A group of treasure hunters find themselves trapped on a cursed zombie infested island when their ship explodes.
Director of copy-cat films Bruno Mattei's penultimate offering. Writer Antonio Tentori's story starts off the promising as conquistadors keep the reanimating dead at bay with muskets while the islanders perform rituals. There's plenty of death shrouded head shots echoing Dawn of the Dead.
Once it moves to present day as the team explores the island it's the usual quality you'd expect not just from Bruno Mattei, but from the glory days of Italian cash-ins films of the 80s. Bad dialogue, sound design, editing, lapses in logic, over acting, ill fitting music, recycled stock footage and the like. Even though made in the 2000s it's reminiscent of those kitschy, ungainly films the 1980s. This offering is just as clunky as Zombies The Beginning (2007) but arguably better.
The screenplay comes from both Mattei and Giovanni Paolucci, so you have no idea who is responsible for lines like, "It's written by hand, it must be very ancient." Some of the dialogue and sequences are lifted straight out of other films including George A Romero's Night of the Living Dead and Lucio Fulci's Zombie Flesh Eaters. Incidentally Gaetano Russo as Kirk does his best Ian McCulloch impression as Tentori's bare-bones plot unfolds from zombie film to more of a souls trapped on the island affair. Alvin Anson's Fred adds a little acting to the show. Ydalia Suarez's is gives her all as feisty Victoria. Lead Yvette Yzon as Sharon comes to life in the third act as the rest of the cast are picked off. Jim Gaines is likably humorous as Snoop.
This is one of Mattei's less sleazy films, to his credit like Hell of the Living Dead, AKA Virus, Zombie Creeping Flesh (1980) and co-directed Zombie 3 (1988), what it does have is atmosphere and low budget gore-drenched zombie high jinks. The exteriors give it some scope and the sets are quite well crafted. There's plenty of blood filed mouths, rot, a severed hand, a decapitated head, headshots and shotgun action. There's a zombie priest, zombie pirates, fanged zombies, talking zombies, zombie monks, burning heads, burnt bodies, rats, supernatural shenanigans and more. The costumes and make up effects of the dead are quiet effective.
Overall, the late Mattei ends his career on (a last but one) fitting high with an enjoyable DTV b-film that encompasses many of the staples synonymous with his work.
Director of copy-cat films Bruno Mattei's penultimate offering. Writer Antonio Tentori's story starts off the promising as conquistadors keep the reanimating dead at bay with muskets while the islanders perform rituals. There's plenty of death shrouded head shots echoing Dawn of the Dead.
Once it moves to present day as the team explores the island it's the usual quality you'd expect not just from Bruno Mattei, but from the glory days of Italian cash-ins films of the 80s. Bad dialogue, sound design, editing, lapses in logic, over acting, ill fitting music, recycled stock footage and the like. Even though made in the 2000s it's reminiscent of those kitschy, ungainly films the 1980s. This offering is just as clunky as Zombies The Beginning (2007) but arguably better.
The screenplay comes from both Mattei and Giovanni Paolucci, so you have no idea who is responsible for lines like, "It's written by hand, it must be very ancient." Some of the dialogue and sequences are lifted straight out of other films including George A Romero's Night of the Living Dead and Lucio Fulci's Zombie Flesh Eaters. Incidentally Gaetano Russo as Kirk does his best Ian McCulloch impression as Tentori's bare-bones plot unfolds from zombie film to more of a souls trapped on the island affair. Alvin Anson's Fred adds a little acting to the show. Ydalia Suarez's is gives her all as feisty Victoria. Lead Yvette Yzon as Sharon comes to life in the third act as the rest of the cast are picked off. Jim Gaines is likably humorous as Snoop.
This is one of Mattei's less sleazy films, to his credit like Hell of the Living Dead, AKA Virus, Zombie Creeping Flesh (1980) and co-directed Zombie 3 (1988), what it does have is atmosphere and low budget gore-drenched zombie high jinks. The exteriors give it some scope and the sets are quite well crafted. There's plenty of blood filed mouths, rot, a severed hand, a decapitated head, headshots and shotgun action. There's a zombie priest, zombie pirates, fanged zombies, talking zombies, zombie monks, burning heads, burnt bodies, rats, supernatural shenanigans and more. The costumes and make up effects of the dead are quiet effective.
Overall, the late Mattei ends his career on (a last but one) fitting high with an enjoyable DTV b-film that encompasses many of the staples synonymous with his work.