Zombie Flesh Eaters 2 (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	Cheap, a good tacky horror film
Disadvantages:	A bit too tacky for most people I suspect

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Zombie Flesh Eaters 2 is a film from the Vipco Screamtime Collection ('Films that terrified audiences around the world') a claim which I very much doubted somehow. Still, it looked like one of those films that looked so bad it was good and it was only 2.99 so I decided to buy it.

As you can see from the picture, the cover is pretty unremarkable, very plain and doesn't really give anything away, although perhaps the title says it all really.

I have not heard of any of the actors in this film, nor did I expect to, and checking the filmography on the DVD I didn't even recognise the films they had been in. Although Deran Satarian has directed an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer - 'Killed by Death' and also an episode of Nash Bridges.

Directed by Lucio Fulci
Cast:
Kenny - Deran Satarian
Patricia - Beatrice King
Roger - Richard Raymond
Bo - Alex McBride
Nancy - Ulli Reinthaler
Plant Director - Alan Collins

So, what happens?
A box is stolen from a nuclear plant where scientists are working on something top secret. The thief is shot by helicopters and is forced to abandon the box when some dodgy looking stuff leaks out and burns him. It later transpires that the 'Stuff' is not actually radioactive material but a virus which turns people into zombies, and so the man is contaminated.
The man eventually gets caught and killed. His corpse is incinerated and the virus is spread through ash being released into the atmosphere. And you can guess the rest, what follows is a group of people trying to survive being killed by zombies, and also trying to avoid government workers who have been instructed to contain the contaminated area by making sure no-one comes out of there alive.

As soon as the film started up, the opening music was dire, sounded like schoolkids on a cronky keyboard, but let's bear in mind that this was the eighties so I shall forgive them.
The make up is dreadful, I noticed one of the zombies looked like me with my Mask Of Magnaminty on (although maybe that says rather more about my face than the film).

The acting wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, although some , like the Plant Director in the film were terribly overacted. On the whole they did the best they could I suppose.

I know it's not supposed to be a serious film or anything, but there were one or two things that got me. For a start, why were some zombies the typical lumbering, dazed types that you see in films, and yet some were capable of some amazing fight moves (well for a zombie anyway.) and were able to run around?
Another thing, in one scene there were 8 decontamination men with what looked like AK47 guns, but they still managed to miss a gang of four people at close range. Yet a member of the gang killed 2 men with only a rifle.

I found that in some scenes the conversations were a bit indistinct meaning I had to turn the volume up, but then they would go really loud at some parts, meaning I had to keep the remote control to hand all the time. In this instance subtitles would have been handy.
The film is also quite badly dubbed in places which can be quite distracting.

All in all, despite what I've said in the review, I actually liked this film. Possibly because I watched it not expecting it to be high quality. The plot is pretty standard, nothing original - the usual zombie fayre. The special effects are pretty cheap - but again I expected it to be nothing more. The characters were unmemorable, in fact when I looked at the cast list I couldn't remember who half of the characters were. Like I said though, although it was not a brilliant film I did enjoy it. One to buy cheaply just to pass some time and have a laugh. Just don't expect a masterpiece.

This film is rated 18 - don't ask me why. I don't remember much if any swearing, no nudity and the violence is not particularly bad.

Extras
Not much in the way of extras to be honest, there is a filmography of Lucio Fulci, Deran Satarian, Beatrice King and Richard Raymond, a gallery, and there are trailers for the films 'Cannibal Holocaust', 'Shogun Assasin', 'Psychic Killer', and 'Mountain Of the Cannibal God' .

And in case you didn't realise.................
'ALL EVENTS AND CHARACTERS DEPICTED IN THIS PHOTOPLAY ARE FICTITIOUS. ANY SIMILARITY TO ACTUAL PERSONS LIVING OR DEAD ARE PURELY COINCIDENTAL.'
You don't say!