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  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies
  3. Horror Movies

The shonkiest zombie FX we've ever seen

Features
By Total Film published 27 October 2008

Less low budget gore, more no budget

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For more horror content check out our Horror Week 2008 Hub

First up in horror week, the worst special effects we've ever seen in zombie films. It's a bit of a no-brainer given that the majority of films made about the undead were part of a canon of exploitation pictures made in the early to mid-Eighties by Italian mentalists with about 100 lira to spend on fake blood and pigs snouts.

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At the time these gross out films were the hushed talk of the schoolyard, now they look like they were made by people of school age. Revel in their local hardware store production values and use them as a benchmark of the quality of the upcoming Horror Week content. More to come later...

Zombie Holocaust (1980)

Intended effect: Zombie gets his head caved in with an outboard motor.

What it actually looks like: A catering-sized hand blender being driven into a piece of pottery filled with melted chocolate.

Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979)

Intended effect: A a zombie has an underwater fight with shark and gets his arm ripped off.

What it actually looks like: A man in a big fish tank, trying to ram a fake meat arm into a slightly bemused-looking shark's mouth.

Night Of The Zombies (1981)

Intended effect: Not really sure. Something to do with plastic skeletons and bubble bath.

What it actually looks like: Plastic skeletons being sprayed with bubble bath.

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Zombie Lake (1980)

Intended effect: Zombies get cooked with a flamethrower.

What it actually looks like: Some men with a lot of lighter fuel on their jackets either sitting down or falling over, really slowly.

City Of The Living Dead (1981)

Intended effect: A woman is forced to puke up her intestines through mindpower.

What it actually looks like: A woman spitting out a big pile of pigs innards. The most shocking thing about this effect is that the poor actress had to hold that stuff in her mouth for any length of time.

Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979)

Intended effect: A girl gets a big splinter in her eye.

What it actually looks like: A piece of wood being driven into a soft boiled egg. This 'notorious' scene of ocular trauma was considered so shocking by the British censors that it was cut from every release of this film until 2005.

Total Film

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

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