Review of Zombie 3

Zombie 3 (1988)
3/10
Vastly inferior and different to Fulci's original masterpiece
6 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Zombi 3 has absolutely nothing in common with the Zombi 2 (Or Zombie Flesh Eaters in the UK) which was a slow burning masterwork of suspense, mystery and zombie horror which is what made it so good. Zombi 3 takes a different approach, seemingly aspiring to be more of a zombie action film and in the process losing everything that made the original a classic. What makes this film so poor can be broken down into several areas.

Acting: The acting in Zombi 2 while not Oscar worthy was better than expected from a low budget Italian horror film and helped add to the film's creepy atmosphere and likability. However, the acting in Zombi 3 is nothing short of painful. The intonation of the actors is often bizarre and unbelievable and brings the realism and horror of the film down drastically. The actor for the doctor is particularly poor causing me to wince every time his character had dialogue. Overall, the acting basically devalues the film massively.

Direction and cinematography: One of the most appealing aspects of Zombi 2 was that it featured some amazing shots of the Island that were framed beautifully, especially for a low budget film, and served to improve the film's production value drastically. Camera movement and angles were also carefully planned to create maximum impact. Zombi 3 has lost this entirely with the direction being uninspired and unimaginative. There are also no stand out shots like the film's predecessor.

Diversion from the original: This film is not linked to the original in any way except for the title and the appearance of zombies.This is a massive error considering how successful the original film was and leads to some bizarre new ideas in this film that do not work at all. For example, changing the cause from voodooism to an epidemic seems pointless and random, having zombies that move quickly and run is even more bizarre and nonsensical and worst of all a scene featuring a flying severed zombie head is just simply kitschy and awful.

Overall: Shoddy acting, boring direction and strange deviations from the original formula make for a truly inferior sequel to a really high quality horror classic.
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