Zombie 5: Killing Birds (1987)

A soldier returns home from the Vietnam war, finding his wife has cheated on him. He snaps and kills everyone there, except for his infant son whom is taken from him. Years later, a group of college students searches the grounds for a rare bird and find themselves targets of the living dead. By the end of the 1980s, the horror genre was dying down in the US and abroad. It was getting to be like some filmmakers were xeroxing successful films to get a piece of the action. All kinds of things were being done to help films make as much money as possible.

Something we rarely, if ever see these days is films being labeled sequels to films they have no ties with. However, in the 1970s and 80s this was done with a lot of films, mainly overseas. This is a double edged sword, because sometimes you'd get a gem and others a total disappointment. A perfect example would be The Ogre, known in some places as Demons 3: The Ogre. It has absolutely nothing to do with the other two films, save for having the same director. This is bad enough, but what if the film isn't even good on it's own merits?

Lucio Fulci's Zombie was given the title Zombi 2 for the overseas market. It's supposed to be a sequel to the classic Dawn of the Dead, but isn't by a long shot. That didn't stop distributors from slapping new titles on other films to make them sound like sequels. Some were even made before Fulci's film, only adding to the confusion. Many of them are really fun to watch, but then there are those that are better off skipped.

The film actually starts out really well with a strong opening 9 minutes. What happens is something you wouldn't normally see in a living dead film. Then, it switches gears and goes down hill a bit once we meet the rest of the main characters. None of the actors were going to win awards, but they do well enough, particularly Lara Wendel. Film in New Orleans, the film boasts some lush scenery and even the same house used as The Beyond's cursed hotel. These look quite spooky and atmospheric during all the nighttime scenes.

The score by Carlo Maria Cordio is pretty good, but only about 50% of it. The parts of it meant to put one on edge are pretty effective. There are also a few really memorable moments in the second half. My favorite is where some of the characters are ambushed in their jeep by zombies. Though no overly so, the film does have some decent moments of gore. Just don't go into this expecting to see any flesh or brain munching.

Killing Birds has it strong points, but unfortunately the bad outweighs the good. Both the plot and most of the characters are threadbare. Even worse is that between the opening and when the dead rise, the film drags and is pretty dull during this period. There are a number of plots holes and the ending is totally anticlimactic. The parts of the score that play during the early scenes with the college students are not only dated, but cheesy to the max. What could have been good, bad movie fun is instead an uneven and pretty forgettable effort.

4/10