I was 10 at the time and was working my way through the local horror video tapes in the library and had just watched dawn of the dead which started a love for all things zombie (which by the way has never gone away)
the first thing I noticed with ZFE was the cover art which was stunning even to a 10 year old and based on that and the fact it had zombie in the title I just had to give it a go.
Well it was one of the only two horror films to ever really unnerve me (the other being the hills have eyes) and the atmosphere, effects and story instantly got me hooked.
I rented the video tape countless times and then discovered about a year later it had been banned.
I didn't see the film again until 1988 and was by this time desperate to see it again to see if the film was as good as I remembered and I came across an advert where a guy was selling copies of the banned horror films for £20 each in a video magazine and I instantly purchased this one, dawn of the dead and zombie holocaust.
Well at the age of 14 the film still stood up and I introduced it to friends in school which soon turned into an opportunity where I could buy a copy from my supplier and turn them out in school by the dozen and soon the school was flooded with titles such as the texas chainsaw massacre, evil dead, all the zombie classics, the exorcist and anything else I could get my hands on and pass on.
Well for about 8 months I had a nice little enterprise with more customers than I could easily make copies for however as always it came to a sudden awkward end when a teacher walked into the class room with the The Exorcist being played at full volume on the school tv system during lunch break.
So that was it, my enterprise was over however the teacher concerned didn't make a fuss only confiscated the tape and by this stage I was imagining all manner of problems but about a month later he tapped me on the shoulder and said by the way I've watched that tape and you can't bring things like that into school premises but as long as you keep them out of here we will say no more about it which I quickly agreed to. He even returned my tape.
I thought no more of this until a couple of weeks after when I got another tap on the shoulder one lunch time with the same teacher saying by the way does your supplier have any zombie titles available and we ended up having a long discussion on how enjoyable Dawn of the Dead and Zombie Flesh Eaters are and I ended up giving him my suppliers contact details.
So although we have gone slightly off topic here, the film has always had a special place in my heart and I have owned countless releases from my original pirate video to actual video nasty tapes, God knows how many dvds and recently the Blue Underground Blu-ray.
Funnily enough I was watching the BU release the other day where my 11 year old walked into the room during the famous eye scene, now he has never watched many horror films and I was frantically grabbing for the remote control to find the pause button, however on seeing the carnage on screen he immediately commented on how good the effects were and we had a long discussion on how they might have made the effect so realistic so maybe there's another convert here in the making.
 |