A few issues back we published a "Zombie Movie List," compiled by Lisa Willey. As we noted at the time, the list Lisa made was a bit oldish and dated (it was written in 1991). So, zombie movie expert John Hand (check out his website, The Pulsing Cinema) decided to provide HORROR-WOOD readers with an up-to-date list of walking dead flicks. As a result...

THE ZOMBIE MOVIE LIST RISES FROM THE GRAVE

By JOHN HAND

Alien Dead. Director: Fred Olen Ray, 1980. A strange meteor-like object crashes into a rural Florida town and causes people to mutate into limp "zombies" that chase people around the bayou. About the only interesting part of this film is watching an old man getting the run through by a pitchfork. Standard no-budget Olen Ray fare.

Army of Darkness. Director: Sam Raimi, 1993. Ash returns yet again to fight the forces of evil, this time in a medieval land that's beset by the evil dead.

Astro Zombies. Director: Ted V. Mikels, 1967. Russ Meyer favorite Tura Satana and low-budget king John Carradine create a race of solar-powered zombies that  run around and raise hell.

"Demons" posterThe Beyond. Director Lucio Fulci, 1980. A young woman inherits an old hotel that is haunted by ancient ghosts. People eventually die, return to life, and one of the seven doors to hell is slowly pushed open. A surreal ultra-violent masterpiece from Fulci. Available in the U.S. in a cut version which was retitled as 7 Doors of Death. AKA L'Aldila.

Blood Nasty. Directors: Richard Gabai and Robert Ian Strauss, 1989. Strange tale of a guy who returns from the dead after being killed and makes his mother (who wants to collect on his life insurance) not exactly happy.

The Boneyard. Director: James Cummins, 1991. Zombified children cause some major trouble in a coroner's building.

Braindead. Director: Peter Jackson, 1992. A young man ruled by a domineering mother is put in a very delicate situation when a strange monkey-rat thing at the zoo bites mum and causes her to transform into a flesh-craving zombie, periodically biting others and turning them into zombies. One of the biggest, boldest, and bloodiest zombie films to date. Released in the US as Dead Alive.

Bride of Re-Animator. Director: Brian Yuzna, 1990. Herbert West returns for more medical mishaps in this sequel to the cult classic. Not as electrifying as the first film but enjoyable nonetheless.

Burial Ground.  Director: Bruno Mattei (as Vincent Dawn), 1980. The living dead haunt an ancient castle where a group of people are vacationing. This film features some of funniest zombies anywhere and one of the scariest midgets known to man. AKA Le Notti del terrore.

Chopper Chicks in Zombietown. Director: Dan Hoskins, 1992. An accident unleashes a herd of zombies from their  abandoned mineshaft prison. Looks like a job for the chopper chicks, a female biker gang who just happen to be passing through town. Starring Billy Bob Thornton in a small role.

City of the Walking Dead. Director: Umberto Lenzi, 1980. Lenzi turns in yet another gorefest, this time involving zombies who jump out of a plane and raise hell in a small city. The "nightmare becomes reality" ending will have you kicking yourself. AKA La Invasión de los Zombies atómicos, Incubo sulla cittŕ contaminata, Nightmare City.

Carnival Of Souls. Director: Herk Hervey, 1962. After almost drowning, a girl is haunted by a menacing figure. A dark, surreal classic.

Dawn Of The Dead. Director: George Romero, 1968. Four people barricade themselves in a shopping mall to get away from man-eating zombies in this brilliantly-executed sequel to Night of the Living Dead. AKA Zombie: Dawn of the Dead.

Day Of The Dead. Director: George Romero, 1985. Day is the third film in the Dead trilogy, dealing this time with a small number of scientists and soldiers who have barricaded themselves in an abandoned underground military installation with the assignment of studying the living dead housed in an underground mineshaft.  A good horror film but it doesn't quite have the impact of the two previous films.

Dead and Buried. Director: Gary Sherman, 1981. Strange tale of ghosts from the past "Horror Of The Zombies" posterwho cause trouble in a small town. Co-written by Alien's Dan O'Bannon and produced by Ron Shusett

Dead Heat. Director: Mark Goldblatt, 1988. Horror/comedy dealing with a machine which can bring the dead to life and the corporation using this machine to make unstoppable "soldiers" who pull jewel heists and knock-off anyone who gets too close to the secret. Joe Piscopo and Treat Williams play cops who slowly uncover the machine and the horrifying "side-effects" of the process. One of the stand-out scenes includes the contents of an entire butcher shop suddenly coming to life and attaching Piscopo and Williams!

