Director: Marino Girolami
Screenplay: Romano Scandariato
Starring: Ian McCulloch, Alexandra Delli Colli, Sherry Buchanan, Peter O’Neal and Donald O’Brien
Country: Italy
Running Time: 89 min
Year: 1980
Ruggero Deodato redefined what a horror film was with Cannibal Holocaust in 1980. Sure, there’d been other cannibal films before it, some that were better, some that were more tasteful, some that were more competently made, but Cannibal Holocaust was the one that everybody remembers all of these years later.
Outside of the cannibal boom of horror flicks in Italy, the zombie genre was booming after Romero’s hugely successful Dawn of the Dead, which Lucio Fulci (unofficially) followed up with Zombi 2 (aka Zombie, Zombie Flesh Eaters, The Island of the Living Dead, Nightmare Island and many, many other titles), a film that became a huge success in Italy and director Marino Girolami in turn, parroted off of the success of Zombi 2 less than a year later with Zombi Holocaust (aka Zombi Holocaust, Doctor Butcher M.D, Zombie 3 and Island of the Last Zombies, it wouldn’t be a schlocky Italian picture if it didn’t have at least five alternate titles!) a film that’s… something.
Ian McCulloch (who starred in Zombi 2) plays Peter Chandler (bear in mind, he played Peter West in Zombi 2), a doctor who travels to the Moluccas in order to investigate a series of mutilations on deceased corpses. As noted in the booklet included with the release, sets from Fulci’s Zombi 2 are reused in this film in order to save costs and there’s even the odd shot in the film that’s ripped straight from Fulci’s classic. It’s shameless, but the film’s never pretending to be anything other than 89 minutes of trashy cinema, so I can’t be too mad.
I’d be lying if I said this was a good film, because it isn’t. Even the blurb on this new 88 Films release refers to it as a “‘orrible classic” and while the term classic might be a bit of a stretch, it’s hard to deny how much fun the film offers at times. The gore is pretty fantastic and this is me speaking for myself, but I find it incredibly hard to hate any Italian feature from this era, even the terrible ones. There’s an undeniable level of charm to how blatantly sleazy they are, and if you can tolerate the poor taste of what’s on display, there’s a lot of entertainment value here.
Zombi Holocaust is a film that’s difficult to recommend to anybody that isn’t a genre fan. If you like your films to be thematically rich, have excellent acting, an engaging plot and great direction, this isn’t for you. If you’re like me, and you’re on board for a film that’s full of outrageous gore and nudity that’s probably terrible to anybody with actual taste, there’s charm to be had with this. Just don’t go into it expecting anything other than what the front cover offers you. I know they say not to judge a book by its cover, but in this case, I think it’s appropriate.
Film: 
Zombi Holocaust is being released on 4K UHD and Blu-ray September 25th from 88 Films. It’s part of their Italian Collection. I viewed the 4K UHD for the feature, and the Blu-ray disc for the bonus features. The new 4K transfer is impressive and is undoubtedly the best Zombi Holocaust has ever looked on physical media. I chose to watch the film with the 2.0 English Mono track, although I checked out the 2.0 Italian track too and both sound perfectly adequate. I think it’s fair to say that Zombi Holocaust isn’t screaming for a Dolby Atmos track and what’s included does the job. There’s a fair amount of grain to the picture, but I’d prefer that over a film that’s DNR’d, so for fans of the film, this is a pleasing release on an A/V level. The following extras are included:
Limited Edition contents
- Limited Edition Slipcase with artwork by Devon Whitehead
- A3 fold-out poster with artwork by Devon Whitehead and Original Italian Poster Artwork
- Booklet notes with new writing on the film by Martin Beine and Rachael Nisbet
- 4K Restoration From Original “2-Perf” Techniscope Negative
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray™ presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10+ compatible)
- 2.0 English Mono
- 2.0 Italian Mono with English Subtitles
- Audio Commentary with David Flint and Adrian Smith
- “Girolami Holocaust” – An interview with Alberto Moriani and Enzo G. Castellari
- “Our Life, Our Music” – An interview with Giacomo and Edda Dell’Orso
- “To Die and Rise in Rome” – An interview with Marcello Avellone
- Eaten Alive!: The Rise and Fall of the Italian Cannibal Film
- Q&A with Ian McCulloch at the Manchester Festival of Fantastic Films (2009)
- Restoration Reel
- Theatrical Trailer
Audio Commentary with David Flint and Adrian Smith – This brand new audio commentary features Adrian Smith (from moviesandmania.com) and David Flint (from reprobatepress.com) and the pair talk about the connections that the film has for Zombie Flesh Eaters as well as the genre-fusion of the film, mashing zombie and cannibal films together. The gore is mentioned as one of the main highlights of the film and the pair seem to hold Zombi Holocaust in high regard. It’s a solid audio commentary.
