Zombi 3

[Quorthon]

Zombi 3
1988
Color
Media Blasters, Inc.
Unrated Version

Fulci’s name is attached to this, but it seems to have been done at gunpoint. Poor, poor Fulci. Rumors tell that he had to leave halfway through one of his Zombie/Zombi movies and some other jackass had to finish it, and ruined it instead. It must have been this one.

The movie now showcases the zombies as being made by some chemical rather than Voodoo, like the previous film--how's that for continuity? Unfortunately, I don’t recall how it spreads everywhere…. Oh yeah, birds get it and then it spreads to people. Well, some idiot steals the chemical from some really unimpressive military base and, pretty soon, zombies are popping up everywhere. The story is pretty incohesive and I never really liked the heroes, which were some pretty generic soldiers and some women they picked up. The acting and dubbing is really badly done, and never once helps the story since it’s quickly and easily ignored because of its suckiness. The zombies are now actually running after people to kill them, not at all like the kinds of zombies we’ve come to know and love from the original Zombie or any of Romero’s Dead films. They seem overly fast and at times, almost a little too intelligent to be decaying walking human corpses.

On the upside, the gore effects and zombie make-up is actually pretty decent, but that’s about all the redeeming value here. Somehow, the charm of Zombie is not seen, even for a second, anywhere in this movie. For shame.

Acting: 3/10
Violence/Gore: 6/10
Nudity/Sexuality: 1/10
Story: 4/10
Atmosphere: 4/10
Special Effects/Make-up: 8/10
Cheesiness: 7/10
Overall: 2/10
Crappiness: 9/10

Don’t buy it, rent it only if you’re a hardcore zombie film fan. And you have to be really goddamn hardcore.

[Bartwald]

Quorthon said:

Fulci’s name is attached to this, but it seems to have been done at gunpoint. Poor, poor Fulci. Rumors tell that he had to leave halfway through one of his Zombie/Zombi movies and some other jackass had to finish it, and ruined it instead.

Actually, Fulci is capable of ruining a movie himself - it's enough to see his horrific Sweet House Of Horrors to get a good proof for this. But yeah - I know that in case of Zombi 3 it probably wasn't his fault.

The sequel is a very far cry from the original: poor characters, poor plot and only two or three nice-looking scenes (that make you think immediately "This must have been done by Master Fulci himself!"). A total lack of suspense, too.

[Phoenix]

Good to know - I've seen this on the shelves lots of times and never picked it up for fear of what you guys wrote. I will continue to skip.

[Quorthon]

Glad to help. This thread has done it's job!

[slayrrr666]

“Zombie 3” is one of the more underrated entries in the Italian zombie cannon.

**SPOILERS**

A deadly virus is stolen from a military base in the Philippines, and a man infected with the virus is found in a nearby hotel. Even though he is cremated, his contaminated ashes fall back down to Earth. While traveling to a base, Ken, (Deran Sarafian) Roger, (Ottaviano Dell’Acqua) and Bo, (Massimo Vanni) run across a group of women when they are mysteriously attacked by a pack of birds. Accidentally escorting the women to the same hotel, they gather up supplies and try to defend themselves. Bo leaves to gather supplies, but only Patricia, (Beatrice Ring) makes it back to the hotel. Now knowing that the virus has reawakened the dead, the group tries to get out of the trapped hotel alive.

The Good News: As this is an Italian zombie film, the main focus is on the gore and make-up, which is up to their usual standards. Blood is let loose with real abandon, providing a couple stomach-churning scenes. The disembodied flying head scene is quite infamous, and the shock of it is pretty genuine. A face-ripping is also really gory, and another neck-rip is pretty brutal. The flying head-gag pay-off spurts more bloodshed. With the usual zombie horde masses gathered over their victims and pull them down, there’s also more gore there, so this will no doubt please gorehounds. The make-up is also passable, with hideous scars covering much of their face and with rotting skin, it adds one more notch to the traditional Italian high-standards on zombie make-up belt. Another quite impressive feat was that the zombies themselves. They appear in the film just as any good zombie horde should be, and that was as a never-ending threat to the characters. When they come on-screen, they are always as a massive force that needs to be taken care of, always leading the heroes to deal with a small group of varying numbers in all the attacks. This perfectly gives it a threatening air that zombies need to be scary. I was even quite impressed with the high amount of action in this movie, which is really good at making the film an exhilarating experience. The film never really bogs down anywhere, as there really isn’t any part of the film that will lose a viewer’s attention. From shoot-outs to zombie attacks and chases, we get a lot of action in here. It’s one of the most action-packed films in the genre, so it will really be a pretty fast and fun film to watch. Many of them are quite entertaining, the best of which is a chase through a village that features many close calls, narrow escapes and odd jumps that make it a nice sequence. The odd jumps and suspense make it a nice surprise when they show up, as it keeps the viewer on edge. Added with the unusual amount of suspense, they make it a fun viewing experience. The bridge sequence alone is a marvelous example, and wins hands-down as the best part of the movie. The fog, the lighting, the score, all of it together with the action combines together to create a great scene. The film has a couple more great scenes like that as well, which are very interesting to watch.

