
- Year
- 1980
- Country
- Italy
- Runtime
- 89 min
- Director
- Marino Girolami
- Updated
- 10 Aug 2026
- Obscurity
- cult (44/100)
- Also known as
- Island of the Last Zombies · Medical Deviate · Zombie Holocaust
- Banned in
- UK
Zombie Holocaust
On the UK Section 3 list of titles liable to police seizure, released here as Zombie Holocaust and in the US as Doctor Butcher M.D.
Cannibals and zombies at once, reusing the Zombi 2 sets and cast.
Cannibals and zombies in one film, reusing the sets, cast and even footage of Fulci's Zombi 2 to save money. A doctor and a reporter travel to an island where a mad surgeon is at work among flesh-eating natives and the walking dead, and the film cheerfully throws both genres at the wall.
Ian McCulloch anchors it, and the gore is enthusiastic, but the main pleasure is watching a production strip-mine another film for parts in real time. It was also recut into an American version with new footage.
A Frankenstein of a film, stitched from whatever was lying around.
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Written about
- What is a cult film
Discover what makes a cult film: not a genre or budget, but a fate that happens after release when a film finds unexpected audiences and lasting cultural impact.
- Gut-munchers: the Italian zombie boom, 1979 to 1983
There was no first one. Argento recut Romero, Fulci forged the sequel, and Italy spent four years feeding the British censors.
- Banned, cut and confiscated
A Fulci print flown out of the country, an Australian rating that just means no, and a German court that filed The Evil Dead under criminal violence. Three states, three machines for making a film disappear.
Filed alongside
Sugar Hill
Revenge via Haitian zombies. The best of the blaxploitation horror crossovers.
Messiah of Evil
Made by the couple who then wrote American Graffiti. A nightmare that never explains itself.
Night of the Seagulls
The Blind Dead ride out one last time. A quiet, sad closer to Spain's best monster series.
The Living Dead Girl
Rollin's best late film. Melancholy where the Italians were loud.
The Ghost Galleon
The Blind Dead put to sea on a model boat in a visible fish tank. The runt of the four.
Burial Ground
Incoherent even by the standards of the cycle. The Peter subplot is unforgivable.