Zombi Original Soundtrack 1979   Various Euro labels   Buy It Now

*Note: Zombie or Zombi, has been released in many different forms over the years. The following review is ONLY for the Zombi original soundtrack and not any of the other music that may be found on various Compact Discs *

There are many films in the horror sub-genre of the zombie film that have left their impact on viewers all across the board. Night of the Living Dead of course is undeniably the proverbial Godfather of the modern zombie movie, and while Romero's cult classic may seem tame by today's standards, it's also one of those films that is one of the best known, as are the others in the series, Day of the Dead and Dawn of the Dead. America's introduction to the Italian zombie movie would come with Lucio Fulci's Zombie, or Zombi 2 as it's know as in Italy. And, like amny of his other films, Fulci enlisted the aid of Fabio Frizzi to provide the score for the film.

A difficult soundtrack for most Westerners to find, while many of Frizzi's soundtacks have provided a very good background for Fulci's film, this sadly isn't one of them. The opening track, which is simply "Zombi 2 - Main Theme," is probably one of the more tolerable tracks on the disc, and probably will catch the ear of any fan. Unfortunately, there are four versions of this same track included: the one from the film, a demo version (that I actually like much better), a remix, and then a new version entitled "Zombi 98", which much like the demo (except for the sax that's used), isn't half bad, but it all comes down to really being a waste of disc space.

Beyond that however, the disc becomes nothing more than a travesty.

I keep hoping that perhaps the disc I picked up has misprints, and there are quite a few different versions of the soundtrack out there. The second track on the soundtrack, "Escaping from Hell," sounds more like some of that really horrible Hammond organ music that you might here someone playing in the mall. Listening to it is more like plummeting into hell itself. "Escape from the Flesh Eaters" has some nice moog in it, but it's not really the type of music that I think of when feeling from zombies. It's a bit too cheerful for the most part, and there is even two version of the track on the disc. With "Suspense" on the other hand, the song starts out sounding like it might break into Dolly Parton's theme from the movie 9 to 5.

There are a few good drum tracks here though. "Matool" is a good example of this, and although it does have a slightly electronic feel about it, it isn't a horrible composition. The aptly title "Voodoo" is another good drum track, though it does eventually fall into becoming far too repetitive in the end. Outside of that, I am a bit partial to the track "The Dead on the Main St. - Voodoo Rising," which starts out very noisy before switching gears into a drum and chant heavy piece of music.

There have been many good zombie films made over the years, but unfortunately many of them have poorly done soundtracks. This is a prime example of that. I love the film, but I understand now why the music really didn't stick with me too much. If you're looking for something that you can associate with Fulci's films or with Frizzi himself, there are many other soundtracks with either of their names on it (or both) that are going to give you much more enjoyment. By the end, chances are that you'll feel much like the zombies in Fulci's films, and while that may not be too bad, remember that you'll probably also have this horrid soundtrack running through your mind as well.

-mike-
 

Composed by: Fabio Fizzi

Track Listing: 01 - Zombi 2 - Main Theme 02 - Escaping From Hell 03 - Matool 04 - Escape From the Flesh Easters 05 - Voodoo 06 - Manard's Duty 07 - Suspense 08 - The Dead on Main St. - Voodoo Rising 09 - Escape From the Flesh Easters (film) 10 - Zombi 2 - Main Theme (remix) 11 - Zombi 2 - Main Theme (demo) 12 - Zombie 98 Running Time: 39 minutes