Guest Author - Andy Boxall

Lucio Fulci may be a name that is unfamiliar to anyone except committed horror fans or lovers of Italian cinema, but arguably his best film, Zombie Flesh Eaters may be better known. This 1979 zombie movie is actually quite good, but it has such a fascinating history not only for its confusing array of alternative titles and extreme gore effects, but for its censorship too.

It all began in 1978 when George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead was released in Italy under the title Zombi and as with other countries, Dawn of the Dead went down well and made good money. Italian film makers then jumped on the ‘cash-in’ band wagon and did the very Italian thing, taking a previously filmed horror movie and re-named it Zombi 2 in an effort to wrangle more cash from Dawn of the Dead fans.

Lucio Fulci had made a couple of controversial movies and was languishing in TV land before Zombi 2 launched his career as one of the most prolific horror movie directors of the 70s and 80s. Zombi 2 was released under the title of Zombie Flesh Eaters in the UK (and Zombie or Island of the Flesh Eaters in the USA) and was thrust instantly into the limelight as a member of the infamous ‘banned list’ during the video nasty debacle of the early 80s.

In its original form, Zombi 2 ran for 91-minutes. Highlights include a variety of rotting zombies, an innovative underwater zombie/shark fight, lots of flesh munching and a nasty eye/splinter interface that really upset the censors. In the UK, Zombie Flesh Eaters ran for 88-minutes in the cinema and was rated X; however, video company Vipco also distributed an unrated version under the name ‘Strong Uncut Version’ before it was banned.

Fast forward to the early 90s and a resurrected Vipco re-submitted Zombie Flesh Eaters to the BBFC. The result was an 85-minute runtime (essentially the same as the original UK theatrical release) and the laughable title of ‘The Extreme Version’! Most of the gore, nudity and the entire eye/splinter scene were missing and it was a far cry from the actual Zombie Flesh Eaters. In 1999, the UK public got to witness a few more minutes of the movie, with a new version being passed 18 with a runtime of 88-minutes.

Zombie Flesh Eaters finally ended its journey towards uncut status in the UK on the 26 October 2005, when the savior of the UK horror scene, Anchor Bay Entertainment UK, included the movie in their Box of the Banned release with the runtime of 91-minutes and 27-seconds. Hard to believe that an obscure Italian horror movie that reportedly cost about $400,000 to make was banned, prosecuted, cut, re-cut and finally set free 26 years after it was originally made.

Aside from the fact that Flesh Eaters is a good Italian horror film, its birth and subsequent censorship problems make it one of the most interesting horror movies to research and one of the reasons that the horror genre is more colourful than the majority of other film styles. Plus this is before examining the shooting, style, locations or even the movie itself! If you have never seen the film, it’s a great zombie movie and a nice introduction to Italian horror. Just try to make sure it’s the uncut version!