Our story opens on a non-specified jungle island where armed scientists are confronting a voodoo witch doctor who blames them for the death of his daughter at their hospital. In retaliation, he opens the doors to hell and the dead rise.
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| Jumping straight outta Hell comes the witch doctor's wife. |
Flash forward 20 years and we find a group of fun-loving mercenaries on vacation with a couple of chicks. As they go boating past the island, which now lay abandoned and in ruins. their engine inexplicably dies on them and they must make for shore...
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Simultaneously, on the other side of the island, some explorers find a “Book of the Death” and, of course, decide to read it aloud. Well, bad turns to worse, as bad tends to do, and soon, we have these survivors attempting to fortify the abandoned hospital from a siege of the undead, while also trying to close the doors to hell.
Like its predecessor, ‘Zombi 4’ provides its own backstory with no relation to previous films. As such, it is not really a sequel than a new standalone zombie flick.
Speaking of the zombies, the ones here are a cross between Romeros and Russos, (see 'Zombie Classification Chart HERE!) They are undead, attack and eat the living, zombism is transmitted through bites, and can only killed with headshots. However, these guys are NOT the shambling, foot-dragging kind! These guys show some extreme agility and stealth - running, jumping, and diving in for the attack and retreating when needing to. Combined with the dark rags and hoods that they wear, and they seem more like cannibalistic ninjas than the living dead.
They also possess the amazing ability to jump in from just outside of the camera frame!
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| The minimalistic zombie make-up works fairly well here. |
This aside, the oozing, and festering, and drooling of all matter of materials, they do make an effectively scary bunch! Especially in the perpetually foggy jungle.
As I mentioned, lots of jump scares from the dead, but creepiness as well - The grave emerging scene in the rotted, old cemetery looks pretty neat-o in the thickly fogged night, despite the ‘graves’ being no deeper than your average flower bed.
Oh, and fear not, gore fans, eye-gouging and flesh-tearing are a-plentiful!
According to the ZMR, ‘Zombi 4: After Death’ got itself a 2.2 out of 4 points. For a change, I would agree with this rating. I enjoyed the movie despite its flaws, and would even recommend it… If only to die-hard fans of 80s, Italian zombie movies!
By no means a great movie, but a heckuva lot stronger film than it’s predecessor,
Of course there’s a trailer on YouTube!!! ZOMBI 4:AFTER DEATH
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