Dead Men Walk. Director: Sam Newfield, 1943. Two brothers, one good, one evil, battle in this flick. Includes vampires and zombies as well.

The Dead Next Door. Director: J.R. Bookwalter, 1988. Shot-on-super-8 zombie epic which deals with a squad of zombie hunters attempting to find a cure to the living dead epidemic.

Deathdream. Director: Bob Clark, 1972. Chilling tale of a dead soldier in Vietnam who mysteriously appears at his parent's home, alive. An atmospheric classic featuring some interesting special effects by a young Tom Savini. AKA The Night Andy Came Home.

Dellamorte Dellamore. Director:Michelle Soavi, 1994. The custodian of the local cemetery finds his job load increases substantially when the dead begin to climb out of their graves. Starring Rupert Everett in the title role. Released in the US under the title Cemetery Man. AKA Demons '95.

Demons. Director: Lamberto Bava, 1985. The inhabitants of a movie theater are slowly possessed by evil spirits in this claustrophobic gem which was co-produced by Dario Argento. AKA Demoni.

Demons 2. Director: Lamberto Bava, 1986. Basically a repeat of the first film, except this one takes place in an apartment building. AKA Demoni 2.

Demon Wind. Director:Charles Philip Moore, 1990. As usual, a bunch of brainless teenagers stumble onto some mysterious occurences and are then slowly possessed by demons. This is actually one of the better demon-possession films.

Dr. Butcher, M.D.  Director: Marino Girolami (as Frank Martin), 1979.  A strange mix of cannibalism and zombie fu. AKA Zombie Holocaust.

The Evil Dead. Director: Sam Raimi, 198. This is the film which created the blueprint for  the "dumb teens drive to secluded house, invoke demonic spirits and are slowly possessed by said spirits" genre of film. As in most cases, the first one is usually better than the imitators.

Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn. Director: Sam Raimi, 198. Essentially remake of the first movies, this is one fast-paced, rollercoaster ride of a film!

Erotic Nights of the Living Dead. Director: Joe D'Amato, 1979. Yet another skin flick/zombie movie from prolific pornographic filmmaker D'Amato. AKA Le Notti erotiche dei morti viventi.

The Fog. Director: John Carpenter, 1980. Eighteenth Century pirates come back from the dead to terrorize a fishing village whose forefathers sunk their ship and stole their gold. As the fog moves in, the people roll out dead.

Garden of the Dead. Director: John Hayes, 1972. Prisoners on a chain gang sniff the fumes of an experimental ether and return from the dead when they are killed after attempting a prison break.

"Invisible Invaders" posterThe Gates of Hell.  Director: Lucio Fulci, 1980. The suicide of a clergyman in a small town slowly brings about the resurrection of the dead and the opening of one of the dreaded 7 gates to hell. AKA Paura nella cittŕ dei morti viventi, City of the Living Dead.

Ghost Brigade. Director: , 1993. Strange Civil War-era film where a group of dead soldiers are resurrected by some kind of evil spirit and make their way across the countryside killing anything they come across. AKA The Killing Box.

Hard Rock Zombies. Director: Krishna Shah, 1985. Strange farce about a rock band playing a concert in a small hicktown populated by sex maniacs, various other freaks and Hitler.

Horror of the Zombies. Director: Amando De Ossorio, 1974. The Templar Knights haunt a ghost ship. This film is probably one of the lower points of the Blind Dead series. Followed by Night of the Seagulls. AKA Buque maldito, The Ghost Gallien.

House by the Cemetery. Director: Lucio Fulci, 1981. A family moves into a house which is also occupied by Dr. Frued Stein, a member of the undead who stalks around the place looking for someone to violently murder. There's some interesting gore scenes but nothing which comes close to the greatness of some of Fulci's other films.

I Eat Your Skin. Director: Del Tenney, 1964. Voodoo combined with modern science brings the plague of the undead onto yet another small tropical island. Originally played on a double bill with I Drink Your Blood, which concerned rabies-infected maniacs. AKA Voodoo Blood Bath, Zombies.

