RELEASE DATE: 1980
RATED: R
REVIEWED BY: The DarkSider
The movie starts off with the credits over zombie theme music. Zombie theme music, for all you novice horror movie fans, is very frequent in Italian films. This one is a bit of a serious one sound D-chord with a whoosh whoosh whoosh underneath it all. It appears in every other scene from here on out. Some dude is hanging out at the local morgue...you know, for a midnight snack. He hacks off the hand of some corpse and leaves.
The next day a professor is teaching anatomy class with his assistant Lori. They note that the hand is missing after class and there is some kind of deviant in the hospital somewhere. Gee you think so...anyhow, through a little plot exposition we find out that aside from dissecting cadavers, Lori is into anthropology. She finds cannibals fascinating and enjoys long walks on the beach...well I'm not sure about the beach part. Might I say that it is more than apparent through out the movie that the actress playing Lori was NOT hired for her acting skills. Thats all I have to say about that, you figure out the rest.
The next day a nurse discovers a patient in the hospital with his heart ripped out. Lori and the doctor come in to examine and tell the nurse not to say a word about it. Lori heads home and starts to prepare dinner. It is at this point the film I think tries to add a little social commentary about cannibals and city folk. Lori goes to the fridge and is about to take out a bloody piece of meat. Yeah, I can see how eating a human heart is very similar to having pork shoulder for dinner. Thank you director, I'm sure now we will buy this film as a serious commentary on society rather than an over the top gore flick....yeah whatever.
Lori gets a visit from an annoying reporter named Susan who pressures her for information on the corpse mutilations. While she is visiting, Susan spies an artifact used for human sacrifices on Lori's wall. A very nice conversation piece if I say so myself. Anyhow, this is the first time we see what becomes to be known as the mark of he 'Keto' tribe. I like to call it the ass crack tribe from it's appearance.
The next day Lori and the professor catch the cannibal culprit who is feasting on a heart. Turns out he is an orderly in the hospital. He escapes from the professor and proceeds to jump out the window. The mannequin version of him plummets to it's death and unfortunately for the film crew, it's arm comes off when it hits the ground. Figuring no one would notice this prop f*ck up, they immediately jump cut to the orderly who is laying on the ground...both arms attached to him of corse. He utters the word 'Keto' to Lori before he expires.
The next day Lori talks to local doctor Peter Chandler conveniently played by Ian McCullough who played Peter West in Zombie 2. Got that...good...moving on, he convinces Lori to head out to investigate the Keto cannibals. Joining them will be his buddy George and his girlfriend Susan who happens to be the reporter who barged into Lori's place. New York sure is a small f*cking town isn't it? Anyhow they watch some slides of other recent cannibal murders and...gasp...one of them has the tattoo of the ass crack tribe. Lori heads home to find her apartment ransacked and the ceremonial dagger has been stolen. If that was the only thing taken, I had to wonder why they f*cked up the rest of her house. I mean it was nicely hung in plain view on the wall...stupid cannibals.
Anyhow the troop arrives on the small island chain and meet up with their contact down there Dr. Obrero. He is accompanied by another Zombie 2 cast member Moloto played by Dakkar who played Lucas in Zombie 2. Hmmm...I'm sensing a real pattern here. Anyhow, Obrero offers them transport to the Keto island but warns them not to go. After Lori gets an unpleasant cannibal gift in her bed (no...not Peter), the group heads out the next day.
Moloto drives them to some far off island and immediately things get messy. The porters get knocked off and become food for the island cannibals. Things don't get any better for the group after this and eventually Moloto, Peter, and Lori are the only ones left standing. They make an SOS to Dr. Obrero who agrees to meet them on the island in some out of the way shack. On the way though, the group gets attacked yet again by cannibals. However this time, the movie's title Zombie Holocaust finally starts to make a little bit of sense, still not much seeing 90% of the movie was about cannibals. Zombies arrive to scare the cannibals who run off like Sallys. The three make it to the Obrero's hut and slowly start to piece together that Obrero is up to no good.
Peter and Lori decide not to leave the island and find out Obrero is doing mad experiments on the natives. Peter sends Lori away but quickly finds himself the hostage of Moloto and Obrero. Obrero, thrilled with the idea of working with a white man's brain for a change, puts him to sleep. Meanwhile Lori is captured by natives and painted up hippy style. She notices that the tribe has her collector dagger and the ass crack tribe symbol is on the cave wall. She is about to be sacrificed but the natives stop because the slab goes backwards. Aside from a random Lori nude scene, I'm not sure what the point of the director's including this part of the film had to do with anything.
Well to wrap things up bang up style, Peter escapes Dr. Obrero's clutches by cutting himself free with a scalpel he stole. The zombies arrive to reek havoc again but apparently the cannibal's developed a taste for them by the end of the film. Lori arrives with natives just in time to take Peter away. All the bad guys die in the end and the shack goes up in a blaze.
The gore was definitely a lot of fun to watch. Those spaghetti films always seem to please me with their more than obvious fake props. This may not be a Zombie 2...frankly it was more in the realm of Make Them Die Slowly...still it is a decent way to get your oregano dash of Italian horror.
How to make an Italian gore film...the recipe:
1 Hand Sliced Off
1 Corpse Dissection
2 Hearts Ripped Out
1 Suicide Jumper
4 Crime Scenes In A Slide Show
1 Maggot Covered Severed Head
1 Half Corpse Of A Porter
1 Porter In A Human Sized Rat Trap
2 Sliced Throats
1 Machete To The Head
1 Impaled Porter
2 Eyes Gorged Out And Eaten
1 Zombie Head Taken Off By A Boat Prop
1 Scalp Sawed Off
1 Set Of Vocal Chords Ripped Out
3 Cannibal Feasts
Make sure all ingredients are extremely low budgeted and mix together. Serving while intoxicated makes it even more enjoyable but thats optional.
1.) Dr. Obrero - Sure this guy may like to rip out body parts and transplant them in other people but at least he swabs everything with alcohol. After all, it is good to be ethical.
2.) Moloto - He proves that no asshole is tough enough to refuse an attractive purple ascot.
3.) Cannibals - According to this movie, this dying breed of natives need not worry...they are getting more and more members imported from China every day.
4.) Zombies - I found it odd that all the zombies in this film made sounds like a public restroom filled with people suffering from dysentery.
