There's a whole bunch of exciting new releases coming out this summer, but it's been a little fallow in the meantime. So how about we take a look at
Claudio Fragasso's
Zombie 4: After Death? Just for fun, and also because I recently realized something about it that doesn't seem to get mentioned much in relation to this title. And hey, it's a wacky and under-appreciated little flick. Heck, now that I think about it, I'm surprised we haven't done this one before.
Zombie, or
Zombi, is one of those movie franchises that frequently don't connect, like
Demons or
House,
where distributors would just slap the title on unrelated movies as a
selling point. Not that they're all disconnected. I don't think anyone
reading this needs me to explain that
Zombie was titled
Zombi 2 in Italy because it was
Fulci's unofficial sequel to
Dawn Of the Dead, which was titled
Zombi in Italy. Then Fulci eventually made a sequel to that, which was called
Zombi 3,
although they're all very loose sequels with no connecting characters
or story lines. But then again, you could say that about
Romero's original trilogy, too. So okay, they're sequels enough. At least until you somehow get
Jess Franco's
Christina, Princess of Eroticism getting sold as
Zombie 4,
Joe D'Amato's
Killing Birds as
Zombie 5,
Absurd as
Zombie 6, and it's like okay, this is just a free-for-all of shameless marketing where any film on the planet can get a
Zombie slapped on the box. Apparently there was a whole other run in Australia, too, where different unrelated horror movies got retitled into the
Zombie catalog, like
Panic and
Dawn Of the Mummy.
But
After Death could be said to legitimately bear the
Zombie 4 moniker, and is probably the most righteous heir you'd find. Fragasso (and
Bruno Mattei) finished
Zombi 3
when Fulci's film, coming aboard as both co-writer and director. And
he made this the year after, filming it during the off hours at night
while making
Strike Commander 2, even reusing some of the same sets and props of
Zombi 3.
The ensemble machine-gun toting collection of mercenaries and civilians
getting thrown together as the film's protagonists feel an awful lot
like the soldiers and civilians who find themselves hiding out in a
similarly abandoned hotel in
Zombi 3. Macho tough guys gunning down zombies in
the misty greenery of the Philippines feels very much like the last entry,
except it's faster-paced without Fulci's somber atmosphere. And the
voodoo stuff harkens back to
Zombi 2. This movie was originally filmed simply as
After Death with the
Zombie 4 added later, but unlike Franco's
Zombie 4 or any of the later subsequent films dubbed
Zombie, this one really belongs.
And
it's also just a better film than it gets treated as, even by horror
fans. I mean, sure it's goofy as heck, but that's more than half the
fun. The story's convoluted and the acting's cheesy, but it takes
itself just seriously enough, moves at a tight clip, and delivers all
the goods with heaps of zombie action, gory kills, and colorful
imagery. It's got a vibrant soundtrack, to say nothing of the rock
anthem title song. Sure,
Jeff Stryker may be a porn star in
practically his only "mainstream" movie, but he's not a hair out of
place in the Fragasso/ Mattei oeuvre. And honestly, this is one of the
most entertaining films from either of them, right up there with their
best work. It's also one of those "fast zombie" flicks people ignore in their rush to credit
Danny Boyle with inventing what came decades before him.
Scroll to the bottom of
this page for a fun, first-hand account of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans during the shoot by actor
Nick Nicholson, who played the meanest mercenary.
There have been plenty of DVDs of
After Death
around the world,
going back to the Laser Paradise and Vipco days. Shriek Show released
what was probably the definitive SD edition back in 2002, which they
also included in their 2005 Zombie Pack set. But it was a whole new
ball game in 2018, when Severin (quickly followed by 88 Films) released
it on BD. And this is what I never realized about this film until
recently. Severin's case describes it as "uncut for the first time ever
in America." No comments or write-ups I'd seen made much of it and so I
didn't really take notice, but looking at it now, yeah, this is a
longer cut. Every previous version I've ever owned was missing stuff -
who knew? Before Severin released this complete version on blu, it had
only been available on a 2009 German DVD from X-Rated. We'd been
missing out, but no longer. There are three restored scenes.
