Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Zombie 4: After Death Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 31, 2018

George A. Romero is often credited with reinvigorating the (un?)dead zombie film genre with Night of the Living Dead, but in contextualizing both Zombie 3 and Zombi 4 (also known as After Death), it may be helpful to think back to an earlier era of zombie film as exemplified by I Walked with a Zombie. That 1943 film didn’t posit “homegrown” members of The Walking Dead (so to speak), but instead provided a spookily exotic Caribbean locale laced with a subtext of slavery and voodoo. While there’s not exactly the same idea running through either of these films with at least some input from Claudio Fragasso, there are jungle locations and a feeling of being somewhere well outside of urban environments. Kind of amusingly, Zombi 2, released stateside on Blu-ray as Zombie several years ago, was evidently intended to act as an “unofficial” sequel to Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, since Romero’s film was released overseas as Zombi (got that?). Zombi 2, which bares more than a few passing similarities to “old school” zombie films like that aforementioned Val Lewton outing, was the creation of Lucio Fulci, and Fulci at least began Zombi 3 (there are varying accounts of what happened, including one given by Fragasso in a supplement on Zombi 3). One way or the other, Bruno Mattei and Fragasso stepped in to either finish or at least append material to (depending on which version you believe) the film. Fragasso himself served as director for Zombi 4, and once again a certain “old school” voodoo aspect plays at least a part in the plot proceedings.

In an interview included on this Blu-ray as a supplement, Claudio Fragasso seems positively delighted to have pounded “the final nail in the coffin of the zombie film” with Zombie 4, but as any zombie film aficionado will tell you, a nailed coffin is hardly ever enough to keep a good zombie down (and/or confined). Zombie 4 probably only ups the already considerable lunatic ambience of its predecessor, though kind of interestingly, this film really does feature the same sort of voodoo subtext that was part and parcel of the Jacques Tourneur - Val Lewton enterprise from the 1940s. In fact, the opening vignette of the film seems to show a woman under the throes of some kind of hypnotic voodoo trance in an underground lair on a tropical island, though soon enough even more of a supernatural maelstrom intrudes on what might jokingly be referred to as her interpretive dance performance.

The main part of the film actually takes place some time after the prologue, when a survivor of carnage shown in the opening returns to the island as an adult. Jenny (Candice Daly) may be on the hunt to recover dim memories about what happened to her and her (deceased) parents way back when, but her cohorts have more nefarious motives in mind. In a plot formulation that’s at least a little similar to Zombie 3, where two groups of people ultimately meet up, there’s another aggregation tooling around the island which includes dashing if arguably dimwitted Chuck (Chuck Peyton, AKA porn star Jeff Stryker). Chuck’s eagerness to read an ancient spell book he happens upon has predictable consequences, which include his ultimate meet up with Jenny.

Fragasso and his collaborator Rossella Drudi may in fact not really offer much “new” in Zombie 4 in terms of any real innovations in plot dynamics or even presentational aspects. But Zombie 4 offers a frequently gonzo approach that repeatedly throws caution to the wind, including the film’s conclusion that is notable for its relative dearth of survivors (that's a bit of a joke that will be understood by those who have seen the film). I mentioned in the Zombie 3 Blu-ray review how a pull quote on the cover of that release mentioned it was “pure daft entertainment”, and likewise a similar quote on the cover of this release calls it “Z-grade”. With that “imprimatur” in mind, I actually found Zombie 4 more insanely enjoyable than Zombie 3, but it’s an enjoyment suffused with the wonder that a film like this ever got made in the first place.

Zombie 4: After Death Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Zombie 4: After Death is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Despite being at least a little newer than Zombie 3, this is a much less pleasing high definition presentation, one that is either sourced off of a damaged element or is cobbled together from different elements with varying levels of color saturation, grain thickness and clarity. Most of this presentation looks pretty soft, from the credits on, though it should be noted that a lot of the film takes place in misty, dimly lit forest environments where detail levels are kind of inherently mixed. But there are several pretty rough looking patches here that just suddenly crop up. One notable sequence starts at around 15:35, where suddenly things look much more "dupey", with an almost monochromatic palette just slightly suffused with hue and a much thicker grain field than has already been on display. The "look" tends to ping pong back and forth between these rough patches and segments that look at least relatively clearer and with a better resolved grain field and generally more convincing color saturation. The entire presentation tends to have a slightly bluish tint, and perhaps for that reason some of the actual blues tend to resonate the best or at least the most consistently.

Zombie 4: After Death Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with Zombie 3, this release sports a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mix that tends to offer the most energy in some of the enjoyable underscore by Al Festa, or when sound effects accompany some of the gorier moments. Also as with the earlier film, sync is almost delightfully loose a lot of the time, despite a cast which features at least a few principal players who are native English speakers.

Zombie 4: After Death Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Run, Zombie, Run! (1080p; 31:50) features more of what must have been an epic interview with Claudio Fragasso and Rossella Drudi (and their mutant cat!). (For more of this sit down, parts are also featured on Violence in a Women's Prison and Zombie 3, both also released on Blu-ray by Severin. In Italian with English subtitles.


• Jeff Stryker in Manila (1080p; 9:32) is an amiable interview with the erstwhile porn star, who was billed as Chuck Peyton in this film. This might be flirting with NSFW territory due to his "colorful" past, not to mention his kinda sorta demonstration of the "anatomically correct" Jeff Stryker "action figure" that was evidently released years ago.


• Blonde vs. Zombies (480i; 2:18) is a brief archival interview with Candice Daly, whom Stryker (and/or Peyton, as the case may be) suggests was murdered in 2004. Other sources mention drug use as a possible cause of death.


• Behind the Scenes Footage (1080p; 3:43)


• Trailer (480i; 2:45)

Additionally, a Soundtrack CD is included.

Note: Just a note of assurance for those who are picking up Zombie 3 along with this and who may have read in the Zombie 3 Blu-ray review about my problems getting that disc to boot in my PC drive (which may well have been a PowerDVD error), I experienced no similar problem with this disc.

Zombie 4: After Death Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As with my final comments in the Zombie 3 Blu-ray review, I'm sure there are those who feel movies like this deserve zero stars and others who feel they're "classics" of some sort and therefore deserve fitting appreciation. I have no illusions about the manifest deficiencies of Zombie 4, but it kind of charmed me, nonetheless. While the supplements aren't quite as numerous on this release as on Zombie 3, the interview with Fragasso and Drudi is a lot of fun. Video has some pretty rough patches on this one, but audio sounds fine for those considering a purchase.