Between 1979 and 1980 Italian horror cinema exploded in an orgy of blood, guts, gore and depravity. Two iconic films in particular were deemed to be responsible for this explosion of splatter, Lucio Fulci’s Zombie Flesheaters (1979) and Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust (1980) took the Italian horror blueprint of stylishly violent chillers and ramped up the grand guignol to 11 to create a new breed of gruesome and gory movies that pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable on screen.

Drawing influence from George. A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, filmmakers like Deodato and Fulci sprayed our screens red with buckets of blood and internal organs like never before. In the wake of Romero, Fulci and Deodato’s visceral offerings, a host of other zombie and cannibal movies erupted from the Italian horror movie scene from directors as diverse as those already mentioned (who would continue to mine a similar path for several years) to Umberto Lenzi, Bruno Mattei and Marino Girolami, who had been best known as a screenwriter and director of spaghetti westerns and Italian crime dramas or poliziotteschi as they are known in their native language. 

In 1980, and in the wake of Deodato and Fulci’s movies, Girolami (Violent Rome, Rome: The Other Side of Violence and Between God, the Devil and a Winchester) directed Zombie Holocaust (later recut and retitled as Dr. Butcher M.D. for American audiences). Zombie Holocaust borrows very heavily from the aforementioned movies, to the point that the plot is almost entirely made up of elements from those films. Girolami even goes so far as to cast the star of Fulci’s movie, Englishman Ian McCulloch (Zombie Flesheaters, Contamination and Survivors) in the lead role as Dr Peter Chandler, a scientist who leads an expedition to a remote Indonesian island after a series of ritualistic murders take place in New York city. Chandler is accompanied on his foray into the wilds by Lori Ridgeway (Alexandra Delli Colli, New York Ripper, The Incendiary and Catherine and Co.) a medical doctor who also has a degree in anthropology who grew up on the island of Maluku.  Once they arrive on Maluku, they meet with Dr Obrero (Donald O’Brien, Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, The Sect and A Man Called Blade) and his assistant Molotto (Dakar, Zombie Flesheaters, Ator the Fighting Eagle and Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals). Obrero has been performing experiments on the local cannibalistic inhabitants of the island, turning them into zombies and has no desire to let our intrepid team of explorers ruin that for him, so he sets out to add them to his list of patients, awaiting brain surgery. 

The cast do exactly what is expected of them, McCulloch is great in the role of Peter Chandler, as he always is, while Delli Colli spends quite a lot of the film naked. The supporting cast are also very adequate with Donald O’Brien, the stand-out as Dr Obrero. Before we go any further, we must address one thing, this film, despite how much fun it is, is not in the same league as either Zombie Flesheaters or Cannibal Holocaust, however, it remains a gory, campy, cult classic of the zombie/ cannibal genre. On a personal level it was one of the first films of its type I ever saw and during the 80s heyday of the VHS horror boom, I owned the iconic VTC tape in the gold-trimmed box that was released in UK stores. For those reasons alone it remains a personal favourite of mine and will probably be one of the reasons this will receive a high rating.

The other reason will be the incredible release of this movie by Severin films.  This set is absolutely rammed, not only do we get both versions of the movie, Zombie Holocaust and Dr Butcher M.D. on UHD and in a new 4k transfer, but we get both versions on Blu-ray too. Thus mammoth 4 disc set is also rammed to the rafters with amazing bonus content, including 4 hours of rare archival materials and new footage, tons of interviews with the cast and crew, including McCulloch and Girolami’s son, the film-maker Enzo. G. Castellari. To cap things off there is a lovely slipcover that features a poster under both titles and a replica barf bag, as one would have received when seeing this movie in US cinemas upon its release in 1982.

Overall, this is a beautifully packaged set for a movie that holds a special place in my heart, with tons of amazing extras. Once again Severin have come up trumps, whatever title David Gregory and his team turn their attention to ends up being an absolute treat for the viewers and I can only hope they continue to pour their love, sweat and tears into more of these wonderful releases. If you love Italian horror, cannibal or zombie movie then you will probably already have ordered this release, if you haven’t already ordered it, why not? This is the definitive release of this classic cult film, and I am overjoyed that it exists.