The “rage” zombie film “28 Days Later” introduced audiences to creatures which moved much faster than your father’s zombie.
But fast zombies were previously featured in “Nightmare City,” an Italian zombie movie from the ’80s, says Rob Weiner, pop culture guru and humanities librarian at Texas Tech University.
Weiner appreciates some of zombie auteur George A. Romero’s works, particularly “Dawn of the Dead” (“his crowning achievement,” he says).
But he’s disappointed too few horror fans know about Lucio Fulci, the Italian director who gave us 1983’s “The Gates of Hell” and, more importantly, “Zombi 2” – “the greatest zombie movie ever made,” he says.
Weiner attended a pop culture conference recently and no one knew who Fulci was.
“That disgusted me,” he says.
Other zombie sleepers Weiner suggests you check out include “Cemetery Man” and “Dead Alive” by “Lord of the Rings” maestro Peter Jackson.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I disagree with him that ZOMBI 2 is “the greatest zombie movie ever made” – I found it incredibly slow and boring. But Fulci is well known in most horror circles, as most of his films have reached DVD on these shores. The problem is that he’s always been overshadowed by Dario Argento as the Italian horror king. Fulci did earn the nickname “The Godfather of Gore” for a reason, which is why even the worst of his output can find a home on a horror fan’s shelf. One of his best, THE BEYOND, was rereleased today in a new special edition.
As for sleeper zombie films, I would go with some of the lesser known Japanese titles that are quite different than what would we expect:
1. VERSUS (Japan): How can you not love a film with gangsters, zombies, psycho cops, demons, swordfights, gunfights, knife fights, and buckets of blood set in the Forest of Resurrection? Shockingly, it took years for Kitamura to finally get a US production (MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN), only for Lionsgate to dump it into dollar theaters as part of a battle between the new and old management. Kitamura recently announced he’s planning to helm a US remake of VERSUS.
2. TOKYO ZOMBIE (Japan): Still hasn’t been released in the US yet (but the DVD is in the works), but worth checking out this deadpan comedy when it is. Two lazy wannabe wrestlers accidentally kill their boss and decide to bury the body on the mountain of trash that hovers into the skyline of Tokyo, only to find out that all of the other bodies that have been dumped there are reanimated and out for blood.
3. WILD ZERO (Japan): When aliens invade earth and begin the zombie apocalypse, the only thing that can stand in their way is the (real-life) heavy metal/punk band Guitar Wolf. This is the perfect film to watch with a crowd of people. After all, what can you say about a movie where the band leader walks up to the roof of a high rise, pulls a sword out of his guitar neck and cuts an alien ship in half.
I would also add SHAUN OF THE DEAD, but that really can’t be considered a sleeper anymore…
Great additions to the zombie list … I need to rent some of these — pronto
GRAINS!!!