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies. Director: Ray Dennis Steckler, 1963. An evil carnival psychic who resembles a demented Liz Taylor takes people not exactly happy with her servies and turns them into zombie "pets".  She also hypnotizes a young guy (Steckler as "Cash Flagg"), causing him to murder unsuspecting women and have strange LSD-meets-bad-musical dreams. Yet another epic by low-budget king Steckler. Featuring camerawork by a young Lazslo Kovacs (Easy Rider). Re-released as Teenage Psycho Meets Bloody Mary.

The Invisible Dead. Director: Pierre Chevalier, 1970. A standard exploitation film dealing with a mad scientist's attempt to create a strange race of invisible zombies. Lots of nudity and other B-movie stereotypes.

Invisible Invaders. Director: Edward L. Cahn, 1959. Inept, chuckle-headed schlock in the Ed Wood tradition about invisible aliens who invade earth and reanimate corpses to creat an army of the walking dead to attack earthlings. John Carridine and John Agar must have needed the money badly. However, the scenes of the shambling zombies may well have influenced George Romero! (Contributed by Renfield.)

King Of The Zombies. Director: Jean Yarborough, 1941. This movie is on video and has a running time of 67 min. This is one of those mad scientist movies, only this time it adds Nazis on a tropical island.

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie. Director: Jorge Grau, 1974. An interesting variation of Night of the Living Dead, where a strange sonic ray being used for agricultura purposes causes the dead to rise. AKA The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue, Don't Open the Window, and most recently released in the US in a slightly-edited EP video release which is simply titled The Living Dead.

The Mad Ghoul. Director: James P. Hogan, 1943. Well-meaning mad scientist George Zucco creats a gas that transforms David Bruce into a zombie-like goon who kills at Zucco's command. Interesting, but slow in spots. Evelyn Ankers and Turan Bey add a little class to this Universal B-programmer. AKA Mystery Of The Ghoul. (Contributed by Renfield.)

 My Boyfriend's Back. Director: Bob Balaban, 1993. Light-hearted film from Disney "The Mad Ghoul" posterdealing with a dead kid who returns from the grave to take his girlfriend to the prom. Subversive, strange fluff that could only come from the big mouse.

Night of the Comet. Director: Thom Eberhardt, 1984. Post-apocalyptic film about the return of Haley's comet and its effect on earth.

Night of the Creeps. Director: Fred Dekker , 1986. Director: An alien slug-like thing jumps into people's mouths and turns them into malicious zombies. Watch out for the original, alternate ending to this film, as it improves much over the cheap "shock" ending that was added on later.

Night of the Seagulls. Director: Amando DeOssorio. In this fourth and final film of the Blind Dead series, The Templar Knights return yet again to ride horses in slow-motion and suck the blood from the living. By this time the Knights were beginning to get a bit stale. AKA Night of the Death Cult.

Night Of The Demons. Director: Kevin Tenney, 1983. Teenagers party in the wrong cemetery and are slowly killed and possessed by demonic spirits.

Night Of The Demons 2. Director: Kevin Tenney, 1994. The demonic host from the first film returns for yet another round of possessing dumb teenagers.

Night of the Demons III. Director: Jim Kaufman, 1997.  The demons return yet again to haunt yet another group of stupid people stuck inside a haunted house.

Night Life. Director: David Acomba, 1989. A young guy working at a mortuary is continually beaten up by the town bullies. When the bullies die in a violent car accident, the kid is home free. . .until a potent mix of chemicals re-animates the bullies.

Night Of The Living Dead. Director: George Romero, 1968. This modern classic literally began the "zombie" film industry that would flourish less than a decade later. Arguibly the first midnight film, Night of the Living Dead is a masterpiece of suspense and probably one of the greatest horror films (or maybe just films?) ever made. Followed by the equally interesting film Dawn of the Dead.

Night of the Living Dead. Director: Tom Savini, 1990. A weak remake that provides a few original twists but fails miserably at trying to re-create the chilling atmosphere of the original.

Night Of The Zombies. Director: Bruno Mattei (as Vincent Dawn) 1983. A very trashy movie with one long cannibal feast after another. Most of the film's running time is taken up by stock footage of wildlife (!) and most of the film's music was taken from Goblin's score for Dawn of the Dead. 

