Doctor Butcher, M.D. (1980)

AUGUST 26, 2008

GENRE: CANNIBAL, MAD SCIENTIST, ZOMBIE
SOURCE: THEATRICAL (REVIVAL SCREENING)

There’s a sort of caveat to seeing a movie at the New Beverly, particularly on Grindhouse night, and using it for my daily Horror Movie A Day entry: I’m usually buzzed if not slightly drunk by the time it starts, and then I spend most of the movie laughing and cheering at the ridiculousness on screen. As a result, when it comes time to write a review for a movie like Doctor Butcher M.D. (aka Zombie Holocaust), I’m hard-pressed to remember any details. Maybe HMAD reader and fellow Grindhouse loyalist Joe can help me out if I skip anything important.

Like a lot of cannibal movies, this one starts in New York. It’s not as inexplicable as the NY intro of Cannibal Ferox, however, and it actually contains some cannibalism right from the start. But otherwise it’s essentially a remake of Fulci’s Zombi: we meet our guys and gals, and then its off to the island, where some folks are killed, weird shit goes down, and a church (the same one, I think) is burned down. Except this one also has cannibals. It was like there were too many cannibal movies, and too many zombie movies, so the only chance director Marino Girolami and writer/producer Fabrizio De Angelis had to make a name for themselves was to combine the two.

As a result, it’s neither as graphic nor violent as the landmark zombie/cannibal films that were released around the same time (Cannibal Holocaust, Zombi, etc), but it’s still an ass-ton of fun. Five minutes into the movie, a guy dives out a 10th story window, and as he hits the ground, his arm flies off. This is because it’s obviously a mannequin, and then when they cut to a closeup of the (real) guy on the ground, his arm has been restored. If you see something like that, and you don’t cheer... you might as well just get the fuck out of the cinema.

Zombi’s Ian McCulloch also appears in this one, and he’s a riot. Constantly dressed in a large tan trenchoat, he doesn’t really do much in the movie except bark orders at people (“Bury him!”) and devise ineffectual plans, such as bringing a stick to a machete fight (in a sequence that looks like it was shot in the Pine Barrens, not the island of Kito like the rest of the movie). Later in the film he is captured, and his escape is extraordinary. Using a helpfully close-by scalpel, he cuts his binds and then waits for the right moment. His captors never seem to notice the fact that his hand and neck are no longer restrained (the neck straps are just laying there across his chest). But he manages to bungle the whole thing anyway, almost instantly being re-subdued after making his move.

One interesting tidbit is that Roy Frumkes, best known for Document of the Dead, was brought in to shoot a new title sequence for the US version (which I guess is what we had, though the print seemed to be assembled from a couple of sources). He also did himself a solid; the film’s director is buried in the middle of the credits, while Frumkes’ name is given the last slot typically reserve for said director. A douche move, but an awesome one all the same.

Unusual for a Grindhouse night, there were no special guests, BUT I did “win” the raffle for once; Grindhouse guru Brian Quinn gave me his signed poster of Bobbie Bresee from the time she was there for a screening of Mausoleum (which was one of the first GH nights I attended!). Since the poster was made out to “Brian”, he asked if anyone in the crowd had that name, and I was the first to respond. What’s in a name, indeed. The poster is now proudly displayed in the backseat of my car next to some napkins, the AC charger for my cell, and an issue of Fangoria. Thanks BQ!

What say you?