Zombie Holocaust

Well I never thought I would see the day !! For years here in the UK we have been loving our beloved horror movies under the shadow of the censoring scissors of the BBFC. When news came through about the BBFC's new guidelines on censorship many people were wary and disbelieving about what exactly this would mean for the horror fan.

Then word came through that the good folk at Stonevision were submitting an uncut print of the gory old video nasty 'Zombie Holocaust' to the BBFC. Doubters scoffed at the thought but were soon taken aback by the news that the film had indeed been passed totally uncut. And in what looks like a new era in UK horror viewing it finally arrived...

Directed by Marino Girolami (under the pseudonym Frank Martin), 'Zombie Holocaust' is the tale of strange goings on at a New York hospital where body parts are going missing from the morgue which leads to an investigation to a far flung jungle island inhabited by cannibals and more !

Like the poor bastard offspring of Fulci's 'Zombie Flesh Eaters', 'Zombie Holocaust' merrily gores its way through one of the most unintentionally funny exploitation scripts in years. Fulci's lead from Flesh Eaters Ian McCulloch shows up again to ham his way through basically the same role as before, but this time he's strayed onto H.G. Lewis' interpretation of Fulci's seminal gem.

Memories of this gore classic are totally askewed as you rediscover this tasty little trip down cannibal lane. The script/dialogue is delightfully ridiculous, some of the effects are amusingly bad (check out the blinking corpse in the hospital or the mannequin, sorry body crashing onto the ground only for its leg to fly off!) A real delight that only truly comes to light with this excellent new DVD release.

You may want to note though, that even though a couple of the effects are a bit cheesy there are many excellent gore scenes on show too. I'm still stunned that the BBFC let this through as its all there - cannibalism, throat slitting, scalping, eye gouging, the whole shebang !!

Stonevision (with the assistance of Steve Haynes at Sovereign) have put together one of the best UK discs for horror fans to date. Whilst the lovely widescreen print does have some crackle at the opening titles things quickly improve with the Pal format showing up some nice detail which had been lost in earlier versions.

And whilst Region 2 collectors have been poorly treated on the extra front Stonevision have wasted no expense when it comes to great extras. Although the content is similar to Dragon's NTSC version there are three trailers for the film including the US 'Doctor Butcher' trailer, the German trailer and most welcomingly (and for the first time) the old UK trailer too which is a nice treat. There's also the inclusion of the 'deleted scene' which also appears on Dragons release which although sure it does look like it was filmed in a forest behind someones house but I still would have like to see this included in the full print also. Stonevision has also made the effort to produce animated menu screens which is something new to Region 2 horror releases and commendable also (the extras audio is a hoot!)

Honestly, waste no time in picking this one up. Stonevision should be supported with this one, I know I for one want to see them release a lot more !! A great fun and gory as hell oddball horror classic - go buy it now !!