WHEN THERE'S NO MORE ROOM IN HELL...

Punch in 'zombie' into IMDb keywords, approximately 700 entires are weilded, one of the earliest being the Bela Lugosi 1932 picture White Zombie. However, the living dead were not popularised until thirty-six years later, with George A Romero's classic Night of the Living Dead. Night was violent, disturbing and amoral - perfect fodder for the Italian exploitation rip-off.

The first of the Italian zombie cycle were minor cult entries including Armando Crispino's The Dead Are Alive, Giorgio Ferroni's Night of the Devils (both 1972) and Jess Franco and Jean Rollin's erotic picture A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973), which blended the two director's affinities for pornography and horror. The most well received of these early-seventies Italo-zombie films was Jorge Grau's Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974), a Spanish co-production which saw the culprits of a series of Mansonesque murders be discovered to be zombies. The film was a minor cult hit worldwide.

However, it wasn't until Romero's second zombie film Dawn of the Dead (1978; an Italian co-production) that the cycle really began to swing. Dawn also marked the major successes of Lucio Fulci, one of Italy's most respected horror directors. In 1979, Fulci directed Zombi 2 (aka Zombie, Zombie Flesh Eaters), a loose sequel to Dawn, which was titled Zombi in Italy. Zombi 2 was one of Fulci's most successful films and became a sure fire hit among exploitation circles globally - its blend of gratuitious nudity and graphic violence placed it on the UK's video nasty list, and it gained notoriety for being widely banned the world over. Zombi 2 kicked off the 'Zombi' franchise in Italy, with virtually every zombie film going under an alternate title of Zombi. Dardano Sacchetti scripted and as a result enjoyed an extensive career in the Italo-exploitation industry, penning such classics as Cut and Run and The New York Ripper. After Fulci's picture, zombie films became an Italian exploitation craze and the early eighties marked the genre's most significant entries. Joe D'Amato, the Italian sleaze merchant of epic proportion, directed a XXX film Erotic Nights of the Living Dead and the late cult director Bruno Mattei directed his most popular picture Hell of the Living Dead in 1981. Fulci was also immensely busy in the genre and directed three more zombie films - The Beyond, House by the Cemetery and City of the Living Dead, all of which featured the graphic set pieces the director was made famous for in Zombi 2. City starred popular Italian exploitation actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice and was made infamous by the scene of stomach regurgitation.Sleaze director Andrea Bianchi also made a notable entry with Burial Ground: Nights of Terror, which was also known as Zombi 3, and featured awful make-up effects and worse acting - punters were kept pleased, however, with a nasty scene between an incestuous zombie child and his mother.

The zombie boom in Italy dwindled during the eighties, primarily due to a revival in the US. Romero directed another Dead film in 1985, Day of the Dead. Zombie parodies were beginning to be released, including Return of the Living Dead and Re-Animator. The Italian market for living dead films was dying. However, in true undead form, it didn't stop them - a sequel to Zombi 2 was committed to celluloid in 1988, nine years after the original. Titled, somewhat predictably, Zombi 3, the film suffered numerous set backs during production. Lucio Fulci was attached to the project and began directing in the Phillipenes, however he was forced to bow down after suffering a stroke. He was replaced by Mattei, who was the film's Second Unit Director, and writer Claudio Fragasso. Of Fulci's seventy minutes of footage, Mattei and Fragasso excised twenty, and added forty minutes of their own. The finished product was far more science fiction oriented and stylistically resembled Mattei's past work far more closely.

In 1989, relative newcomer Michele Soavi directed The Church, a violent zombie film that resembled Lamberto Bava's Demons (1985). His 1994 follow-up, Cemetery Man, starred Rupert Everett in the lead role of Francesco Dellamore. The film was critically acclaimed the world-over and was the last of the Italo-zombie films to come out of the exploitation era. However, in 2006, an old talent emerged to direct once more - Bruno Mattei. Having made his niche in the Italian exploitation genre during the seventies and eighties, Mattei's involvement in directing cannibal and zombie films in the 2000s could have potentially led to the genre's revival. However, Mattei's death in 2007 left behind two zombie films (Island of the Living Dead and Zombies: The Beginning), which have as-yet been unreleased.

