Last week we talked about the Spanish "Blind Dead" zombie franchise. This time we're diving into the Italian franchise "Zombi".

This franchise is one of the most confusing due to it's differing titles. Back in the day some marketers, film studios, etc would title movies a sequel to a more popular film (in order to cash in on it's popularity). Also, to make it even more confusing, movies might be released under different names in each country. Thus is the case with this franchise. 

George A Romero's "Dawn Of The Dead" was released as just "Zombi" in Europe. Lucio Fulci's zombie movie was then released as "Zombi 2". Fulci has said himself that his movie is not a sequel to anything. Then the next movie (which Fulci had to bow out of due to health reasons) was released as "Zombi 3". 

In the US "Zombi 2" was released as just "Zombie". Then the next film is "Zombi 3". In the UK the films were released as "Zombi Flesh Eaters" and additional unrelated films were added. In Australia there were 8+ unrelated films in the franchise (including one of the "Blind Dead" movies we talked about last week). Way too confusing!

Fulci's zombies are different in that they arise from the voodoo traditions of Haiti and the Caribbean. The zombie look here is possibly some of the best in the business (thanks to makeup artist Giannetti De Rossi). The rise of the 400 year old Spanish conquistador (complete with worms in his eye socket) is a standout.  

Other famous scenes include: 1. The eye gouging scene (definitely cringe inducing); 2. the zombie vs shark fight (yes it's real shark).

While "Zombi 2" is a classic, "Zombi 3" is really, really boring. Feel free to skip that one. Too bad we'll never know what it would have looked like had Fulci been able to complete it himself. 

Photo Credit: Here