Zombie 3

Summary

Introduction by film scholar Troy Howarth, author of Splintered Visions: Lucio Fulci and His Films:

Zombie 3 is not a good movie, but it is most definitely a fun one. Anybody approaching it expecting more of the gory glory of Zombie is sure to be disappointed. The Fulci of Zombie 3 was in a very different place. 

Following a heart attack which led to open heart surgery which led to a battery of complications and health woes, the Roman filmmaker was in very poor health when he signed on to make this film. The brutal heat of the Philippines didn’t help his health any, and he often had to leave early to have the fluid drained from his stomach – a nasty side effect of the viral hepatitis he contracted as part of a tainted blood transfusion. He was fighting an uphill battle and he knew it, but with the assistance of his eldest daughter, Camilla, he soldiered on and tried to make the best of things. He needed the work and the money, so that’s just the way these things go.

When all was said and done, Fulci was thoroughly fed up with the producers, whom he deemed to be incompetent, and he walked away after assembling a rough cut that was nowhere near finished. Enter Claudio Fragasso and Bruno Mattei, who ended up finishing the film while Fulci was busy elsewhere. 

It’s tempting (and not inaccurate) to say that the best material is by Fulci, while all the crap was the work of Mattei and Fragasso. Suffice it to say, anything not involving the main players is not Fulci’s work. All the material with the squabbling military and the men in decontamination outfits? That’s not Fulci. All the padding with secondary characters wandering around and falling victim to the zombie virus? Nope, that’s not Fulci. And yet, the producers used his name to sell the film and he’s the only director credited. Such is life.

All that said, for as clumsy and inept as it often is, Zombie 3 is still a ton of fun if you’re in the right frame of mind. Fulci’s flair shines through in some of his scenes and there are certainly far worse examples of the genre to be endured.

Review

“One thing is for sure – the Death One compound is more dangerous than any of us ever imagined.”

Recently I have been working my way through some films in Severin Film’s catalog, which has been an absolute treat. I had purchased several of their titles and have found myself recently with some time to devote to tackling a stack of their films. Severin occasionally releases films that appeal to collectors that appreciate cinema with a deserved reputation for its failings more so than its successes. One of the films that I was most interested to view was Zombie 3 (or Zombi 3 in its original Italian titling.) Zombie 3 is an excellent example of the type of whacked out cinema that I can’t get enough of.

In 1988, Lucio Fulci had begun work on an ill fated sequel to his classic film Zombi 2 (known as Zombie in the states) in the Philippines, with a script penned by Claudio Fragasso and Rosella Drudi (inexplicably not credited,) when he became too sick to complete the film. Italian director Bruno Mattei was sent in to flesh out and complete the film, fresh off of his work on Strike Commando 2. Fragasso also took turns behind the camera to help pad out the film. The resulting film left Fulci saying, (if Wikipedia can be trusted,) “I don’t repudiate any of my movies, except Zombi 3. But that movie’s not mine. It’s the most foolish of my productions. It has been done by a group of idiots.”

As the film begins, Dr. Holder and his assistant Norma inject an experimental compound called Death One into a deceased patient inside of a glass encased examination table. The patient reanimates and has an adverse reaction. Their face melts off and they smash their head through the glass. Dr. Holder calls his superiors to say he can no longer work on Death One. A helicopter arrives at the lab to retrieve the package containing the virus. As Dr. Holder walks towards the helicopter with the briefcase containing the serum, they are ambushed by a rival group. The briefcase is stolen by the only person to survive the assault attempt. The thief is chased by a helicopter, and the briefcase is accidentally shot in crossfire. The thief reaches down and accidentally infects himself with the virus. He arrives at a resort on the island and pays cash for a room. General Morton arrives at the scientific compound. He lets Dr. Holder know that the serum had infected the thief. Dr. Holder explains that the virus is easily transmittable through body to body transmission. Things fly off the rails quickly. A group is sent in to evacuate the resort, kill everyone there, and bury their bodies in mass graves. As the bodies are incinerated, Dr. Holder runs up to the General and warns him that the ashes of the burnt bodies may actually spread the Death One virus. (All of this was apparently shot by Mattei, from what I have read.) A group of G.I.s on an unnamed island follow a bus full of vacationing friends, including five women. Birds fall from the sky infected with the virus and begin attacking people, which causes a widespread wave of zombie terror. The military men and the bus of traveling friends shack up in an abandoned motel as the island faces the zombie plague.