THE FILMS

The Dead Are Alive (1972)

Directed by Armando Crispino

Starring Alex Cord

By giallo director Armando Crispino comes one of the first Italian zombie gore films. An expedition to an ancient burial site reveals that not all of the buried have died.

Night of the Devils (1972)

Directed by Giorgio Ferroni

Starring Gianni Garko, Agostina Belli

A lesser-known Italo cult classic and not conventionally a zombie film. Unpreviewed.

Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973)

Directed by Jess Franco & Jean Rollin

Starring Christina Von Blanc
One of the first Italo-zombie pictures by softcore directors Franco and Rollin, and certainly one of the first zombie films to use sex as a pivotal plot point. An Italian/French/Liechtenstein production. Unpreviewed.

Horror Rises From the Tomb (1974)

Directed by Carlos Aured

Starring Paul Naschy, Emma Cohen

A warlock executed in Medievel France returns hundreds of years later to possess the living. A Spanish production.

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974)

Directed by Jorge Grau

Starring Cristina Galbó, Ray Lovelock

A Spanish/Italian co-production from the director of Blood Castle - cops discover the killers they are pursuing are far from human. One of the most critically acclaimed Italo-zombie films.

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Directed by George A Romero

Starring David Emge, Ken Foree

An Italian co-production (that Dario Argento was heavily involved in), Dawn of the Dead kicked the craze off. [More]

Zombi 2 (1979)

Directed by Lucio Fulci
Starring Ian McCulloch, Tisa Farrow

One of the greatest zombie films of all time, Lucio Fulci's gore soaked opus pits a team of New Yorkers against a troupe of Carribbean island zombies. [More]

City of the Living Dead (1980)

Directed by Lucio Fulci

Starring Christopher George, Catriona MacColl, Giovanni Lombardo Radice
Also known as Gates of Hell, Fulci's second zombie feature sees an ancient ritual uncovered and the dead beginning to walk. [More]

Erotic Nights of the Living Dead (1980)

Directed by Joe D'Amato

Starring Laura Gemser

Joe D'Amato's entry into the zombie horror craze more closely emulated Franco's work than Fulci's. Hard and soft versions available, both banned in Australia. Unpreviewed.

The Beyond (1981)

Directed by Lucio Fulci

Starring Catriona MacColl, David Warbeck, Cinzia Monreale
Long considered Fulci's best film, The Beyond is the result of an ancient ritual which opens one of the Seven Gates of Hell, allowing the undead to walk the Earth. Written by Dardano Sachetti. [More]

Burial Ground: Nights of Terror (1981)

Directed by Andrea Bianchi

Starring Karin Well

Amazingly incompetent, even by the most tolerent B-grade filmgoer's standards, but fun nonetheless. Incest! Mutilation! Zombies!

Nightmare City (1980)

Directed by Umberto Lenzi
Starring Hugo Stiglitz, Laura Trotter

From the great Umberto Lenzi (Cannibal Ferox, Man From Deep River) comes one of the cheesiest, goriest examples of Italo-zombie horror around. Classic.

Zombie Holocaust (1980)

Directed by Marino Girolami

Starring Ian McCulloch, Alexandra Delli Colli

A favourite among cult circles. Disgustingly violent and starring the main man of Zombi 2, Ian McCulloch. RIP Girolami. Also known as Dr Butcher MD, and was one of the only films to blend the zombie and cannibal genres that were so prevelant in Italian cinema at the time. [More]

Hell of the Living Dead (1981)

Directed by Bruno Mattei (Claudio Fragasso, uncredited)

Starring Margit Evelyn Newton, Franco Garofolo

Also known as Virus and Night of the Zombies. A squad of commandos attempts to control an increasing zombie population in Papua New Guinea. Bring on the cheese. [More]

The House by the Cemetery (1981)

Directed by Lucio Fulci

Starring Catriona MacColl, Paulo Malco

An unfortunate end to Fulci's zombie 'quadrilogy', with lifeless performances and dull direction. Can't even be redeemed by half-way decent gore effects. [More]

Porno Holocaust (1981)

Directed by Joe D'Amato

Starring George Eastman
Title says it all. A group of people land on an island and are confronted by a nubile monster. Written by popular Italo-exploit and D'Amato collaborator George Eastman, who also stars. Unpreviewed.

