it is a cannibal film, at other a mad doctor and then a bit of zombies in there for effect. Heck, the scenes where the blond undress could be considered soft core porn because the music is right out of one! They just tried to do much, and as I have said, I just do not think they had fully completed script to go along with it all. Though another interesting aspect of the film is its similarities to Zombie; however, that one is the superior film as it makes a bit more sense why things are happening and why they go to the island. Here, it just makes no sense at all.

Another film known by many names (eight, to be precise, that IMDB has been able to track down), Zombi Holocaust is probably best known by American cult-film devotees as Dr. Butcher, MD. I ended up picking this one up because there are a rather large number of crossovers with Lucio Fulci's brilliant splatterfest Zombie-- writer Fabrizio DeAngelis was one of the producers of Fulci's film, male lead Ian McCulloch was the lead in Zombie, character actor Dakkar plays a native guide in both, etc. (Most interesting, one of the film's actors, Walter Patriarca, was Zombie's costume designer. Go figger.)

Simple plot, which should sound familiar to anyone who's seen Fulci's film; a number of deaths occur in New York City, and Ian McCollouch, a beautiful sidekick, and two of their pals end up going to a remote Caribbean island where there's an English-speaking doctor who treats the natives. Sound familiar?

For about the first forty-five minutes of this film, I was too busy thinking that it was exactly like Zombie to be impressed. (No one, these days, is sure which film came out first, and most people also draw parallels to another classic of the genre that came out the same year, Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust.) Then Ian McCollouch disposes of a zombie with a motorboat motor, and suddenly things started getting a whole lot more fun. Rather like The Evil Dead, this is a film where there's a whole lot of setup (though Raimi pulled it off miles better), but when the gore starts, the director lays it on thick, fast, and ugly. And while death-by-propeller is probably the funniest and nastiest scene in the film, there's certainly more than enough blood flowing/spraying/dripping/being drunk/etc. to please most fans of hardcore horror. Pound for pound, though, in comparison to Zombie, the latter stands up as the better film. As one reviewer put it, "Fulci... might have had the sauce, but [he] passed on the cheese." Fulci's obsessive attention to detail, better scriptwriting, and stunning score give Fulci the edge over Girolami. But man, it's fun to be the judge. ***

"Zombie Holocaust" has a little bit of charm and an idea of what it's going for, but a lot of (or almost all of it) the atmosphere is sacrificed because of the gore. But even with the gore, "Zombie Holocaust" is a very boring movie with few interesting scenes sprinkled throughout the whole thing and the glorious beauty of Alexandra Delli Colli whose nude scenes are one of the rare moments of joy in this movie. Because of that, I can't give this movie a higher score than 5.5/10! Only the most hardcore fans of B movies and horror movies will find something to like here, others should avoid it...