I’m not sure if Sandy’s seen this, so…

Updated on May 18, 2010 By Ken Begg 11 Comments

I assume the footage is taken from whatever Italian zombie film it is that famously features a zombie eating a shark.  For myself, I like how the girl swoons over the guy’s revelation of his sensitive side vis a vis zombies.

It’s still not as cool as the Jameson whiskey ad with the giant octopus, but it’s pretty neat nonetheless.

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  • BeckoningChasm

    Well, there was a shark-vs-zombie fight in Lucio Fulci’s “Zombie” so maybe that’s it? There was a topless scuba diverette at the same time and they clearly can’t show that…

    Having seen one or two Fulci films, I feel safe that I’ve seen them all.

  • That is definitely Lucio Fulci’s “Zombi 2” (Italian title) aka Zombie (US title). Fun fact: they couldn’t get an actor to fight the shark, so they dressed up the shark’s handler and he had to do it. Legend says the shark was heavily medicated.

    There is a girl diving at the same time, and she first sees the shark, so hides in the coral and weeds, but then is ambushed by the zombie. The shark nobly comes to her rescue and she escapes … for now.

    I adore Fulci, and own far too many of his movies. I do agree that only 3-4 are actually first-rate. My favorite description of Fulci came from an Australian friend of mine, who stated, “The parts that are unwatchable for being too gory are separated by parts that are unwatchable for being too artsy.”

  • BeckoningChasm

    I think I agree with your Australian friend. My problem with Fulci–and with Italian cinema in general–is that there’s far too much senselessness. Scenes are thrown in because they look cool, and if that means the “story” is nonexistent, well, that’s a shame but here’s something else that’s totally cool.

    I say this, of course, as a big fan of David Lynch…

  • The problem is that some Italian films are intentionally trying to keep us off-balance with a world of illogic. When it works, as in House With the Laughing Windows, it’s awesome. When it fails, as in Nightmare City, it can be hysterical.

    When I watch an Italian movie, I don’t try to focus in with laser-like precision, at least the first time through. They do surprise me sometimes with carefully plotting and fair hint-giving (as in Tenebre), but the realm of sorcery that Jessica Harper enters in Suspiria isn’t intended to make sense – it’s magic.

  • I think it’s sad I recognized that as Zombie without ever having seen Zombie In fact, that’s the first time I’ve actually seen footage rather than a screen capture.

    For a really, really dumb reason watching it makes me want to hunt down a copy of the film.

  • The Rev. D.D.

    Don’t feel stupid; Zombi 2 is one of the best Euro-zom movies out there. It’s really not bad.

    I can’t wait to get home and watch this…

  • Rock Baker

    For the most part, I’m not a big fan of zombie movies. Oh, since it’s a survival plot it can work and has been done very well, but for the most part I just don’t get much out of the genre. So few of them take full advantage of the situation to tell a compelling story and just fall back on mindless violence. The unmotivated and senseless gore ruins a lot of them for me too. It’s not that I can’t take it (gory medical operations in the movies never bother me), I just would like some justification. The genre can get pretty mean spirited too, so that doesn’t help. (main thing that ruined Dawn of the Mummy for me wasn’t the endless boredom, it was the guy’s new bride being eaten. It just seemed too sadistic for my tastes)

    Now, having said that, I did see ‘Zomibe’ and was impressed. The first time I saw it. I went in expecting nothing and felt the film had actually turned out pretty good, much better than the genre usually provides. The second time I saw it, I was prepared for a decent flick and was let down because the movie didn’t add up to my memories. Zombie movies (the Romero-type ones anyway) have to be judged on a curve, like slashers. By that yardstick, Fulci’s Zombie is a pretty good movie for the genre.

    One thing that sort of confuses me is the whole ‘unofficial sequel to Dawn of the Dead’ status. Since Zombie shows how the plague starts, shouldn’t it be called a prequel? Yet I’ve not heard anyone put it in those terms.

    I like a lot of Italian movies, but I’d say its more kid-friendly stuff. It tends to make more sense at least. I’ve grown on a cinematic diet that included generous servings of Italian space operas and Hercules movies, so those genres I find to be a lot of fun. The Italian zombie flicks tho, just not my cup of tea. Nor the more surreal ‘art-house’ horror movies they made. If I want incomprehensible, I go Ed Wood.

  • I should have thought that if you like a Zombie movie which tries to tell a story, instead of mindless violence, that Fulci’s Zombie would be the poster child for that attempted story. Tisa Farrow tries to find out what happened to her father and seeks out the dread isle of Matool – it’s almost an evil inverse of Campbell’s over-referenced Hero Quest.

    And the successfully done Italian “artsy” horror flicks are non-rational not because the director didn’t care, but because he specifically spent time and effort carefully crafting a non-rational sequene of events. When Ed Wood makes no sense it’s because he’s an incompetent loonie. When Ruggero Deodato makes no sense, it’s often because he is trying to portray the world in which we live as senseless. Of course, when someone like Umberto Lenzi makes no sense, it’s because he’s trying to ape his betters.

  • Rock Baker

    And I think the reason I liked the film at first was because it did try to tell a story. The story just didn’t hold up as being as well-told as I remembered when I went back and saw the film a second time.

    I didn’t say those directors or their films didn’t have validity, its just not my brand. I don’t like heavy handed cinema ‘art’ from any country, so I get more fun out of Wood’s lack of continuity than the type made famous my the Italians.

  • Look deep into your heart and ponder the blackness that leads you to prefer Ed Wood over Mario Bava.

    If you get angsty enough, you may have a future in the remake of “I Stand Alone”.

  • Rock Baker

    Well, when Wood’s pictures make no sense, it’s funny. When Bava’s don’t, it hurts. (I still haven’t recovered from Kill Baby…Kill!)

    Bava was a brilliant cameraman, but I feel he was rather over-rated as a director. I proudly own a copy of Black Sunday, but the images burn much deeper into memory than the story. (But it did have a good story, I thought it was a nifty horror flick)