Oasis Of The Zombies. Director: Jess Franco, 1981. A bunch of dumb teenagers are slowly devoured by zombies. Obviously, this is a very original film. AKA La Tumba de los muertos vivientes, Blood Sucking Nazi Zombies.

Over My Dead Body. Director: Rainer Matsutani. Interesting German film about a guy who makes a pact with the devil to return from the grave. AKA Nur über meine Leiche.

"The Night Of The Seagulls" posterPet Sematary. Director: Mary Lambert, 1989. This adaption of a Stephen King novel concerns an ancient cemetery where the dead are resurrected. Unfortunately, those that return from the grave are never quite the same. An exciting, chilling film that resurrected King's respectability in the movie business after a long string of flops in the early eighties.

Pet Sematary II. Director: Mary Lambert, 1992. Yet another unsuspecting family moves next door to the ancient cemetery and can't resist the chance for immortality. Starring Terminator 2's Edward Furlong.

Phantasm. Director: Don Coscarelli, 1979. People are mysteriously dropping dead in a small town and the only who cares is a young kid who nobody listens to. Probably one of the ultimate drive-in flicks of the seventies.

Phantasm II. Director: Don Coscarelli, 1988. The ball is back! Everyone returns in this great sequel which begins exactly where the first film ended. This time Reggy and the kid (well, now more of a man) are running around the backwoods tracking down the Tall Man.

Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead. Director: Don Coscarelli, 1994. Reggie packs up the Cuda once again and heads out to fight the Tall Man, this time with the help of a little kid and a young black woman (Well at least it provides for nice little dream sequence for Reg). Not as exciting as the first sequel but still interesting.

Plague Of The Zombies. Director: John Gilling, 1966. This is a fairly intense story about a Voodoo cult in a Cornish village. Contains beautiful photography.

Plan 9 From Outer Space. Director: Edward Wood, 1958. The ultimate cult classic. The aliens HAVE arrived, but the only thing they're interested in is attempting to resurrect Bela Lugosi, Tor Johnson and Vampirella from the grave. Pointless yet strangely fascinating.

Prince of Darkness. Director: John Carpenter, 1987. The forces of Satan wage war on a group of unsuspecting scientists who are studying paranormal occurences in an abandoned church. One of Carpenter's underrated gems.

Prison. Director Renny Harlin, 1988. When an abandoned prison is suddenly put back into use, the ghosts of the past begin to haunt the inhabitants. Nice zombie assault finale, though.

Psychomania. Director: Don Sharp, 1971. A motorcycle gang return from the dead by way of black magic and raise hell.

Re-Animator. Director: Stuart Gordon, 1987. Cult classic dealing with Herbert West, a guy who's just invented a serum which violently re-animates the living dead. Followed by Bride of Re-Animator.

Redneck Zombies. Director: Pericles Lewnes, 1988. All hell breaks loose in the backwoods when toxic waste gets into a moonshiner's still and causes those who drink his toxic hooch to be transformed into ill-mannered zombies. Shot-on-video, with quite a large amount of gore. Be sure to get the recent "director's cut"; the older video release is slightly cut in a number of places. AKA Redneck County Rape.

Rest in Pieces. Director: José Larraz, 1987. Infamous director Larraz (Black Candles) "Reanimator" posterhelms this uninspiring tale of a strange mansion and its deadly inhabitants.  

Return of the Blind Dead. Director: Amando De Ossorio, 1972. The Templar nights from Tombs of the Blind Dead return to plague a small village. Followed by Horror of the Zombies. AKA El Ataque de los muertos sin ojos, Return of the Evil Dead.

Return Of The Living Dead. Director: Dan O'Bannon, 1985. This movie is on video and has a running time of 91 min. A spoof on George Romero's classic that consists of the dead rising after a chemical leak. These morbid creatures are after one thing: Brains! "This was basically the same idea (as the return of the living dead) except in a more modern setting. The tanks containing some of the bodies of the living dead are now in a medical supply warehouse. The foreman is telling the story behind the living dead and asks if the boy wants to see the tanks. To make a long story short, the man hits the tank and it begins to leak the gas. Suddenly things begin to come alive in the warehouse including a cadaver. The gas leaks out into the graveyard and all of a sudden there is an angry mob of the living wanting "brains."

