Zombies 0 - 1 Mary Whitehouse (Zombie Flesh Eaters (DVD))

Member Name: Brett Bligh

Product:	Zombie Flesh Eaters (DVD)
Date:	18/06/01 (931 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clear print in correct aspect ratio, a classic if not brilliant zombie film, theatrical trailer is included.

Disadvantages: The film is cut, cut I said, did you hear me — CUT!

Zombie Flesh-Eaters is a nicely conceived, reasonably competently executed horror film from Italian horror maestro Lucio Fulci. It is far from representing the best of Italian horror, and is not even among the director’s own best work, but since this was the film that initially brought Fulci to the attention of horror fans outside Italy it has remained well known and even pretty well liked among Euro-horror fans. Unfortunately, however, the British DVD release does not do the film any favours at all and, as we shall see, it might very well be better to head off and get the film on import (foreign titles include ‘Zombi’ and even ‘Woodoo’) to see the film at anything near its best…


THE FILM
A boat enters Hudson Bay, New York. It is apparently abandoned, but the two coast guards who board the vessel to investigate and attacked by a man whose flesh is ravaged by disease … a Zombie.

The owner of the boat, a scientist, cannot be contacted, and so the police bring in his daughter, Ann, who, it transpires, has not seen her father for months. Meanwhile, a journalist, West, is sent to investigate the case by a local newspaper and, upon investigating the facts of the case, journeys with Ann to the Caribbean where they hope to contact Ann’s father.

Upon arrival, they agree to share a boat with Brian and Susan, a couple who were going out on a tour of the islands, and the four set off to find Mutal, the last known location of Ann’s father. Unfortunately, the boat is rammed by a shark and damaged, and the group know that it will require repair soon; luckily, at that moment they come across an island which appears to be Mutal, and land, where they soon meet up with a haggard-looking Doctor who informs Ann of her father’s recent death. It would appear that the dead on the island are coming back to life and, as a local legend says, “when the earth spits out the dead … they wil
l return to tear the flesh of the living.”

Whilst the Doctor resolutely refuses to believe that Voodoo has any real power, he is forced to acknowledge that the situation on the island is rapidly spiralling out of control, and that all their lives are in grave peril…


THE DISC

· Distributor: Stonevision Entertainment [SVD5002].
The only other Stonevision Entertainment DVD I have personally come across is ‘Zombie Holocaust’, a Marino Girolami feature which has many similarities with this film, including Ian McCulloch in the lead and many of the same filming locations. That DVD is uncut, but unfortunately that film is not nearly so good. The Stonevision website is quoted on the back of the sleeve as www.fantasyblue.co.uk; this, as well as the Film Flash extra on this disc, contain reference to Laurel and Hardy DVDs, the US horror film ‘Inseminoid’ and soft porn such as ’11 Days 11 Nights’.

· Rating: 18.
As expected for a rather bloody Euro-horror affair, although it seems even the assigning of this rating could not save the film from the censor’s scissors.

· Region: 0 (PAL encoding).
Not region protected, so the disc should play on virtually any player … any player, that is, which supports PAL playback (hence UK, Australia, etc., etc.).

· Type and case: DVD5 with dark grey keepcase.
The most basic kind of DVD on general release: 12cm, single sided, single layer. The case is a generic keepcase which is somewhat less well designed than the standard Amaray keepcase.

· Running time: feature 1:27:07.
CUT. Cut cut cut! Cut! Yes, that’s right, this film has been censored, exorcising in particular the end of the one scene for which this film is particularly notorious, in which a zombie pulls a woman’s head onto a wooden splinter, puncturing her eye. When the sleeve of a DVD states that the release “includes materia
l banned since 1983!!” together with warnings such as “contains footage that will shock!”, to find the film cut by the censor is very disappointing indeed. The rest of the disc is actually put together with some competence, but no cut horror film is ever going to get more than two stars out of me.

· Picture format: 2.35:1 letterbox widescreen.
Very often in the past Zombie Flesh-Eaters has been available only on blurry and scratched VHS copies (often, if truth be told, as nth generation pirates — this is that kind of film) in a cropped 4:3 aspect ratio, and it is nice to see the film here in its original 2.35:1 exhibition ratio with many of the film crackles cleaned off. The print is not anamorphic, and as ever this is rather disappointing, but it is of reasonably good quality for a film of this nature. The resolution is good (helped by the PAL encoding), scratches are present but not numerous, and colours, whilst definitely washed-out in comparison to a modern or big-budget film, are easily watchable and probably faithful to the original prints.

· Audio: Dolby Digital Surround.
Not a particularly well-defined surround track (the rear speakers just seem to play a lower volume version of what the front ones are playing), but this is somewhat better than the usual mono horror DVD fare.

· Subtitles: none.

· Extras: Theatrical Trailer, Director’s Filmography, Actors’ Filmographies, Film Flash.

The theatrical trailer is the usual Italian horror affair, essentially a slightly scratchy 3 minute clip selection from the film accompanied by the film’s theme and without a voiceover, in 1.85:1 letterbox widescreen. Still, the inclusion of a theatrical trailer is always welcome.

The Director’s and Actors’ filmographies are the usual text screens. Filmographies are provided for actors Richard Johnson, Ian McCulloch, Tisa Farrow, and Al Cliver.

The Film Flas
h is a rather disappointing and very pointless static screen showing the front covers of several other Stonevision Entertainment releases: four Laurel and Hardy comedies, Inseminoid and 11 Days 11 Nights (under ‘The Joe D’Amato Experience’ series title).

· Menus: The main menu is animated, consisting of clips from the film superimposed over the cover artwork and accompanied by the (in my opinion quite catchy) theme tune from the film. The other menus are not animated but are nicely designed and conform to the template set out by the main menu. The menus here are actually rather nice — it is just a shame about the other contents of the DVD.


CONCLUSION
Actually this DVD is, by the low standards of the horror genre, slightly above average. Animated menus, surround sound and a rather clear print are all a cut above the average (especially when considered against the multitude of UK horror DVDs which are Vipco releases). However, when the film itself is cut, there is little to do but be disappointed.

There is, however, some good news on the horizon. Since the BBFC have recently been more lenient with the horror genre and have now passed several infamous horror films uncut, including ‘Zombie Holocaust’ (also released by Stonevision, this is unfortunately a rather poor film) and ‘The Beyond’ (which is a good film, but released in this country by the detestable Vipco — take my advice and import the US release), the Stonevision crew have submitted Zombie Flesh-Eaters to the BBFC again. It is hoped that, on this occasion, the BBFC will pass the film completely uncut, and Stonevision will hence be able to release the film again.

The obvious conclusion to be drawn, therefore, is that the UK horror fan should wait just a bit longer before purchasing a copy of Fulci’s Zombie Flesh-Eaters. On the other hand, should anyone want to buy mine…

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