Zombie Flesh Eaters
dir. Lucio Fulci · 1979
Feature
Psychological Horror
Mood
Dark / Tense
Look
gritty, grainy cinematography with stark contrasts and unsettling imagery
Structure
linear with episodic horror sequences
Plot
After an abandoned boat sails into New York harbor with a zombie aboard, a reporter teams up with the daughter of the boat's missing captain to investigate the island where he was last seen conducting research—the site of an alleged zombie outbreak.
Why watch
An abandoned boat drifts into New York harbor, carrying a zombie that sets off a chain of events leading a reporter and the missing captain's daughter to an island shrouded in horror. Watching this film is like being thrust into a nightmarish landscape where the boundaries of reality blur, and survival becomes a visceral struggle against the grotesque.
Cultural context
1970s Italian horror movementpost-Vietnam War anxietiesurban decay in American cities