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restored scene #1.
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22:50 - 24:56: After the boat docks, the Stryker trio stop and talk
about the magically altered nature on the island and what happened to the people
who'd been there before them. Then they go on hiking, which is where the
shorter version syncs back up for a bit.
25:56 - 27:00: But only
for a bit, because the longer version cuts back to the rest of the team
at the dock, who argue about not wanting to venture off, but they can't fix
their boat with what they've got. Eventually they agree they
have no choice and head off, which is where the short version syncs up
again.
30:54 - 32:12: After mercenaries' first conflict with the
zombies, the short version cuts back to the Stryker trio, but the longer
version follows this other group longer through the woods. They
discover their boat has mysteriously vanished and decide they need to
find a hospital, and the girl admits she's been on this island before.
So I can see why they were cut. It's talking, not action. And if you just have your eye on the pacing, these moments might seem like ballast. But for all the complaints about how this film is nonsensical, restoring some of this exposition helps, well, at least a little bit. And it really doesn't slow this film down much; it's already zipping by at rocket speed. At the end of the day, they're nothing thrilling, but it's definitely better to have them than not. Although they're not the only reason to upgrade. Severin also presents us a fresh transfer from a brand new 2k scan, and just have a look.
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2002 Shriek Show DVD top; 2018 Severin BD bottom.
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What
a difference - Severin gives us a new 2k scan, and Shriek Show gave us a
washed and dupey SD transfer, so the disparity is remarkable.
Shriek Show's transfer is 1.66:1, while Severin's is 1.85:1. And okay,
you might say, Severin just matted it down to something a little more
conventional, but no. Actually Severin's scan reveals more picture
along the sides, instead. The colors are much stronger and more
distinct, especially compared to the DVD - it turns out that guy's shirt was blue this whole time! Also, like most of Shriek Show's otherwise carefully presented discs, the DVD is interlaced. Of course the blu whisks that away, and replaces it with strong and natural film grain. Seeing this movie look like an actual movie might help raise it in the estimation of the naysayers, too.
Both editions only
include the English dub (yes, there was an Italian language version...
that X-Rated DVD had it) in its original mono mix with removable English
subtitles. Severin's is in DTS-HD.
Shriek
Show had some decent extras - more, in fact, than it hinted at on
the back of its case. According to the packaging that only mentioned
their interview with Claudio Fragasso, which was actually rather good.
But pop in the disc, and it also had interviews with
co-stars Stryker and
Candice Daly, which are both must-watches despite the latter
being awfully short. It also had the theatrical trailer and, like most
Shriek Show discs, a bunch of bonus trailers.
And
Severin has taken the interesting choice of mostly replacing those old extras with new versions. They dropped
the Fragasso and Stryker interviews, but conducted fresh ones with both of
them. Their Fragasso interview is better, and also includes his wife
and frequent co-writer screenwriter
Rossella Drudi. As for the Stryker
interviews, it's kind of a tie; I kind of miss him posing with his sports car. The Daly interview is the same one from
the DVD except re-edited - tightened up with a lot more film clips
mixed in. And the trailer's still here. Besides that, they've also
uncovered a great little clip of (subtitled) behind-the-scenes footage.
And the first pressing of 3,000 copies also comes with a soundtrack CD,
which yes, starts with the great "After Death" rock tune, and then
follows with all the incidental score from the film.
So yeah, new 2k scan of the mostly unavailable uncut version with improved extras? If this one's not in your collection yet, it ought to be. And as of this writing at least, Severin still seems to have the first run with the soundtrack CDs in stock. That's crazy to me; this title should have a much broader horror fan-base. It's such beautiful zombie schlock.
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