{"id":18118,"date":"2018-07-09T23:24:10","date_gmt":"2018-07-10T03:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=18118"},"modified":"2018-07-10T11:05:02","modified_gmt":"2018-07-10T15:05:02","slug":"fulci-mattei-fragasso-drudi-and-the-grisly-coctail-that-is-zombie-3-and-zombie-4-after-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=18118","title":{"rendered":"Fulci, Mattei, Fragasso, Drudi, and the Grisly Coctail that is Zombie 3 and Zombie 4: After Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Last month I reviewed Bruno Mattei\u2019s Shocking Dark<\/a><\/strong>, a balant rip-off of James Cameron\u2019s Aliens<\/strong> (1986) and Terminator <\/strong>(1984), newly released on Blu-ray via Severin. The label\u2019s been adding more of Mattei\u2019s work to their catalogue, and satisfying fans with original uncut versions with supportive extras that contextualize the films within the director\u2019s filmography.<\/p>\n

Key collaborators to Mattei\u2019s canon (ahem) are screenwriter Rossella Drudi and screenwriter-director Claudio Fragasso, the married couple responsible for the infamous Troll 2 <\/strong>(1990).<\/p>\n

In my upcoming reviews of Strike Commando <\/strong>(1987) and Robowar<\/strong> (1988) I\u2019ll examine the trio\u2019s fixations and approaches to filmmaking within the Z-grade realm, but today\u2019s postings address Severin\u2019s new BR editions of Zombie 3<\/a><\/strong> (1988) and Zombie 4: After Death<\/a><\/strong> (1989).<\/p>\n

The zombie entries were previously released by Media Blasters around 2002, and Severin\u2019s new interviews with Fragasso and Drudi add further details on their involvement with Lucio Fulci, who\u2019s the de facto director of Z3. It\u2019s a fascinating tale of a difficult shoot in the beautiful Philippines, in which Fulci declined reshoots, and Fragasso and Mattei added new material scripted by Drudi. From an editorial stance, I always get a kick in seeing how a film was constructed under unique circumstances, and whether he final results work or prove more harmful.<\/p>\n

\"\"Z3 is somewhere in between \u2013 it is a clever salvage job \u2013 but Fulci\u2019s own contributions feel half-hearted. One exception involves a zombie attack in a deserted gas station, which naturally ends in one indulgence shared by Fulci, Mattei, and Fragasso: shit blows up real good. Whether by cigarette lighter, rifle shot, bazooka or whatever, Mattei and Fragasso really love dynamiting sets and sending particles into oblivion.<\/p>\n

Z4 shares that fetish because it\u2019s an exclusive Fragasso-Drudi production, and a portent of the incoherent nonsense in Troll 2<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d argue Z4 is a better and more enjoyable film because there are\u00a0no bland families and attempts by Fragasso and Drudi to interpret small town America. Z4’s end goal is simple: zombies will conquer humanity, one island at a time, and it’s told with supernatural amulets, childhood trauma, a porn star, and sometimes bizarre music score choices.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coming very shortly<\/em> is a review of Twilight Time\u2019s nice Blue of My Gal Sal<\/strong>, the 1942 Technicolor musical starring Victor Mature (he sings!), Rita Hayworth (she sings & dances!), and Fox starlet Carole Landis.<\/p>\n

Cheers,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>, Editor
\nKQEK.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gory franchise entries Zombie 3 (1988) and Zombie 4: After Dark (1989) make their debut in swell Blu-ray special editions from Severin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[5723,5724,2562,2563,2298,5725,5735,5739,1169],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Zombie3_featured.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-4Ie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18118"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18158,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18118\/revisions\/18158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}