The Bad News: There’s a couple things I wanted to point out. Firstly, there’s more than one occasion where the zombies act un-zombie-like. They use tools and weapons, engage in hand-to-hand fighting with a soldier and get the upper-hand a couple times actually. A couple of times, we get a wrestling match between a zombie and soldier where they actually resort to wrestling, and the zombie is pretty unconcerned with eating him, and misses several opportunities to bite the soldier. They are also incredibly acrobatic and can perform jumps, leaps and other such moves with great ease. Not typical zombie behavior at all.

The Final Verdict: I actually had a good time with this one. It’s not necessarily the best one in the genre, but it’s far from the worse as well. It has enough moments to be redeeming while not appearing as a waste of time. All Italian zombie fans should look into this one, while the general zombie fan will want to exercise caution with it.

Rated UN/R: Graphic Violence and Language

[Bartwald]

slayrrr666 said:

...A couple of times, we get a wrestling match between a zombie and soldier where they actually resort to wrestling, and the zombie is pretty unconcerned with eating him, and misses several opportunities to bite the soldier. They are also incredibly acrobatic and can perform jumps, leaps and other such moves with great ease. Not typical zombie behavior at all...

Ha, ha! slayrrr - your love for this type of films just oozes out of the review, man!

But I still think this one is an underwhelming affair. Especially since it's a sequel to the mighty Zombi 2.

[frankenjohn]

I must say I really have no interest in seeing this but c'mon?! How are you going to beet Zombi 2? It had a shark vs. a zombie! SHARK AND A ZOMBIE FIGHTING! Love that movie.

[slayrrr666]

I never said it was better than Zombi 2, which is my favorite horror film and second favorite all-time film. I love that one to death, but I saw this one for it's own merits and found a lot to like about it.

And I always said, Bart, that Eurohorror was topnotch no matter what they're doing.

[Quorthon]

Slayrrr, it never ceases to amaze me how you find so much to love in the most dreadful of movies!

[slayrrr666]

It's a special ability to look at a film and see it's positives and negatives.

Mainly because the areas you all look for mean nothing to me or I don't know how to judge them in the first place.

[Quorthon]

I look at a lot of the same areas that you do--nice gore, fancy kills, great suspense and atmosphere. The stuff of horror films.

But I just can't forgive shit acting, bland characters, needlessly bad effects, and some of the other things necessary to make a quality film. Like Zombi 3 for instance, the horrid dubs, terrible dialog, and crappy characters really devalue the film. It wasn't even fun.

[slayrrr666]

Well, you know me:

I don't know what constitutes shitty acting. It all looks the same to me.

Characters don't mean anything to me. The first four-five people listed in the cast listing are those who will be the survivors, so caring for them doesn't mean anything when they're all getting it.

Hey, I harp on bad effects the same as you. CGI is something I hate with a vengeance, and if there's absolutely no way around one other than it makes you busting out into hysterical laughter, then I call the film on it. I forgive a lot more than normal, but it still happens.

I grew up with Japanese monster movies and have therefore become unfazed with dubbing. It's a foreign film, of course the dubbing is going to be off. I can't think of a film where it worked at all.
And not to nit-pick or start a huge fight, but dubbing? Really? You're calling out a film for this? I know I'm forgiving, but what do you use to look at a film if this is going to be a problem, an electron-scanning microscope? The film's not from America, not everyone speaks English, and there are other languages in the world. It's going to happen, and it's not something that should have an effect on the entertainment value of a film.

Dialog is the same as acting. If I can follow it, that's fine. Taking too much time with one area or focusing solely on this is where I have issues, but looking at it as a whole is something new.

Yes, I know the film isn't a classic, I just said I had fun with it.