A Terceira Porta do Inferno

First of all, let me clear the confusion on the Zombie series, because people are seeing Zombie 2's, and 7's all over the place.This is the true series:Zombie(fulci's classic), Zombie: Nights of Terror(a.k.a Zombie 3, but I say it's 2 because it was made before the official 3),Zombie 3,and Zombie 4: After Death.Anyway, Zombie 4: After Death is one of the best zombie films I've ever seen.It's got a cool plot, great effects, cool characters, and loads of suspense.Exciting, good story, music score, and effects.****1/2 out of *****.Hard to find, but worth the search.

What do you get if you mix an island of scientists, a voodoo witch doctor, zombies... and then open the third door to Hell (apparently neglecting the fact that Fulci had already opened all seven doors)? Well, you get "After Death".

The first thing you'll notice about this film is the 80s metal soundtrack thrown together by Alberto Festa (including his song, repeated throughout the film, "Living After Death"). Not unlike other 80s Italian horror films, this seems to make sense even though it really doesn't.

The second thing you'll notice is that this film features gay porn star Jeff Stryker. (Unless, of course, you don't know gay porn stars... then you won't notice at all.)

This film is greatly under-appreciated by audiences, I fear. I loved it, and it seems that the hardcore fans of Italian horror do, too, despite the general agreement that this film fails. Jim Harper says the film features "fast-paced, sharply edited action scenes that rely heavily on excessive gore", and despite the fact "the story is patently absurd" the film is "gruesome enough to please gorehounds." Likewise, Jay Slater praises the film when he says the picture is "a blast of energy, rippling with violent action and awash with gore", an "energetic splatter picture in the spirit of Herschell Gordon Lewis" This is absolutely right. While trying to pass itself off as a sequel to "Dawn of the Dead", it has much more in common with Lamberto Bava's "Demons". The splatter effects and rock music make it perfect for this series.

Director Claudio Fragasso laments that the most intense gore had been stripped by the censors. He also insists that the "special effects were all made laboriously by hand", which I think pays off -- most of the zombies are remarkable. What gore was cut is unknown to me... it's already a fairly gory picture as is... to increase it would make this one for the record books.

If you only know Fragasso from the "best worst movie" "Troll 2" or don't know his work at all, this is a fine introduction. Taking the zombie jungle island formula many others have used and mixing it with the gore and colorful blood of Lamberto Bava, "After Death" is a film worth catching, and at least for me, owning.

This movie (?) doesn't really have zombies...they are more like Talking Ninja Ghouls and doesn't really have actors...they are more like people off the street. Almost has a 'porno-like' quality and feel to it. Also, has way too much back-story and way, way too much over explanation. In a nut shell, it goes something like this...some scientists on an island are trying to create the cure for cancer but they create some kind of reanimation formula and to top it off...they let this voodoo guy's daughter die...so, the voodoo guy sends his wife to hell and she comes back as a demon-like thing and everybody tries to run away, but the Ninja Ghouls get them...oh except for this little girl who wobbles away then starts to stop wobbling...but she continues and somehow finds a travel agent and gets off the island (I'm guessing because they don't show this). Anyway, I guess, we flash forward to when this little girl is all growed up, but I don't know because nobody says so and they don't even have the little '20 Years Later' graphic appear on the screen...where was I? Oh yeah, so, this growed up little girl comes back to the island...I'm not sure why...to find her parents bodies or something? But she came prepared...she has a bunch of angry army guys with her and one guy is so tough that he actually chases a zombie down and starts to beat him up for no good reason. Also, these two tough guys and a girl stroll into town...I don't know where they came from either, nor what town they're walking through...oh and one is wearing glasses which makes him smart. I think they must have used the little girls travel agent. Then people start getting torn apart...basically introduced then torn apart, to the point where it appears quite random. After people are torn apart...they come back and taunt their old friends...these are very mean spirited zombies. Where was I? I don't know...watch it and I don't think you'll know either!

I would like to thank all who left comments here, good or bad.After all publicity of any kind is good publicity! For those of you who enjoyed the film, I have a blog where i am working on a book called Fish Heads and Rice. I have written a short story about the behind the scenes of Zombie 4 - After death. http://nicknicholson.blogspot.com/ It was fun to work on this film, and I am sure a lot of viewers found it funny to watch. None of us had a script to work from, but what the heck, when you know you will be probably be dubbed in another language you don't really care. It was the only film of the Horror genre that I have ever worked on. I wish i could do another one as these are a real gas to do!

If you are bored and want a funny read, please do visit! Thanks to you all!

I will admit. Although Zombi 2 was my gateway into the world of Lucio Fulci several decades ago, the zombie genre never was my cup of tea. Few movies in this genre ever impressed me, the two most important would be Return of the living dead and Zombi 2, followed by Dawn of the dead and then (sorry Umberto, I know you hate it being called a zombie movie) Nightmare City. However, among the Italian spoofs that came after these mentioned films I find some of them theoretically brilliant but horribly executed. Take the two shockingly overrated Fulci films Beyond and City of the living dead. They somewhat have story, potential, budget (from what it looks like) that could have been so promising but it's all very poorly put together with cheap zoom ins despite great cinematographer, sloppy takes with goofs, bad special fx, cheesy music repeated over and over - and in all that some terrific and brilliant atmosphere and a few brilliant scenes. This is why I have learned to appreciate the really low budget versions better, because they are more honest in what they are and what you get. Andrea Bianchi's Burial Ground was utter trash first time I saw it, but almost 30 years later I love it and keep it closer than most films of this decade. Then there are the real lows, like Bruno Mattei's "Hell of the living dead" or the Fulci/Mattei/Fragasso "Zombi 3" but it's almost even worse although Fulci directed like 65 minutes of it - but the guy was not well, we must not forget. Fragasso however still was young and capable of working in the jungles of asia to do this little action packed movie, which unlike the earlier films from the most recent years, sports a really cool soundtrack by Al Festa. I particularly like the instrumental cues. It really gives the movie a lift, similar to how Simonetti took on Cut and run. For being a low budget italian movie, I think it has quite decent acting and pace if you approach it with b-movie expectations. So far, this is by far the best Fragasso film I have seen, but with that said you should still expect something in the schlocky realm. The 2K scanned Bluray from 88 films is a very welcome release. These movies deserve this kind of love!