Disc Reviews
Zombie Flesh Eaters 4K Review
This title is so well known it barely needs any introduction. For those not familiar with this – well you are clearly not a zombie film fan. For those just entering into exploring this genre: This is the one where a zombie fights a shark, and a woman has her eye graphically pierced by a large splinter of wood. Nasty stuff. If you want to call that a spoiler, then fine, but the disc menu and the box art all but give it away anyway.
ZFE is low budget for sure, but has enough rawness to the blood-letting and flesh chomping to still be effective today. It’s not a film for the squeamish. And whilst the script isn’t going to win any awards (well, pretty sure it didn’t), it does have enough tension and worry for an outbreak happening quickly on a global level – and obviously outbreak movies of any sort are taken more seriously these days.
That tension aside, there is also a lot of tackiness here to put off real snobs for perfection. ZFE may be one of the more well-known entries into the genre, but it sits somewhat in the lower end of production quality. But a cult classic is what it is – so watch as armies of fans plunder the internet to get this version of Fulci fullness.
Arrow apply their same current trend of adding what extras they can on top of existing previous material. In this case it’s a commentary (there is a new critic commentary to go along with two existing commentaries – including one with Fulci’s biographer Stephen Thrower and horror critic Alan Jones; which is a selling point in itself), and two visual essays. The rest of the bonus material is archival of which there is plenty of it (see list below).
It’s almost getting to the point where it is hard to review Arrow 4K releases as there are so many of them that apply the same method of marketing, and more often than not the extra leg work is justified, therefore justifying the purchase for people out there hungry for it.
Steven Hurst
4K ULTRA HD LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
• 4K restoration from the original 2-perf Techniscope negative
• 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Original English and Italian front and end titles
• Restored original lossless English and Italian mono audio
• Optional remixed lossless English Dolby Atmos audio
• Optional remixed lossless Italian DTS-HD MA 7.1 audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
• Brand new audio commentary by critics Eugenio Ercolani, Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson
• Audio commentary by screenwriter Elisa Briganti, moderated by Calum Waddell
• Audio commentary by Fulci biographer Stephen Thrower and horror expert Alan Jones
• Sound and Fury: Listening to Zombie Flesh Eaters – brand new visual essay by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
• Repellent: Memories of Zombie Flesh Eaters – brand new visual essay by author and critic Chris Alexander
• Archival introduction by actor Ian McCulloch
• From Romero to Rome: The Rise and Fall of the Italian Zombie Film – 2012 documentary featuring screenwriters Dardano Sacchetti and Antonio Tentori, critic Kim Newman and filmmakers Luigi Cozzi, Ruggero Deodato and Russ Streiner
• Aliens, Cannibals and Zombies: A Trilogy of Italian Terror – archival interview with McCulloch
• The Meat-Munching Movies of Gino de Rossi – archival interview with the celebrated special effects artist
• Zombie Flesh Eaters: From Script to Screen – archival featurette featuring Dardano Sacchetti showing key pages from his original “Island of the Living Dead” screenplay
• Music for a Flesh-Feast – 2012 Q&A with composer Fabio Frizzi at the Glasgow Film Theatre
• Original English language “Nightmare Island” screenplay
• Theatrical trailers and TV spots
• Easter eggs
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch
• Perfect bound collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Willow Maclay, Jack Sargeant, Heather Wixson and Matt Rogerson
• Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch
• Six double-sided collector’s postcards
Zombie Flesh Eaters is out on 4K Blu-Ray on July 28th