Zombie Holocaust

Another film known by many names (eight, to be precise, that IMDB has been able to track down), Zombi Holocaust is probably best known by American cult-film devotees as Dr. Butcher, MD. I ended up picking this one up because there are a rather large number of crossovers with Lucio Fulci's brilliant splatterfest Zombie-- writer Fabrizio DeAngelis was one of the producers of Fulci's film, male lead Ian McCulloch was the lead in Zombie, character actor Dakkar plays a native guide in both, etc. (Most interesting, one of the film's actors, Walter Patriarca, was Zombie's costume designer. Go figger.)

Simple plot, which should sound familiar to anyone who's seen Fulci's film; a number of deaths occur in New York City, and Ian McCollouch, a beautiful sidekick, and two of their pals end up going to a remote Caribbean island where there's an English-speaking doctor who treats the natives. Sound familiar?

For about the first forty-five minutes of this film, I was too busy thinking that it was exactly like Zombie to be impressed. (No one, these days, is sure which film came out first, and most people also draw parallels to another classic of the genre that came out the same year, Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust.) Then Ian McCollouch disposes of a zombie with a motorboat motor, and suddenly things started getting a whole lot more fun. Rather like The Evil Dead, this is a film where there's a whole lot of setup (though Raimi pulled it off miles better), but when the gore starts, the director lays it on thick, fast, and ugly. And while death-by-propeller is probably the funniest and nastiest scene in the film, there's certainly more than enough blood flowing/spraying/dripping/being drunk/etc. to please most fans of hardcore horror. Pound for pound, though, in comparison to Zombie, the latter stands up as the better film. As one reviewer put it, "Fulci... might have had the sauce, but [he] passed on the cheese." Fulci's obsessive attention to detail, better scriptwriting, and stunning score give Fulci the edge over Girolami. But man, it's fun to be the judge. ***

One thing I always point out about these Cannibal flicks is that, besides the disturbing subject matter and ferocious gore, these films are also usually have really interesting, dare I say fascinating stories. That's right. Quality B-movies do exist, after all. However, Zombi Holocaust is not one of them. It looks like your stuck with just the gore. I think it'll be fine. I mean, just because this one doesn't hold up against the almighty Cannibal Ferox and Cannibal Holocaust, doesn't necessarily mean it's not worth your time. And really. Who wouldn't want a film called Zombi Holocaust in their Horror collection? Not I.

Besides what I've already told you, the one thing you might want to consider, going in to this film, is that it's a Zombie movie. I suppose you already had that figured out. But still, Zombi Holocaust does include cannibals, as well as a jungle. Best of both worlds? More like a touch of both worlds. Nothing groundbreaking from either side of the fence. And on top of all that, Zombi Holocaust is also a mad scientist flick. We start out at a hospital, where corpses are being mutilated. Eventually, a cannibal is caught in the act. I guess it was shame that drove the poor guy to unconvincingly jumping out the window. Obviously, tomfoolery like this is not something you'd want going on at your local hospital. Curiosity gets the best of Ian McCullough and some hot chick. For some reason, this hospital mystery lies somewhere in the Carribbean. A mad doctor is slowly turning a tribe of cannibals into zombies. Zombies who don't really do much of anything, as the cannibals are the only ones willing to start trouble. Whatever. It's a movie. So, this guy must be stopped, right? And in case you're wondering, all that doesn't turn out nearly as entertaining as it sounds. Ultimately, if you're a fan of such classics as Burial Ground and Jungle Holocaust, I see no reason why you shouldn't get a kick out of Zombi Holocaust, at least out of sheer principle. Well, unless you're not too big on stupid movies with ridiculous dialogue, and awful acting. In that case, you may want to stay clear of this one. 7/10

"Zombie Holocaust" has a little bit of charm and an idea of what it's going for, but a lot of (or almost all of it) the atmosphere is sacrificed because of the gore. But even with the gore, "Zombie Holocaust" is a very boring movie with few interesting scenes sprinkled throughout the whole thing and the glorious beauty of Alexandra Delli Colli whose nude scenes are one of the rare moments of joy in this movie. Because of that, I can't give this movie a higher score than 5.5/10! Only the most hardcore fans of B movies and horror movies will find something to like here, others should avoid it...

At a hospital happens strange deaths related with canníbal practices of immigrants from remote locations . That's why an expedition formed by Doctor Ian McCulloch , Alexandra Delli Colli and a reporter : Sherry Buchanan travel to East Indians, arriving in a particular island . There they meet a rare scientist undergoing weird experiments and doing his own research . Along the way , they come across bizarre people , ghastly incidents , a tribe of cannibals who attack them and living dead too.

Extremely gory film with thrils , chills , violence and lots of gore and blood, in fact , it isn't recommended for the faint-hearted . This bloody film follows the ordinary plot about a mad doctor operating weird experiments that go wrong , alongside sadistic cannibal natives and hungry zombies . Stars the Scottish Ian McCulloch as a stubborn Doctor , Sherry Buchanan as a journalist and Alexandra Delli Colli who married cameraman Tonino Delli Colli and played a few films as Gayarre and Fulci's New York Ripper. While Donald O'Brien is the mad doctor with dark purports that will stop at nothing to bring to life his fantastic experiments and at whatever cost .

The motion picture was regular but professionally Marino Girolami , under pseudonym Frank Martin. He was a prolific craftsman who wrote and directed several films from the 50s to the 80s . He was father of director Enzo G Castelari and actor Ennio Girilami who often played his movies . Marino directed all kinds of genres as Peplum, Spaghetti Western , Euro Spy , Sex Comedy , Poliziesco , terror and providing acceptable films , getting boxoffice enough . As he directed Spaghetti Westerns : Bullets and the flesh , Reverend Colt , Badmen of the West , two Ringos from Texas , God was in the West too at one time . Poliziesco and Thriller : Rome Violent , The other side of violence , Eros and Thanatos , African Story , A Special Cop in action . Peplum : Warth of Achilles . Comedy : Las Otoñales, Casanova Jekill , Ragazza Vía Veneto, Ferragosto in Bikini , among others .

A splatter classic, Marino Girolami's "Zombi Holocaust" of 1980 doesn't scant with blood and gore. A true B-movie and pure exploitation, this movie is probably not high art, however, I don't suppose that anybody who is about to watch a movie entitled "Zombie Holocaust" is gonna expect Citizen Kane.

After several mutilations of corpses in the morgue of a New York hospital, and the appearance of a mysterious cannibal sign, a group of people, amongst them a beautiful female doctor and a bitchy journalist, decide to go on an expedition to a tropical island, where they expect to find out about the sign's origin. This is, of course, not a very good idea. Not only is the island inhabited by cannibals, but it is also haunted by the living dead.

One of the classic Italian splatter flicks, "Zombi Holocaust", is a fun and entertaining, although not very thrilling movie, that mainly concentrates on the enormous amounts of blood and gore and on constant very graphical violence. The acting in this movie differs. As a huge fan of Spaghetti Westerns, I found it cool to see Donal O'Brien, who delivers a great performance as a mad scientist in this, in a non-western role. The Italian and English title is maybe not the best to describe the movie, since its the Cannibals, and not the Zombies who kill the most people. The German title "Zombies Unter Kannibalen" ("Zombies Amongst Cannibals") is probably better to describe the film's content.

All things considered, "Zombie Holocaust" is a highly entertaining and very bloody Gorefest that fans of the Cannibal subgenre should not miss. Entertainment guaranteed!