Is Zombie Flesh Eaters Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot
Yes, 6 out of 10. It is a gory zombie movie with jump scares, and its worst scene happens early on the island.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
6 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Medium
You may check your doors twice for a night, and then the feeling fades.
DOG
Dog: fine
fine, no dog dies.
Ruling: It is a gory zombie movie with jump scares, so eat dinner after you watch it.
Zombie Flesh Eaters runs ninety-one minutes and starts with an abandoned boat drifting into New York Harbor. Two patrolmen go aboard to look around, and a zombie is already on it.
The premise, briefly
After a boat with a zombie aboard drifts into New York Harbor, reporter Peter West and the captain's daughter, Anne, sail to the Caribbean island of Matool to find where it came from.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
Anne and Peter escape Matool by boat, but Brian dies of his infection at sea. As they near New York, a radio report says zombies are attacking the city, and the last shot is a slow horde of them at the Brooklyn Bridge.
The scene you're dreading
Paola's death early on the island: alone in the house at night, she holds a door shut, a zombie breaks an arm through it and drags her through the hole, and a splinter of wood gouges her eye.
The dog
No dog dies in Zombie Flesh Eaters.
Zombie Flesh Eaters is a gory zombie movie with some jumps and a bleak last shot, and it is easier to watch once you know where the nasty scenes are.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
Two patrolmen open the wrong boat
In a cold open, a shrouded corpse comes back to life and a man in silhouette shoots it in the head, then tells a colleague the boat can leave now. Later, an empty boat floats into New York Harbor and two harbor patrolmen climb aboard. A zombie hiding inside kills one of them, and the other patrolman shoots it and it falls into the water. Anne Bowles is questioned by the police because the boat belonged to her father, who she says is researching on the island of Matool. A British journalist, Peter West, is chasing the same story, and he and Anne learn that her father was ill on the island. To get there they charter a boat, with Brian Hull and his girlfriend Susan Barrett as guides.
A reasonable request to leave the island, turned down
On Matool, Dr. David Menard, who is British, and his wife Paola are studying why the dead are getting up. Paola wants to leave, and Menard insists on staying. This is the scene people brace for, and it happens before the boat from New York even reaches the island. After dark, Paola is home by herself when a zombie tries to get in. She pushes the door shut, but the zombie breaks one arm through it, hauls her through the hole and kills her, and a splinter of wood gouges her eye.
Susan goes swimming in the wrong ocean
As the boat nears Matool, Susan dives into the water, meets a shark, hides behind a reef, and is then grabbed by a zombie under the surface. She climbs back aboard while the shark and the zombie fight each other, and the boat docks. Menard finds that his colleague Fritz has died of the infection and orders his staff to shoot every body in the head. While digging a grave he sees a flare and finds the visitors. He sends them to his house for Paola, and they find zombies eating her body. They fight off an attack and flee in a jeep that hits a zombie and runs off the road, and Peter hurts his ankle. They stop in a clearing that turns out to be a graveyard, and a corpse rises and bites Susan's throat out.
The hospital is not a good place to stay
More of the dead rise, and the group takes shelter in the island hospital. Menard tells them a voodoo curse is raising the dead and that he has been trying to stop it. Zombies surround the building, and a reanimated Fritz kills Menard. Patients being treated for the infection rise too and kill several staff who stayed behind. When the dead break through the door, Anne, Peter and Brian set the hospital on fire and shoot their way out. The undead Susan bites Brian on the arm, and Peter shoots her. The three of them get to the boat and sail away. Out at sea, Brian dies of his infection, and the others lock his body in a cabin so they have evidence of what happened.
The ending, explained
On the way back to New York, a radio broadcast announces that zombies are attacking the city, a result of the attack in the harbor at the start. The final shot is a horde of zombies walking slowly toward the city at the Brooklyn Bridge. Anne and Peter survive the island. Paola, Menard, Susan, Fritz and Brian do not.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether Zombie Flesh Eaters has a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Zombie Flesh Eaters scary?
Yes. Zombie Flesh Eaters is a 6 out of 10 with medium dread: it is very gory, has jump scares, and the unease lasts about a night.
How does Zombie Flesh Eaters end?
Anne and Peter escape the island by boat, but Brian dies of his infection on the way back. A radio broadcast says zombies are attacking New York, and the last shot shows them at the Brooklyn Bridge.
Does the dog die in Zombie Flesh Eaters?
No. No dog dies in Zombie Flesh Eaters.
Is there a post-credits scene in Zombie Flesh Eaters?
Nobody has confirmed whether Zombie Flesh Eaters has a scene after the credits.
Why are the dead rising in Zombie Flesh Eaters?
Dr. Menard says a voodoo curse on the island of Matool is raising the dead, and that he has been trying to stop it. The infection also spreads by bite, so the people who die of it rise too.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of Zombie Flesh Eaters is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
Zombie Flesh Eaters is ninety-one minutes of an island that should have stayed off the map. Install Scaredy Cat and the trailers stay blurred while you read the plot instead.