Girolami Holocaust – A brand new 19 minute interview with editor Alberto Moriani and Enzo G. Castellari. Moriani discusses how his father was a gaffer and worked on Umberto D. and Behind Closed Shutters, as well as his earliest memories on film sets. Hearing how he learned to edit Italian and English audio tracks as well as some of his early work as an editor was fascinating. Enzo’s portion of the interview is fun too, where he mentions that his father would film up to three different films at the same time if the conditions and locations could make it work. It’s a great interview and I really liked the dual interview format that 88 Films went for here.
Our Life, Our Music – A brand new 42 minute interview with musicians Giacomo and Edda Dell’Orso. It’s an in-depth look into their careers in the business. Giacomo talks about learning how to use Moviola editing machines and how to prepare reels early on. The moments where the couple speak together are really charming and informative too. It’s a really solid interview that’s one of the more in-depth ones I’ve seen from a boutique label in recent memory.
To Die and Rise in Rome – A brand new 15 minute interview with director Marcello Avellone. It’s an interesting extra, where Avellone discusses locations in horror films and touches on Hitchcock’s Rear Window and how he’d use locations to scare the pants off of the audience in his own films. I’m not quite sure what to say about it, it’s not a bad extra per se, just a strange one. Give it a watch if it sounds interesting!
Eaten Alive!: The Rise and Fall of the Italian Cannibal Film – An archival feature length documentary by Calum Waddell about the Italian cannibal films of the 70s and 80s. All of the big films such as Cannibal Holocaust, Man from Deep River, Last Cannibal World, Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals and Eaten Alive. There’s Interviews with authors and filmmakers such as Umberto Lenzi and Ruggero Deodato. Lenzi might be the most entertaining part, as he throws shade at filmmakers who made cannibal films after him, even calling out Deodatto for claiming he made the first cannibal film. It’s hilarious. I liked how the interviewees were open to talking about how trashy and tasteless most of these films were but still have an appreciation for them nonetheless. Waddell’s documentaries are hit or miss for me, but I enjoyed this one quite a bit. This extra was included on 88’s previous Blu-ray release.
Q&A with Ian McCulloch at the Manchester Festival of Fantastic Films – An archival Q&A that runs for around 50 minutes. McCullough talks about how he got his start in film, working in theatre and television. McCullough is a fun presence and jokes about a ton throughout the Q&A. It’s a fun addition to the release. This extra was included on 88’s previous Blu-ray release.
The restoration reel runs for three minutes and showcases the differences between the original print vs. the restored one. It’s a neat feature to have and the differences are tremendous.
A theatrical Trailer is also included.
In terms of physical goodies, the double-sized fold out poster is gorgeous and contains the newly commissioned art for this release as well as an archival Italian poster too. The slipcase that houses the first pressings is really sturdy and feels similar to the packaging of a Vinegar Syndrome release, which is top of the line in my opinion. The booklet runs for 40 pages and contains two essays, an array of posters for Zombi Holocaust and information about the restoration. The first essay, from Rachael Nisbet talks about the production of Zombi Holocaust, how it was created to parrot the success of Zombie Flesh Eaters and there’s some fascinating information shared, such as how Holocaust reused the same sets from Zombie Flesh Eaters. The second essay, written by Martin Beine also touches on the production, in greater detail with pages being dedicated to make-up artists, the director, composer and more. It’s remarkably in-depth for a film that maybe didn’t need this much care put into an essay. It’s a great set of physical goodies and one of 88’s most visually pleasing releases of the year.
Zombi Holocaust is another good release from 88 Films in a year where they’re pumping out solid release after solid release. It’s a commendable package with a solid restoration, an excellent collection of supplemental features and will please genre fans or those who enjoy their films to have a side order of sleaze included.
Disc/Package:
For those interested in seeing the packaging and physical goodies that come with the release, feel free to check out this video where I showcase the release off some more.