Zombie 3

 



Director(s) - Lucio Fulci (The Beyond, Zombie 2), Claudio Fragasso (Caged Women, The Other Hell), and Bruno Mattei (Violence in a Women's Prison, Zombies: The Beginning)
Starring - Deran Sarafian (Alien Predator, House), Beatrice Ring (Interzone, Italian Fast Food), and Ottaviano Dell'Acqua (Zombie 2, Nightmare City)
Release Date - 1988
Genre - Horror
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

 

      In 1978 George A. Romero unleashed his film Dawn of the Dead to the masses.  This follow up to Night of the Living Dead was released in Italy as Zombi.  The following year spaghetti western turned horror director Lucio Fulci directed a follow up to Zombi.  His Zombi 2 has earned a reputation for bringing gore to the table and has became the face of Italian horror.  The following years Fulci would release several amazing zombie centered films but it would be almost a decade later before he released his own sequel to the Zombi series.  In 1988 Fulci, with the help of Claudio Fragasso and Bruno Mattei, released Zombie 3.  Several months back Severin Films released Zombie 3 on blu an was kind enough to send a copy my way.  Thanks guys!

     The film follows a secret testing facility that has created a serum that can bring the dead back to life but at a cost...it is an unstoppable killing machine with a taste for human flesh.  They try to keep it a secret but it is stolen and taken out of the facility where it is accidentally released.  The locals are turning into the walking dead and trapped in the middle of it is a group of unsuspecting people now trying to stay alive.  Unbeknownst to them, the government and the company responsible for the outbreak are working together to kill everyone on the island before it can spread all over the world. 
     I had always heard great things about Zombie 3 from horror fans that had similar taste in films as I do.  However, I heard the exact opposite from hardcore fans of Zombi 2, aka Zombie.  Most Zombie 2 fans are very critical of this one.  They want a direct sequel and Fulci was unable to give them that with this installment.  The acting in this one is not the best but it does offer up some pretty funny moments.  The laughs are very unintentional with how cheesy the cast is.  The cast does the bare minimum but it still has a way of entertaining the viewer.  The story for this one is one most horror fans has seen before.  From the late 80s until now we have seen so many horror films centered around a toxin, serum, virus, and so on that is capable of reanimating the dead or causing death on a global scale finding it's way into the wrong hands.  Hell, this exact story is the basis for the Resident Evil movie adaptation.  With this release in 1988 there had been several dozen films released with this same story but it still offers up a solid storyline for a zombie film which can explain why it is frequently recycled.  With that being said, this one has very little to do with the first film.  It does offer an "origin" story for this installment but it does not tie it back to the previous two films.  Finally, it wouldn't be an Italian horror flick without some gore.  The effects look amazing and any gore fan will enjoy it.  The kills are your standard zombie kills that tow the line like it's predecessor Zombie 2.  Overall, Zombie 3 may not be as good as Zombie 2 but denying it's place in zombie history is ridiculous.  Be sure to check out the release from Severin Films.