Review: Zombie Holocaust
Director: Marino Girolami
This movie deserves its place in bad movie apreciation 1O1- I trueley mean than in a positive way.
Let me start off by telling you that Zombie Holocaust was supose to be 'the big one', the combination of the two most vile and populair villans of the late 70's -80's : Zombies and Canibals, packed in one movie.
This isn't Frankenstein VS Dracula, nor Dracula VS the Wolfman,...it's much worse if not better.
The grim and impressive title misleads the attrackted zombie lover, the emphasis should be on the 'Holocaust ' (having of course nothing to do with WW2 but riding the coat-tails of the infamous Cannibal Holocaust).
There are zombie in this movie, somewhere along it ending, but they whole movie centers around savage cannibals. The zombies are just pasted into the film as if the director heard me shouting 'why is this called ZOMBIE Holocaust ?! I haven't seen a single zombie !'. Then they just pop out of the bushes, not eating or stalking just scaring cannibal and the plastic caucasians alike.
The zombies here are portrayed in their classic (pre-Romeo)role , they are servants of the real fiend. The fiend here being a mad doctor who seems to be a watered down mixture of Dr.Monreau and Caliaga.
This character is of course the thread for the alternative release title : Dr.Buchers M.D.
This film appeals to my love for bad movies for more than the above-stated farce.
The story makes very little sense most of the time (and this was the full uncut version so there are no excuses) , the illogical decision making, the 'careful' cast selection certenetly had no acting requirements. The characters look like arian alpha dr.male and arian alpha sex-bomb female. You will surly notice how about every man in this film touches the barbydoll doctor without any cohesive reasons. Somehow she is suppose to tie the film together. -No, no not with the traditional running around (half)naked bits, but she also has two phd's and lived on the cannibal islands as a child before moving New York. For some reason the big apple is often the location element in a non-american picture to make it , along with horrendous dubbing, 'chewable' for US audiences. ( Cannibal Ferox, Zombi 2, City of the Living Dead, The House By The Cemetery etc...)
Back to our blond blow-up-doll .
The blond alpha male dr. is no stranger to Fulcio lovers as he also stars as the investigative reported in Zombi 2.
Zombie Holocaust does NOT live up to it's title, it is however full of nearly classic cannibal shots (pulling the guts out) and has a horribly fake eye gouging sequence which is of course one of it's many 'borrowed' scenes.
Nevertheless I love this film, for it's pulpish reputation, shameless recyclage and for generating (overrated) controversy.
This one deserves a place in the ranks next to Mark of the Devil.
It's fun, it's wound-erful, it's trashy, it's gore-ific kitsch. It is sure sure to entertain the distinguished (or the utterly undistinguished) viewer and is sure to either scare or irritate the living shit out of mainstream sheeeeeeeeep.
Reviewed by: LordLeviathan, added December 19 2005
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