In Zombie, a group of people go to an island (they filmed in the Dominican Republic) and there a voodoo curse raises the dead, and they must be killed again. The group of people, Anne, Peter, Brian and Susan, all scrape by to survive, as slowly we learn about how the voodoo curse works, and then as they discover the island where they are is actually an ancient graveyard, and all at once everyone thought dead long ago is coming back....
This movie invented the modern zombie that we see depicted in most ways. Sure, Night of the Living Dead did it first, but this movie brought the horror, the gore, the legend, out into focus. Shooting zombies in the head? This movie. Zombie's being rotten, disgusting, putrid, stretching out their arms, biting you? This movie. This movie was really the zombie movie to pack it all in and serve it up with modern tastes. And it did it with awesome music, too.
I was thinking about how old this movie was while I watched it, and for perhaps the first time ever I had a moment where I realized, this movie is only 7 years older than me. I was born in 1986, and I am 29 now. Sure, I am not that old. But I consider a movie from 1979 to be really old. That's fucking weird dude. To think that this movie, with it's distinctly old look to it, the actors with 70's hair, etc, is not even that much older than me. I guess that's what getting older it like. Damn, man.
This movie did actually age very well. They didn't litter the costumes with 70's era clothes, there are no bell bottoms on guys or anything. Mostly people look very normal, and the lack of a modern setting (the island is supposed to be mostly uninhabited) makes there be a natural lack of buildings and technology - time stamps if you will. Much like my first review Killdozer, the isolation in the setting makes the film not feel as old as it is.
All things considered, in 1979 movies were experiencing a surge of reality and a lot of those movies are now classics. Star Trek, Alien, Apocalypse Now, Mad Max, Nosferatu, Moonraker, Phantasm, Caligula, The Brood, the list could go on. That was a tremendous year in movies, and this one belongs right there beside those classics. I just got this idea to see a bunch of movies that were released in 1986 and see how aged they feel. That could make me feel really old.
Zombie had an awesome setting, a great idea, cool music, decent actors, a sense of minimalism that I always appreciate, and good special effects. This movie revolutionized the disgusting zombie we think of and expect when we see shows like The Walking Dead. The poster for this movie makes this apparent,
I wouldn't be broadcasting this photo if it wasn't meaningful, in this case you can look at that and I'll tell you: the makeup here is not a special one off effect. Most the zombies look that awesome. And then they attack your fucking face. This movie kicks ass.
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