Two of the hottest tickets in Hollywood circa early 80's were cannibal and zombie films. Well, maybe not in Hollywood, but somebody, somewhere was making either a zombie film or a cannibal film around this time. Enter some crazy writer who had the idea of a lifetime. What if for no apparent reason, I decided to combine the two? I could make a film that had zombies AND cannibals in it (skip the story mind you), simply brilliant. The product of this delectable brainstorm was of course Zombie Holocaust (better known to Americans as Dr. Butcher MD). The result is equal parts mess, genius, and ridiculous B Movie (all of this rings true except for the genius part). Shriek Show presents the European cut of this infamous late night gore classic in a neatly packaged special edition.

The story goes a little something like this. After a few body parts mysteriously go missing at the local hospital, doctors Peter Chandler (Ian McCulloch of Zombie 2) and Lori Ridgeway (the delicious Alexendra Delli Colli of NY Ripper) decide that an expedition into the jungles in search of cannibalistic tribes would be helpful. Why? I have no idea. They're joined by the expendable extras George ("I have to be in at least one movie!" Peter O'Neal) and Susan (Sherry Buchanan). Once they arrive, (to wherever it is that they are going), they meet up with Dr. Obrero (Donald O' Brien of Emmanuelle and the Last Cannibals and Four of the Apocalypse) who's secretly performing some unorthodox experiments on the island. Before long the truth is revealed and it's zombie city! Well, actually there's about 8 zombies, kind of like a support group I guess. That's pretty much it folks so if you're confused, don't worry cause so am I. At the very least we have a Lucio Fulci alumn extravaganza!

Part of the charm of Zombie Holocaust lies within its erratic behavior, and severe defiance to ever be a great or even good film for that matter. I've seen both Zombie Holocaust and Dr. Butcher MD countless times (even on the big screen) and for some odd reason I don't seem to ever get sick of its utter stupidity. The dialogue is poor, the acting is mediocre at best and as far as a visual style or aesthetic sense, go fish! The film however is extremely fast paced and NEVER boring. There is plenty of gore galore to appease, as you'll bear witness to the occasional scalping, the odd eye gouging, a boat propeller to the head, an awesome slit throat and much, much more! I guess part of the films natural charm lies within its inherit badness. Not to mention the fact that there are both zombies AND cannibals in the film, sheesh!

As I stated before, I've seen this film numerous times, and at one point I even owned the long out of print Japanese Laser Disc (complete with optical fogging, shucks). Shriek Show's DVD is easily the best this film has ever looked (which isn't saying much because this film never really looked that good to begin with). There have always been scenes that were just too dark (the opening scene in particular) and heavy grain throughout has also plagued previous releases. None of these problems have been fixed with this release, but we do get much better color representation, and an overall clearer "brighter" transfer. If I remember correctly previous releases (including the Japanese LD), were over matted slightly, whereas here the framing seems more proportionate. Sound is another story, as the horrendous dubbing job sounds even more horrendous than ever. I'm fairly certain that any audio problems (visual too) were inherit in the source material, and I'm a firm believer that Shriek Show did the best they could (without giving the film a complete makeover). Sound is presented in 2.0 stereo, and is pretty much what you would expect. Dialogue is fairly clear, but volume shifts and a bit of distortion start to get a bit annoying after a while.

Now it's time to delve into the controversy (doesn't there always have to be a controversy?). There are 2 cuts of this film in existence, and in a perfect world, we would have been given both of them (the European cut and the American cut). Shriek Show presents the European cut (which is the longer of the two for better or worse and titled Zombie Holocaust). The European edit features a few more dialogue scenes and an abridged opening. The American edit (Dr. Butcher MD) features the longer opening and a different soundtrack altogether. Both versions feature the same amount of gore and nudity. All of this boils down to a matter of preference. The opening scene in the American version (not present on this DVD) features about 3 minutes from an unfinished film, provided by Roy Frumkes (Document of the Dead and Street Trash) entitled Tales That'll Tear Your Heart Out. As far as I'm concerned this footage is pretty much worthless so the argument lies within which soundtrack you prefer and whether or not you find the extra dialogue scenes in this version useful (prob not though). Both soundtracks have their virtues, I fear this is an argument we'll never get to the bottom of. Personally, I prefer the longer European cut without the opening scene (once again culled from another completely unrelated film), call me crazy. Until someone decides to splurge and bring us the Zombie Holocaust/Dr. Butcher Ultimate Edition, this'll have to do.

Luckily, Shriek Show has also provided us with some pretty cool extras to keep us busy for a while. We'll start things off with the vintage US trailer, and a German theatrical trailer. Next up is a brief interview with SPFX guy Maurizio Trani that is a bit disturbing to say the least. For starters, whoever is interviewing him speaks in broken Italian and it takes him forever to spit out a question. Then, Mauricio claims to have never actually seen the film? Luckily a few interesting points are brought up to make it worth your while (it's still a very surreal interview nonetheless). Next up are 2 still galleries set to music from the film, and a deleted scene which consists primarily of Lori and Peter traipsing around the jungle. This is followed by an interview with Roy Frumkes in which he discusses the footage he sold to the American distributor (the aforementioned Tales That'll Tear Your Heart Out, which is present here during the interview) to be added to the film (this makes for the most interesting extra). Last up we have 4 trailers for other Shriek Show releases (Jungle Holocaust, Beyond the Darkness, Eaten Alive, and Burial Ground). Also, look for an easter egg on the special thanks page, which consists of the opening and closing credits to the film in English as well as a double sided insert (the hidden side features the American artwork and name Dr. Butcher).

I guess the bottom line is if you polish up a turd, it still remains a turd nonetheless. However, Zombie Holocaust is not just your normal turd. You push and squeeze as hard as you can; ultimately you wind up feeling satisfied. This film has never really looked or sounded that great yet this edition will easily outclass them all. At an MSRP of under 20 bucks and many retailers selling this title for 10-15 you really can't go wrong. Fans of the film should be pleasantly surprised. If you're looking to get into the whole cannibal sub genre, this is a great place to start, as it's a lot less cruel than some harsher efforts (no real animal violence etc.). You say it's got gore, sexy
results, zombies AND cannibals? Start the popcorn; I'll be right over.