ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - July 29th
"ZOMBI 3" released in 1988
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Disillusioned with experiments reanimating the dead, senior researcher Dr. Alan Holder (Robert Marius) resigns. While surrendering the deadly Death One serum to the military, the lab is attacked by a group of unknown terrorists; all but one of the criminals is killed and, during the ensuring police chase, the serum canister is damaged and the toxin is released. General Morton (Mike Monty) promises Holder that he and his men - including the brutal Tracey (Bruno Mattei) and Cheney (Claudio Fragasso) - will capture the remaining terrorist, but by the time they locate him he has already been turned into a flesh-craving zombie and infected a number of staff at the hotel he was hiding out in. The military "clear out" all the remaining zombies at the resort and burn the bodies before Holder can stop them. As the ash rises into the air infecting a flock of birds, a chain of events begins that will spread the virus throughout the entire island. While Dr. Holder and his team start work on an antidote to counter the effects of Death One and General Morton's men start to eradicate the zombies, a stranded busload of tourists and a trio of vactioning GI's seek refuge at the Sweet River Resort. Attacked by both zombies and Morton's "clean up" crew, the remaining survivors, Kenny (Deran Sarafian), Patricia (Beatrice Ring), Roger (Ottaviano Dell'acqua) desperately search for a way off the island!
Roger: [Roger runs out of ammo in front of a crowd of zombies] It's empty! Looks like I've had it!
Top: Kenny and Roger get ready for a zombie assault;
Above: Gen. Morton (Mike Monty) watches on as the infected bodies are burned
(director Bruno Mattei (left) and screenwriter Claudio Fragasso (right) cameo as the
two soldiers)
Although Claudio Fragasso recieved the sole writing credit for Zombi 3, it was his wife, Rossella Drudi, who developed and co-authored most of the script. Their script set the film in the Philippines which at the time was a mecca for cheap exploitation filmmakers during much of the 70's and 80's. Director Lucio Fulci (otherwise known as the Italian "Godfather of Gore") stated that he deemed the original script to be "dreadful", and rewrote much of it with his daughter Camilla Fulci, who had accompanied him to the Philippines for principal photography. The rewrites also included the scene where the skull flies out of the freezer, which Fulci later remarked that he felt it was one of the most clever things he had come up with, and was the only thing about the movie he was truly proud of. Marina Loi auditioned for the part of Patricia, but it wound up going to Beatrice Ring. However, Lucio Fulci took a liking to her and gave her the role of Carole. Like many Italian movies shot for the international market, most of the cast delivered their lines in English and were then re-dubbed for the US release anyway. Only a few members of the cast actually spoke Italian.
Glenn: I'm feeling better, Patricia, but I'm thirsty... for your blood!
Top: Patricia (Beatrice Ring) survives the bus, only to be trapped in the resort;
Above: Lucio Fulci's famous "skull flying out the freezer" scene!
After shooting for six weeks, Fulci eventually delivered a film a little over 70-mins in length which, according to Fragasso by "simplifying" his screenplay, played like a one hour and ten minutes slow montage. Producer Franco Gaudenzi cut the film down even further to 50-mins and hired second unit director Bruno Mattei (who was in the Philippines at the time filming Strike Commando 2) to work with Fragasso on new scenes. Since Gaudenzi could not get the main cast back for reshoots, Mattei and Fragasso re-edited Fulci's footage to be more of a subplot, with Mattei claiming that he shot about 40% of the film including all the early scenes in the film and the scenes where the men dressed in white anti-contamination suits (including brief cameos by Mattei and Fragasso as soldiers in the crematorium scene). Two conflicting stories were given for Fulci leaving the film, the first being that due to a stroke leaving Fulci unable to complete the film and the second being that he was having disputes with producers; Fulci himself would later state that, "I don't repudiate any of my movies, except Zombi 3. But that movie's not mine. It's the most foolish of my productions. It has been done by a group of idiots."
GOOF: 15 minutes into the film, a room service boy enters the infected mans bedroom to bring him water. After he leaves, he asks a female colleague to clean the room. When she enters, it is clearly a completely different room.
TRIVIA: Zombi 3 was also released under the title Zombie Flesh Eaters 2
Top: Original Zombi 3 director, Lucio Fulci in 1996 ;
Above: Replacement director Bruno Mattei in 2007
Due to the change of direction in the plot, Zombi 3 is an in-name-only sequel to Fulci's Zombi 2 (1979), while other films were released internationally promoting themselves as also being a direct sequel to Zombi 2, including Andrea Bianchi's Burial Ground (1981) - released as Zombi III: Nights of Terror - and Return of the Zombies as Zombi 3. Though not as successful as the other entries in the Zombi series, retrospective reviews were fairly positive with Video Watchdog commenting that the film had "slow patches" but plenty of exciting (and extremely gory) highlights throughout." Writing in The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, academic Peter Dendle said, "Most of the movie is a quilt of scenes and motifs shamelessly pasted together from Dawn of the Dead and Return of the Living Dead, but fast pacing and continuous shooting help distract from the absence of plot or character development." Claudio Fragasso would also release his own zombie movie, After Death, the following year (this time giving his wife Rossella Drudi full writing credit for her work) which was marketed and released in Japan and the US as Zombie 4: After Death.
IMDb SCORE: 4.8/10
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