This is a truly enjoyable piece of genre filmmaking, if you like this type of ridiculous ill considered filmmaking… which I do. I love movies that are unintentionally hilarious. This movie gave me a big dumb grin from the start. So… how much of this movie did Fulci, in my eyes a true genre master and brilliant filmmaker, actually shoot? My guess would be any of the scenes involving the G.I.s and bus victims who arrive at the abandoned Sweet River Hotel. There are some moments throughout their storyline that struck me as being shot by Fulci. That said, this film does not have enough production value or imagination put into it to feel like a true Fulci film. Franco di Girolamo did the special effects in the film, and in my opinion, they simply don’t work very well to create a realistic form of terror. In Zombie, the flesh eating dead that attack people are rotting maggot infested and disturbing. In Zombie 3, the zombies have some green blood and boils. The film suffers from a lack of tension. The film is not frightening at all. That said – I really enjoyed watching this film. The music by Stefano Mainetti is really enjoyable and very much a product of its time. The actors give their best shot at delivering the poorly conceived dialogue. Zombie 3 is a big dumb popcorn movie with one of my favorite finale “twists” I have ever seen – not because it works, but because it doesn’t.

As a failure – Zombie 3 deserves to be seen. While it is certainly “bad,” it did not stop me from enjoying it a great amount.

Video

Severin Films has provided a good looking transfer in 1080p of Zombie 3 in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 with an MPEG-4 AVC encode from a 2K scan. This film is certainly not as visually enticing as Fulci’s earlier works – not by a long shot – but I was happy with the work that Severin put into the release. Fine detail for the most part is solid and the film stays well saturated. There are choices made to shoot certain scenes with dreamlike soft focus and diffusion filters, but I felt like those sequences were presented as well as can be expected. I can not imagine a fan of the film being anything less than thrilled to see what Severin did with the film, even if this film can’t match the visual impact of earlier Fulci films.

Audio

Severin Films has provided an enjoyable DTS-HD MA 2.0 track in dubbed English. The sound quality on the tracks is essentially reference quality, and the soundtrack by Stefano Mainetti is really fun and energetic. The biggest issue that fans of the film will notice is that the English dub has several instances where the syncing of actor’s lips to the dubbed voices is pretty far afield. This will either enhance or take away from the ridiculousness of watching the film.

Supplements:

• The Last Zombies – this is an excellent and informative interview with Claudio Fragasso and Rosella Drudi who were the screenwriters for Zombie 3. They detail how essentially Fulci was ill (Ed. Note: they mentioned liver cancer in the piece, but Troy Howarth confirmed it was hepatitis that Fulci was suffering from) and was upset with the producers of the film for lack of ability to film what was in the original script. To get back at them, Fulci filmed extraordinarily long shots of characters on canoes. Fragasso and Drudi were then asked to fill in all of the gaps left from the footage already shot. Bruno Mattei and Fragasso both shot scenes to pad the film. A brief discussion of Dario Argento’s project for Fulci Wax Mask is also present which should interest fans.
• Trailer 
• Tough Guys – in this archival interview, actors and stunt performers Massimo Vanni and Ottaviano Dell’Acqua discuss working on the film and their ongoing relationship with Mattei afterward.
• The Problem Solver – this is an excellent archival interview with the deceased replacement director Bruno Mattei. He discusses which sequences he shot and why he was brought in to help. He also laughingly says that he believes all of his films are bad and it is up to the public to decide if they are good.
• Swimming with Zombies – an archival interview with actress Marina Loi who discusses working with Fulci and Mattei and her memorable sequence in a pool.
• In the Zombie Factory (1080p; 5:51) is a really fun interview with FX artist Franco di Girolamo, who demonstrates things like shoving scissors into prosthetic hands to make them bleed. In Italian with English subtitles.
• Audio Commentary with Stars Deran Serafian and Beatrice Ring
• Soundtrack CD

Overall Scores:

Video – 4/5

Audio – 4/5

Supplements – 4/5

Overall – 4/5

Zombie 3 is absolutely a disappointment if you consider that it is a sequel to one of the greatest horror films ever made. That definitely does not stop the film from being an incredibly entertaining popcorn movie that is an interesting and at time unintentionally hilarious failure. I am extremely glad that Severin Films decided to bring this film to Blu-ray with their typical attention to detail. The technical specifications of the Blu-ray release are solid and the supplemental features are well appointed. I also appreciate that Severin brought the Uncut version to Blu-ray at a length of 95 minutes, which is eleven minutes longer than the film has been listed on IMDB. Finding missing footage to present films the way they were intended is one of Severin’s specialties. Fans of Fulci will want to see this film and pick out the pieces where they see his talent shine through, but the film is best enjoyed as a fun and undeniably goofy midnight movie. Recommended!

Editorial Note: Thanks very much to Troy Howarth for writing the introduction to this review as essentially a birthday favor. If you have not checked out Troy’s books on Italian cinema, Argento, Fulci, John Carpenter, and others, you are certainly missing out!