Zombi 2 (Zombie)
Directed by: Lucio Fulci
Written by: Elisa Briganti
Starring: Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch, Al Cliver, Auretta Gay, Olga Karlatos
Release Date: August 29, 1979
Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2 (1979) is a gory, sun-soaked horror classic born from a cash grab that somehow became one of the greatest zombie films ever made. Here’s why it still shocks, disgusts, and mesmerizes horror fans nearly 50 years later.
The Italian “Sequel” That Wasn’t
Lucio Fulci may have been an opportunist — a director ready to chase a trend for a quick profit — but Zombi 2 proves he was also an artist of atmosphere and excess. Despite being marketed as an unofficial sequel to George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (released in Italy as Zombi), Fulci’s film has its own grimy identity: a gory, gross, occasionally brilliant cult classic that helped define the Italian horror boom.
This isn’t just another undead invasion — it’s a fever dream of decay, voodoo, and madness. It’s the kind of movie where logic takes a vacation, and all that’s left is blood, guts, and pure filmmaking audacity.
A Boat, a Corpse, and a Terrifying Discovery
The film begins on an eerily abandoned sailboat drifting into New York Harbor. Two NYPD officers board to investigate, only to find something far worse than smugglers — a rotting corpse that suddenly attacks. One officer ends up dead, and the “body” is dumped into the water, but the nightmare is just beginning.
The boat is traced back to Dr. Bowles, father of Anne Bowles (Tisa Farrow — yes, Mia’s sister). When Anne learns of her father’s mysterious disappearance, she teams up with journalist Peter West (Ian McCulloch). Their search leads them to a remote island in the Antilles — a place of sun, superstition, and the dead that refuse to stay buried.
Welcome to the Island of the Dead
With the help of two vacationers, Brian and Susan (Al Cliver and Auretta Gay), Anne and Peter sail to the island of Matul, where they meet Dr. David Menard. Menard believes he’s fighting a tropical disease, though the locals whisper of voodoo curses. As corpses rise from the ground, Fulci makes it clear — this isn’t science fiction, it’s hell on earth.
Let’s be honest: logic is not Zombi 2’s strong suit. But what Fulci lacks in narrative precision, he makes up for in visual insanity. The film’s pacing might wander, but its horror imagery — rotting conquistadors, dripping maggots, and blood that looks too thick to be fake — is unforgettable.
Gore, Glory, and the Shark Fight Scene
Zombi 2 is infamous for its effects, crafted with an almost perverse love for texture and decay. The makeup rivals the best of Rick Baker’s early work, especially the infamous Spanish Conquistador sequence — where centuries-old corpses rise from their graves to interrupt Anne and Peter’s first kiss.
And then there’s that scene: a zombie versus a shark, filmed underwater with a real shark and a stuntman in zombie makeup. It’s absurd, dangerous, and weirdly beautiful — the perfect metaphor for Fulci’s entire filmography.
Also unforgettable (and nearly unwatchable) is Olga Karlatos’ death scene — a slow-motion nightmare of impalement that remains one of the most disturbing moments in horror history.
The Final March of the Dead
What fans remember most, however, is the haunting final image: an army of zombies marching across the Brooklyn Bridge as a terrified radio announcer describes the collapse of civilization. It’s both ludicrous and chilling — the apocalypse realized through Fulci’s grainy lens and grim imagination.
Nearly half a century later, Zombi 2 stands as a defining work of Italian horror — gruesome, ambitious, and unrepentantly grotesque. It’s a film that shouldn’t work as well as it does, and yet it remains hypnotically watchable.
Lucio Fulci may have set out to make a knockoff, but what he created was something else entirely: a blood-soaked masterpiece of exploitation art.
Why Zombi 2 Still Matters
Because horror fans crave authenticity — not perfection. Zombi 2 is messy, loud, and flawed, but it’s alive in every frame. You can feel Fulci’s fascination with death, decay, and cinematic mayhem. It’s a movie that dares to disgust you — and dares you to keep watching anyway.
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