Michael Ledo
This is a cheesy 80's film. In a badly dubbed NYC body parts are going missing and it appears to be the work of people from Kito, a South East Asian island. A small group goes to the island because....if makes a film. The island is filled with cannibals who prefer to eat raw innards or a nice stew. Oh yeah, there is a handful of zombies too. Yes they ransacked Laurie's apartment to steal a knife she had hanging on the wall. Bad rubber parts.Of course when a pretty blonde is capture by a group of "savages" they must be stripped naked like Bo Derek or Ursala Andress. Don't blame me, I don't make the rules. Alexandra Delli Colli is a natural blonde.
Michael_Elliott
Zombi Holocaust (1980) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Dr. Chandler (Ian McCulloch) and Lori (Alexandra Delli Colli) decide to try and locate a tropical island, which might hold the secrets to a couple people in New Yor City who ripped the hearts out of bodies and ate them. The group travel to the island where they eventually run into a doctor doing bizarre treatments on people.After the success of Lucio Fulci's ZOMBIE everyone in Italy was trying to cash-in on it. We got countless cannibal/zombie movies and this one here is one of the more entertaining ones. In fact, this film was released in America as DOCTOR BUTCHER, M.D. and included some new footage, a different score and theaters even passed out barf bags for those seeing it. This review is strictly for the ZOMBI HOLOCAUST version.If you're a fan of Italian horror then you know that these films aren't about stories but instead they're all about the gore. The more gore and violence you can put on the screen the more popular your film would be. There's no question that there's some great footage here ranging from body parts being chopped off to cannibals eating whatever falls out of the body after its been ripped open. There's even a great sequence where a man's eyes meets some fingers.For the most part the actors are just fine with McCulloch and Delli Colli keeping you entertained in what's going on. The tropical location makes for a good one and the recycled score is also quite good. Again, the story itself is pretty simple and stupid to say the least but we're not exactly here for that now are we?
William Swayne
It could have been made by Bruno Mattei. Zombie 3, aka Dr. Butcher MD (Medical Deviate!) is a supremely trashy attempt at cashing in on the Zombie craze, started by George A. Romero in 1978. Alas, Marino Girolami (to whom Tarantino paid a nice little tribute in Inglourious Basterds) needed more than just zombies, so, he decided to combine two shlocky genres into one. Thus, Zombies Vs. Cannibals was born. If you think about it, this kind of film would be a huge success on DVD nowadays, but back in 1980, it got a limited theatrical release, mostly in sleazy redlight cinemas. And that was the whole point of these kind of films! I refuse to believe, that anybody expects a film called Zombie 3 to have good camera work, solid acting or a decent script. Naturally, Zombie Holocaust has none of these things. The writing is.... abominable. Completely wooden and ridiculous. This can mostly be attributed to the ensemble of bad actors. Yes, that includes Ian McCulloch, playing virtually the same role he did two years before in the vastly superior Woodoo. But this is what makes a zombie film either unwatchable or good fun. The latter goes for Zombie 3. There are such glaringly obvious goofs (a suicide jumper loses a limb, only to grow it back in the next shot!!!) the gore is over the top and completely irreverent (which is great!) and the climax will have you in stitches, quite like the zombified subjects of the titular Doctor. In a nutshell, this film is bad, really bad, but it should not be taken too seriously. Sometimes, these flicks ripe like a fine wine and turn out to be worth much more than the initial value. This is one of those films. Buy some beers, invite a few shrewd friends over and tear it apart, you will have a glorious time.
Chase_Witherspoon
What to do when your competitors are pocketing millions of lira making cannibal and zombie movies - naturally, you make an amalgam of both concepts. Disjointed attempt at fusing two cinematic themes that were at the height of their popularity at the time. Here McCulloch as a detective, fresh from escaping Fulci's "Zombie Flesh Eaters" teams up with the statuesque and immensely striking Delli Colli as an anthropologist desperate to discover why expired patients at the local morgue are being dismembered and partially consumed. Inexplicably, their investigation takes them to a remote island on which a homicidal maniac (O'Brien) is experimenting on live native specimens, with disastrous results.Gory in the extreme, but lacking the narrative continuity of its peers, "Dr Butcher" relies solely on shocks without making an effort to develop a cohesive plot line. McCulloch's character is essentially no different from "Flesh Eaters", while O'Brien often looks disconnected from the project, in stand and deliver mode, affecting his inane dialogue on cue with little emotion or interaction. Delli Colli is an impressive-looking woman (particularly sans safari suit), and director Girolami's devotion to showcasing her "attributes" is generous to say the least. Buchanan is perhaps the only other recognisable face, but her character is shallow and expendable - like most of her other filmography.There's limb severing, entrails devouring, lobotomising galore, not to mention an eye gouging scene that might promote dry reaching. Ever wondered what someone's face would look like if you force-fed it a propeller? Enquire within. You won't be left wondering why the film was deported by censors in most countries on its initial distribution, and the make-up effects it must be said, are quite disturbingly realistic at times (no surprises that Gianetto De Rossi was involved). If you salivate at the prospect of cannibals vs zombies, then this will be your cornucopia; others should heed the viewing recommendations accordingly.
AD