Return Of The Living Dead II. Director: Ken Wiederhorn, 1988. The walking dead are once again in control and want more brains!

Return of the Living Dead III. Director: Brian Yuzna, 1990. Those pesky drums cause yet another batch of young people to turn into zombies; in this case it's the son of a government official attempting to study the drums and possibly turn the living dead into the ultimate secret weapon. Better than the second film but nowhere near the brilliance of the first movie.

Revenge of the Dead. Director: Pupi Avati, 198 . A young man is given a typewriter as a present and slowly begins to become involved in the activities of the typewriter's former owner, a priest with some  A Convoluted film, but it does have its followers.

Revenge of the Living Zombies. Director: Bill Hinzman, 1989. A sad attempt by Bill Hinzman, the original cemetery zombie from Night of the Living Dead, to regain some of the glory (and money) earned by the first film. Imagine a plotless, colorized Night of the Living Dead featuring a few tastless flashes of nudity and you've got Revenge of the Living Zombies.

Revenge Of The Zombies. Director: Steve Sekely, 1943. This is not on video. The running time is 61 min.

Revolt Of The Zombies. Director: Victor Halperin, 1936. This film is on video, with a running time 65 min. This project lacks the style of White Zombie. Cambodian troops are turned into zombies.

Santo Vs. The Zombies. Director:Benito Alazraki, 1961. Kind of a strang combination of a regular Mexican wresting film and White Zombie. Santo wrestles a little, hops in his car and drives around a bit, gets back into the ring and wrestles a zombie (whether it be zombie/wolfman/whatever, everbody gets at least ONE shot in the ring with El Santo before getting beaten) and at the end Santo beats all the nasty villians (in this case the rich zombie controllers) and rides off into the sunset. AKA Santo contra los zombies, Samson Vs. The Zombies (US).

The Serpent And The Rainbow. Director: Wes Craven, 1988. This project is on video, with a running time of 98 min. "In the legends of Voodoo, the serpent is a symbol of Earth, the rainbow is a symbol of heaven. Between the two, all creatures live and die. But because he has a goal, man can be trapped in a terrible place, where death is only the beginning." I thought it pertinent to add this quote in my review, because from what I have learned, the concept was distorted. Distortion is probably the best word to describe the whole movie that this quote was taken from. The Serpent and The Rainbow is based on the Wade Davis book of the same title. From what I understand of what was taught to me, his account of Haiti is somewhat distorted as well. Hollywood, as everyone knows, has it's own little problem with distortion. So, the movie version is even less credible than Davis' book. Let's return to the quote, after all it's the first problem I saw in the movie. The serpent is probably a reference to the Loa, Dumballah. He is, if anything, more of a father figure than an Earth figure. The Earth is a cruel place, and Dumballah is thought of as a protector. The Rainbow is probably a reference to Ayida, his wife. She is not the symbol of heaven, because the Haitians do not believe in Heaven, but the spirit world. Together they are the forces of human sexuality. Basically, the movie is about an American scientist who goes to Haiti to find the powders that create zombies. For the most part, if one knows nothing about Haiti, this film would be rather hard. One should have some knowledge of the Duvaliers, the Ton Ton Macoute, and Houngans.

Shatter Dead. Director: Scooter McCrae, 1994. This shot-on-video gem attempts to put a new spin on the zombie mythos by making the zombies the persecuted ones.

Shock Waves. Director: Ken Wiederhorn, 1975. Peter Cushing leads a brigade of Nazi zombies to power the Third Reich's submarines.

The Supernaturals. Director:Armand Mastroianni, 1986. A band of Yankee troops rise from the dead to raise hell for a modern-day platoon led by Michell Nicholls.

Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors. Director: Freddie Francis, 1965. A fortune-teller tells some terrible secrets. May or may not have zombies.

The Thirsty Dead. Director: Terry Becker, 1975. Bizarre exploitation film featuring zombies as just one of the main attractions.

Tombs of the Blind Dead. Director: Armando De Ossorio, 1971. This is the first installment in Blind Dead series of films, which examines the exploits of the Templar Knights, an ancient occult sect who continues to feast on the blood of the living. The next film in the series was Return of the Blind Dead. AKA La Noche del terror ciego.