Scorpion With Two Tails (1982)

Directed by Sergio Martin

Starring Paulo Malco

By the director of such exploit classics as Mountain of the Cannibal God and Torso. Unpreviewed.

Zeder (1983)

Directed by Pupi Avati

Starring Gabriele Lavia, Anne Canovas

A writer discovers an ancient curse that has the ability to reanimate corpses and tracks it back to the experiments of a mad scientist. Unpreviewed.

Demons (1985)

Directed by Lamberto Bava

Starring Urbano Barberini

Directed by the son of legendary Italian horror director Mario Bava and produced by Dario Argento, Demons is the story of a horror film that possesses its audience into becoming flesh eating ghouls. Poorly executed, despite an abundance of gore and cheese.

Demons 2 (1986)

Directed by Lamberto Bava
Starring David Edwin Knight, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni
The original's demons stalk the occupants of an apartment block. No better than the original.

Demons 3: The Ogre (1988)
Directed by Lamberto Bava

Starring Paulo Malco

A made-for-TV movie in Italy that developed an inexplicable cult following in its native Italy. It doesn't deserve it. Trite and decidedly un-gory.

Evil Clutch (1988)

Directed by Andreas Marfori

Starring Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni

A zombie adopts the form of a beautiful woman to seduce its victims. Distributed by Troma in the US.

Zombi 3 (1988)

Directed by Claudio Fragasso, Lucio Fulci & Bruno Mattei

Starring Deran Sarafian, Beatrice Ring

The first 'proper' sequel to Zombi 2 and it was plauged with production issues, including Fulci handing over the director's chair. Aka Zombie Flesh Eaters 2.

Zombie 4: After Death (1988)

Directed by Claudio Fragasso

Starring Jeff Stryker

By Fragasso, one of the major men behind Zombi 3 and Hell of the Living Dead. Sub-par and ridiculous in every way. Aka Zombie Flesh Eaters 3.

The Church (1989)

Directed by Michele Soavi

Starring Hugh Quarshie, Tomas Arana

Co-written by Dario Argento, newcomer Soavi's film shies away from exploitation and more closely resembles a giallo than a gore flick. Similar in plot to Lamberto Bava's 1985 film Demons, but in a church. Aka Demons 3.

Two Evil Eyes (1990)

Directed by Dario Argento & George A Romero

Starring Adrienne Barbeau, Harvey Keitel

By the zombie master and one of Italian horror's most loved figures comes this two story piece from the stories of Edgar Allen Poe. Romero, predictably enough, does the zombie-oriented half.

Cemetery Man (1994)

Directed by Michele Soavi

Starring Rupert Everett

Also known as From Love and Death and Dellamorte Dellamore, this US/Italian co-production from new-wave Italo-horror director Soavi received a poor theatrical reception, and garnered acclaim on the home video circuit.

Island of the Living Dead (2006)

Directed by Bruno Mattei

Starring Alvin Anson

If one man had the ability to resurrect the long-dead Italo-exploitation genre, it was one of its masters, Bruno Mattei. Another unreleased gem. Written by Antonio Tentori, who was the scribe for Fulci's Cat in the Brain. Unpreviewed.

Zombies: The Beginning (2007)

Directed by Bruno Mattei

Starring Alvin Anson

Mattei's last film, it is not as yet ascertained as to whether this had completed post-production prior to Mattei's death. No DVD releases as of yet, but the trailer promises grisly goodness equel to the eighties Golden Era. Unpreviewed.