Zombie Holocaust

When body parts start going missing from a medical school, the head professor instructs his nurses to ignore it. When however they catch a male nurse trying to eat a human heart, they know they must take action. After consulting with the teaching school assistant and anthropology expert Lori about the events, they send for an expert in the field. Dr. Peter Chandler arrives and after asking some questions come to a stark conclusion. He might have an idea as to what is happening but must go to the jungle of south America to find out if his hunch is true.

From the late 70s until the mid 1980s, Italian cinema was supplying mid to low quality films for the exploding worldwide VHS market. They often were made in genres popular with younger people and in the UK the main genre was horror. This often included staple sub genres, such as zombie films or rape revenge films. Some of these films were caught in the video nasties craze and banned. While others were simply demonised for having titles that were similar too or content like another. Zombie Holocaust sounds much like Zombie Flesheaters but also very much like Cannibal Holocaust and as such was often picked up by police and even cut by the BBFC. Now this is not unintentional by the film makers, anyone who knows the wain which Italian studios of the time worked know that this was a clever marketing and sales ploy. Jumping on another titles fame and content to sell your film and its content.

Being a fan of the horror films of the 1980s, I was very pleased to hear of a re release of this semi cult classic and real standout from the period. Wait I am not saying that the film is a masterpiece, not even remotely. This is a film that married cannibal films with zombie films and it should be given a little credit for this. It is also not a patch on Zombie Flesh Eaters or even The Gates of Hell trilogy. This is a lesser cousins who no one knew and few liked.I have seen the previous release and it was shocking. Bad dub, bad print, poor ratio. All have been cleaned up here. The gore is grimmer, the blood looks red and has body. The limbs are removed with more clarity and the propeller scene works all the more for the splash of brain in all its glory. Well done also to 88 films for making the film have another layer, with extras and a great treatment in its pacakaging. The previous version did not care and these guys have.