Movie Review: Dr. Butcher, M.D. (aka Zombie Holocaust)

What is it about Italian genre film making of the 70’s and 80’s that makes it so attractive? There is just something about those movies that I find irresistible. Yes, they run the gamut in terms of quality from all-time classics to utterly atrocious, but they have a distinct look and feel to them. They also seemed to have cornered the market on ripping off other movies, from blatant remakes to unofficial sequels, whose connection to their predecessors is tenuous at best. Then there are the times where they rip themselves off. There are the likes of Zombi 2 (made as a sequel to Dawn of the Dead), Alien 2: On Earth (somehow this is supposed to be connected to Alien), and Star Crash (a clear attempt to cash in on Star Wars), then you have Dr. Butcher, MD, aka Zombie Holocaust.

Movie Review: Contamination (1980)

An abandoned ship floats into New York harbor. A few intrepid souls board the ship and begin to search it, looking for clues to what happened. Then they find it. Reading that, it sounds an awful lot like 1979's Zombi 2, but it is actually the start of Contamination from 1980. Instead of Lucio Fulci it is Luigi Cozzi (or Lewis Coates as he is often credited). It has also been known as Alien Contamination (in a cut version) and Toxic Spawn when it was on VHS way back in the day (also cut). The movie begins as an Alien rip off, but manages to have a life of its own, holding your attention through to the ending credits.

Movie Review: Zombie Holocaust

I am learning more and more about how a movie can change from country to country. Different titles, different cuts, different languages, even different footage shot or integrated from other sources. The latest movie to show this is Zombie Holocaust. It is another movie that has had a host of different titles and a number of different cuts over the years. I have now seen two versions of the film, the American cut and the original uncut Italian version (at least what I believe is the uncut Italian version). There is not a lot of difference between them. They are easily identifiable as the same movie, and in both cases it is pretty silly. But a good, fun silly.