I really expected to see a gory zombie fest when I tuned into this Lucio Fulci classic, and i wasn't disappointed.

I have to say that I have never seen a zombie fight with a shark, but this one had it. Wow! Of course, I never saw anyone dive in just a thong before either, but who's complaining? Auretta Gay was hot! The anticipation was really good in this film and the terror was very evident on the faces of the victims. The gore was over the top with several zombies snacking on poor Mrs. Menard (Olga Karlatos). At least they waited until she showered and was nice and clean before they chowed down.

Now, I think I have seen the best, and can enjoy the rest.

Lucio Fulci is sometimes an extremely interesting and talented director. His contribution to the Italian thriller franchise Giallo's range from good (The Psychic) to great (Don't torture a duckling). His Gothic gore drenched later works such as The Beyond, City of the Living Dead and House by the Cemetery vary considerably in quality.

Zombie 2 proved to be a stepping stone for the Italian godfather of gore. Prior to this film Fulci's work was not as gory but the rest of his work proved to be. Gore overflowed in conventional thrillers such as New York Ripper and Contraband. Simply put; Fulci had new admirers who demanded his work to be gory.

I hate films like New York Ripper and House by the Cemetery but The Beyond does have a strange Gothic charm about it and City of the Living Dead is an ample horror film with some astonishing gore sequences. Zombie 2 falls somewhere in between City and The Beyond. There are some eye popping gore sequences to behold and the film is energetically made. There are some solid actors and production values are quite good. But this is trash, complete and utter trash. Enjoyable as such, if you're into this kind of thing, you can appreciate the level of talent behind the film. The look is good, make up is great and it's fast paced. Fulci's heart was definitely in this project.

Fulci is a flawed but interesting director in my books, he should have lessened the emphasis on gore in his later films and made more conventional thrillers but his body of work is varied and original.

The name itself is synonymous with the "video nasty" craze of the 1980s, when the lucky residents of the UK found that their favourite gory horror films were being taken from the shelves of the local video shops and put in a dark, damp cellar with the word "BANNED" on the door. ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS is perhaps the most notorious film of that era, and even non-horror fans are sure to come across the title some time in their lives. It certainly is Lucio Fulci's most popular film, even if it is not his best. The film is simply known as ZOMBIE in America and as ZOMBI 2 in Italy, due to the fact that it was partly intended as a spin-off following on from the success of Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD, released a year earlier in that territory as simply ZOMBI.

Most modern people who view the film find themselves disappointed. It's slow moving, badly made, and with shoddy production values. However, opinion amongst horror fans is divided. Half of us think that it's rubbish and not worth watching due to the fact that it is simply too boring. The other half (of which I am included) see through the sometimes mundane nature of the film and see that it is in fact a good, old-fashioned adventure romp, harking back to the days of Lewton's I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, a Caribbean-set zombie film, with extra lashings of gore. Sure, I am ready to agree that the film is a little slow, that the acting is rather amateur, and the production values leave something to be desired. But rising above all these factors is the fact that the film's heart is in the right place, it's fun, and it was never meant to be taken too seriously. And that's why I love it.

There's a lot to like about the film. It's one of those ones which grows on you. I didn't think much of it myself the first time I watched it, but after a few more viewings it now holds a special place in my heart. The music, for instance, is excellent. I once heard it described as "fairground" music but that's not the case. It starts off with a slow beat which lasts for ages and then becomes a drawn-out haunting score which appears whenever the zombies too. The acting isn't up to much but the cast includes a whole load of notable names. First off is Tisa Farrow, the sister of Mia. Then there's Ian McCulloch, who appeared in a number of cheesy horror films around this time. Al Cliver also appears and he too was in a number of Italian horror films. The final name is Richard Johnson who shot to fame in the 1963 Robert Wise classic THE HAUNTING. Johnson is the most believable character here, as the helpless doctor trying to find a cure for the sickness. The rest of the cast is adequate.

The gore on offer is from one of the most respected names in Italian SFX history, Giannetto De Rossi, and is literally eye-popping. It's certainly realistic and also quite sickening in some instances (the infamous eye-piercing springs to mind!) The make up on the zombies is excellent, and these zombies are my favourite from any film you care to think of - they beat Romero's pasty-faced wisps into the ground! They're rotted, they've got worms coming out of their eye sockets, they're superb. So if you go easy on this film you'll find yourself enjoying it despite its many faults. Watch out for the scene at the end in the hospital where the survivors are throwing Molotov cocktails - one piece of footage is re-used four times! The budget obviously wasn't up to much but director Fulci succeeded in creating a memorable, much talked-about infamous classic in the genre.