Zombi series

The Zombi series is a series of Italian zombie horror movies. It has a confusing history of release, with entries of the series varying by different regions in the world. The British releases of the same movies are known as the Zombie Flesh Eaters series and the American releases, while not having a consistent name, could be known as simply the Zombie series.

The Zombi series started with George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead. The European release of that movie was re-edited and re-scored by Italian Dario Argento, and it was renamed to Zombi. Because of its success, a zombie film by Lucio Fulci that was already in production was renamed to Zombi 2 to appear as if it were a sequel. Since then, there has been more, albeit confusing, entries in the Zombi series.

Series by region

Official (Italian) Series

The Italian series starts with Dawn of the Dead and is followed by Zombi II and its officially released sequel

• Zombi (American Title: Dawn of the Dead (1978))
• Zombi 2 (1979)
• Zombi 3 (1988)

British Series

The British series is renamed from Zombi to Zombie Flesh Eaters. While it follows the Italian series in proper order, it ignores Dawn of the Dead as the first entry, and instead starts with Zombi 2, adding the unrelated film Oltre la Morte as a third installment

• Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979) (Italian Title: Zombi 2)
• Zombie Flesh Eaters 2 (1988) (Italian Title: Zombi 3)
• Zombie Flesh Eaters 3 (1988) (Italian Title: Oltre la Morte)

German Series

The German series, like the Italian series, starts off with Dawn of the Dead, but completely ignores Fulci's Zombi 2 (which was released separately as Woodoo), and instead properly follows up with Day of the Dead, but then follows after that with the Italian Zombi 3.

• Zombie (1979) (American Title: Dawn of the Dead)
• Zombie 2: Das Letzte Kapitel (1985) (American Title: Day of the Dead)
• Zombie III (1988) (Italian Title: Zombi 3)

American Series

The American series is the most confusing. Although it includes the original Italian series starting with Zombi 2 in order, the titles did not directly follow each other. Zombi II was renamed Zombie, but Zombi 3 kept its appropriate title. Then, Zombi 4 was released with the American title Zombie 4: After Death. To further confusion, two films were release on home video with titles that would imply they were sequels, but they had nothing to do with the Italian series.

• Zombie (1979) (Italian Title: Zombi 2)
• Zombi 3 (1988)
• Zombie 4: After Death (1988) (Italian Title: Oltre la Morte)
• Zombie 5: Killing Birds (1987) (Italian Title: Uccelli Assassini)

Even further confusion exists in the American series as in the late 1990s several unrelated titles were added to the series by T-Z Video (aka Edde Entertainment) TZ titles were as follows:

• Zombie (1979)
• Zombie 2 (the same film as Zombie)
• Zombie 3: Return of the Zombies (original Spanish title: La Orgía de los muertos) (starring Paul Naschy, directed by J.C. Merino)
• Zombie 4: A Virgin Among The Living Dead (original Spanish title Christina, princesse de l'érotisme, directed by Jess Franco)
• Zombie 5: Revenge In The House of Usher (directed by Jess Franco)
• Zombie 6: Monster Hunter (which is itself a sequel to Joe D'Amato's Athropophagus)

Zombie Holocaust, also known as Doctor Butcher, M.D. has also been released as Zombie 3, and it stars Ian McCulloch, who appeared in Zombi 2. Another film to bear the name Zombie 3 is Andrea Bianchi's Le Notti del terrore.

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