It takes a special kind of person to be a horror fan — I mean a real horror fan, the kind of guy who will sit through every crappy film he can get his hands on in hopes of finding a gem. It takes an even more special person to be a zombie fan, a real die hard zombie aficionado, to sit through all of the horrible zombie movies that come out each year. I do not claim to be as die hard as many, but I am willing to put myself through a lot in the search for a good zombie movie. All of that said, Zombie 4: After Death is not a good zombie film; it's not without some certain charms, but it is not a good zombie film. Hell, it isn't even a good movie, but here it is, and here I watch.
What appears to be the subtitle on the DVD, After Death (original Italian title: Oltre la morte), is actually the real title of the movie. the Zombie 4 tag was added as a marketing gimmick, tying it in with the other Zombie coming out of Italy, in the UK it is called Zombie Flesh Eaters 3. In actuality, it has no connection with the other Zombie films, most are in name only. I guess they figure if they add the Zombie tag, they will fool enough people into making some connection to Lucio Fulci's Zombi (aka Zombie 2, an unconnected sequel to George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, released as Zombie in Italy). Ugh, making sense of the Italian zombie family tree is enough to make your head hurt. All you really need to know is that none of these films are connected by anything more than the fact that they contain zombies.
Zombie 4: After Death opens on some unnamed island (presumably in the Caribbean, but actually shot in the Phillipines). In the caves beneath the jungle, a group of scientists (with the presence of mind to bring automatic weapons) are seeking to reason with a Voodoo priest upset with them for killing his daughter. They were actually looking for a cure for cancer and a way to defeat death. The priest, in retaliation, sacrifices his wife to hell, only for her to return as a zombie (looking more like a demonic possession) and kill all of them. There is one survivor, a young girl, perhaps four years old, who is able to outrun the fast-moving zombies and get away to some boat that is said to be waiting.
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