Oct 21 2004
Movie: “Zombie Holocaust” (1980)
Zombie Holocaust (1980) directed by Marino Girolami.
(MF Title: “Acting holocaust”)
Starrring: Ian McCulloch, Alexandra Delli Colli, Sherry Buchanan, Peter O’Neal and Donald O’Brien.
Zombie Film Rating: 
Overview: Someone is stealing bits and pieces of cadavers in New York, it’s a horrible crime and demands an investigation. Who’s assigned to the case? The NYPD? The FBI? Homeland Security? Hah! Thats just foolish, lets send some doctors and a reporter to investigate this atrocity!
Summary: In GMH (Generic Metropolitan Hospital) #119 the staff have become concerned with a string of cadaver mutilations. Body parts removed for no obvious reason. Initially dismissed as pranks, the staff eventually discover an Indonesian porter is responsible for these incidents, and is in fact part of a remote tribe that practices canibalism (Note to HR: Perhaps a background check or two…).
Following the porters suicide the staff, led by Doctor Peter Chandler, decide to investigate this matter on their own (you know, without police or government assistance) and team up with a reporter familiar with the region, and jump on a plane.
They arrive at a remote village, and obtain directions from the local doctor. They then trek out into the jungle and are almost immediately attacked by murderous canibals. The attack of the canibals is interupted by the appearance of three zombies.
Sole survivors after about 15 minutes in the jungle are Doctor Chandler and Lori Ridgeway. Lori is dragged to a sacrifice chamber by the cannibals, while the good doctor is prepped for zombification by his insane colleague, who seems to do alot of cutting, but very little actual experimentation.
Fortunately it seems the reporter is actually the queen of the cannibals, and she sends her flesh-munching army against the made scientist just in time to rescue Doctor Chandler, kill the mad scientist and burn his lab.
Happy ending.
Critique: Oh dear, oh dear. Where to begin. The movie stars Ian McCulloch who seems just as wooden as he did in Fulci’s Zombie, and the movie itself seems to make use of some of the same footage and sets as Zombie (although it lacks the gore of Fulcis work).
There are exactly three zombies in this movie, and we’re never really treated to the promised “Zombie holocaust”, we have a “Cannibal holocaust” of sorts, but the zombies just sort of shuffle around, and don’t even really kill anyone. Rather disappointing really as I had hoped for at least some zombie action in this film, and not just “Zombie cameos”.
The movie seems a little incoherent, and I found it interesting that they managed to squeeze zombies, cannibals and a mad scientist in without making much of any of them.
Generally speaking I’d give this one a miss, it’s not much of zombie film.