"Tomb Of The Blind Dead" posterToxic Zombies. Director: huck McCrann, 1980. When the government sprays a marijuana field  with an experimental pesticide, it has an unfortunate side-effect: it turns the dope farmers into hell-raising zombies! Fun exploitation. AKA Bloodeaters.

Two Evil Eyes. Directors: George Romero and Dario Argento, 1990. The idea for this film was simple: two installments inspired by an Edgar Allen Poe Story, one directed by Romero and the other by Argento. In the first installment, Romero directs an adaption of Poe's short story "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar," fleshing the story out to include a conniving wife of a dying millionare who enlists her lover in trying to off her husband. Hypnotism gets involved, the door between the living and dead is inadverdantly cracked, and all hell breaks loose. Argento's adaption of Poe's "The Black Cat" is also quite an interesting take on an old story. AKA Due Occhi Diabolici.

Vengeance of the Zombies. Director: Leon Klimovsky, 1972. Paul Naschy stars in this standard zombie/voodoo period piece which throws in a bit of gore and kinky sex to liven up the piece.

The Video Dead. Director: Robert Scott, 1989. A magical television conjures up the Living Dead in this low-budget. A slow and boring exercise in cheap gore.

Virgin Among the Living Dead. Director: Jess Franco, 1971. A young woman is summoned to a small village for the opening of her departed father's will. After she gets there, she begins to have strange dreams about ghosts and other surreal figures. All these paranormal occurances make for a chilling ghost film. Be warned, though, that most US video releases (especially the EDDE release under the name of Zombie 3: Virgin Among the Living Dead) are heavily-edited and greatly diminsh the impact of this film. AKA Christina, princesse de l'érotisme.

Voodoo Dawn. Director: Steven Tierberg, 1990. Two college buddies visit a friend who is being turned into a zombie. "In this movie a bokor name Makoute goes around killing the Haitian migrant workers in a southern town. He then makes them into zombies and has them work in his fields. He then gets this idea to make a zombie man. He begins to gather bits and pieces of people to make up the man. When all is finally complete, Makoute slashes his wrist and lets the blood drip into the zombie man's mouth. In the meantime, the migrant workers, led by a mambo, decide to kill Makoute. They surround his house and when he comes out they attack him and get a piece of his clothing and use it for a Voodoo doll. With this doll, the Mambo kills Makoute and they burn his body. All seems to be well except for by this time the Voodoo man had come to life and was not very happy to see his master a clump of ashes. After a long battle between the Voodoo man and the hero, the Voodoo man loses his head, literally, and dies. However, for the grand finale, this demon thing looking like it came straight out of "Aliens" bursts out of the Voodoo man's stomach and tries to eat the hero. But the hero kills the demon thing too. So the hero and the pretty girl live happily ever after."

Voodoo Island. Director: Reginald LeBorg, 1957. Boris Karloff is a businessman who goes to investigate strange happenings in Haiti.  

Voodoo Man. Director: William Beaudine, 1944. Lugosi has a zombie wife who he tries to cure by experimenting on other women.

Voodoo Woman. Director: Edward L. Cahn, 1957. Sexy Marla English is turned into a sort of She-Creature-ish zombie.

I Walked With A Zombie. Director: Jacques Tourneur, 1943. A doctor is sent to a Caribbean Island to treat someone's zombie wife. This movie, believe it or not, is adapted from "Jane Eyre."

The Walking Dead. Director: Michael Curtiz, 1936.

The Wedding Night. Director:Mads Tobias Olsen , 1997. Strange Romance/Comedy/ Zombie film from Denmark. AKA Bryllupsnatten.

White Zombie. Director: Victor Halperin, 1932. " Now we understand each other a little "Carnival Of Souls" posterbetter", says Bela Lugosi, as he turns his rival into one of his eerie slaves. This, by no means, is one of his more well-known lines from a movie; but after seeing this film, I am convinced that it has to be one of his most sinister quotes. Lugosi plays the evil overseer of a sugar mill, who turns his workers into zombies to do his dirty work. White Zombie is a wonderful low-budget flick, with wonderful background settings that add to the eeriness of the film. For the most part, the zombies are mindless creatures that would not have hurt anybody, if it had not been for Lugosi. So, they really do not add to any of the misconceptions that Americans have about Voodoo. The few Haitians we do see in the film are burying one of their dead. None of them ate depicted as being evil. The real big "misconception" in the film is a carved Voodoo doll. I am under the impression that they do not exist. As one last note on the film; the way that Lugosi turned his victims into zombies, was to give them a special powder that would feign death. He would then go and get the body, giving it another concoction. Perhaps Victor Halperin was Wade Davis' "secret society."

Zombi. Director: Lucio Fulci, 1979. The tale is about a mad scientist who creates zombies that can only be killed with a bullet through the brain, Zombi is essentially an unofficial European "sequel" to Dawn of the Dead (released in many countries as Zombie). This film began the Italian Zombie cycle and invigorated director Fulci's career, enabling him to make a long string of violent horror films.  AKA Zombie Flesh Eaters, Zombie 2.

Zombie 3. Director: Lucio Fulci (with Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragasso), 198?. A weak sequel to a great film, supposedly only partly directed by Fulci (supposedly almost all of the shots involving the military shooting zombies were shot by other people).

Zombie 4: After Death. Director: Claudio Fragasso, 1988. This film has nothing to do with either Zombie 2 or 3. Yet another muddled gorefest.

Zombie '90: Extreme Pestilence. Director Andreas Schnaas, 1991. Yet another shot-on-video zombie epic from German Violent Shit director Schnaas. About the only amusing area of this movie is the hilarious English dubbing.

Zombies on Broadway. Director: Gordon Douglas, 1945. Two men search for a zombie act to use in their nightclub. Bela Lugosi plays a mad doctor yet again.

Zombie Cop. Director: J.R. Bookwalter, 1991. A cop returns from the grave to stop an villian's diabolical plans in this standard Bookwalter movie.

Zombie High. Director: Ron Link, 1987. A school's administrators lobotomize thestudents to keep themselves young. In England, this film is known as The School That Ate My Brain. "It takes place in a boarding school where the students are given a sort of lobotomy to turn the students into zombies. The professors, who are behind the operations, are taking tissue from the students' brains and replacing them with quartz crystals. With the tissue that is taken from the brain, the professors make a serum that will give them everlasting life, while the students remain zombies in a cheesy B rated flick."

Zombie Island Massacre. Director: John Carter, 1984. Corpses come alive on a Caribbean island. "Straight to video. Never in theaters. In this movie you do not even see the zombies, they do all the killing behind the scenes. The plot is a group of tourists who go to the islands and watch a Voodoo service. During the service a lamb is sacrificed and the tourists are disgusted. When they reach the tour bus to leave it is broken down, what a coincidence. The tourists then decide to walk through a jungle towards a house they had seen earlier. Much to their surprise, they end up being picked off one by one by the zombies that you never see. It had horrible acting and special effects."

Zombie Lake. Director: Jean Rollin, 1980. Abysmal tale of undead German soldiers who haunt a mysterious lake and kill anyone who gets too close. Great video box art on the Wizard video release, though. AKA Le Lac des morts vivants.

The Zombies Of Mora Tau. Director: Edward L Cahn, 1957. All this does is show how dull movies were before Night of the Living Dead.

Zombies Of The Stratosphere. 1958. Leonard Nimoy plays a Martian who saves the day.

The Zombies Of Sugar Hill. Director: Paul Maslansky, 1974. A hip blaxploitation/zombie epic! A woman tries to avenge her lover's death by conjuring black zombies who rise from the grave to "fight the man". AKA Voodoo Girl, Sugar Hill.

Zombie Nightmare. Director: ?, 1987. A man is killed by some teenagers while trying to prevent a rape after a baseball game. His widow, while in deep mourning, calls for a voodoo priestess to reanimate her husband (whose name happens to be Thor) so that he may avenge his death. After Thor is brought back to life as a zombie, he goes around killing people with a baseball bat. Featuring Batman's Adam West in a bit part.

Thanks, John! Phew! That's as close to an exhaustive list of zombie films as old Renfield has ever seen. Anyone who has a film that either John or Lisa may have missed, they're welcome to submit it...that is, if they can pry their cold, dead hands from the remote! Cheers!

Article (except for quoted material) copyright John Hand.

 

 

Return To Contents Page