On a remote island, a group of scientists have traveled to try and find a cure for cancer. The local voodoo priest (James Sampson) is enraged when his daughter dies from the disease and blames the scientists for her death. He awakens an ancient evil which causes the dead to rise as flesh-eating zombies. The inhabitants of the island are all killed except for a little girl who manages to escape. Years later, by strange coincidence, the girl, Jenny (Candace Daly), returns to the island where her parents were killed and she only narrowly escaped becoming one of the living dead. Now, with a team of mercenaries on her side, Jenny tries to reverse the curse and stop all the gut-munching.

Claudio Fragasso (House 5, Monster Dog) directs this overlong zombie luncheon. Zombie 4: After Death sports a decent soundtrack (not including the 80s schlep-rock) and decent cinematography. The gore effects by Franco Di Girolamo (Contraband, Nightmare City) are pretty nasty especially during a scene where a guy’s eyeball is plucked out shortly before the same unlucky soul has his face ripped off. The script is pretty awful, thanks to Rosella Drudi (Hell of the Living Dead, Troll 2). As with most zombie films, this one’s plot is plagued with the usual logic problems but that isn’t nearly as bad as the pacing of the film which feels interminable at an hour and a half.

The acting is passable and none of the cast rises above the required corniness for a zombie film. Jeff Stryker does a mediocre job as the beefcake hero, Chuck, and Candace Daly is okay as the damsel in distress, Jenny. However, it is good to see James Sampson (who played Willy in Stage Fright) in another odd role as the voodoo priest.

Zombie 4 slows down repeatedly and there is some criminal use of slow motion that is completely unnecessary. The film could have been edited down to less than an hour without anyone noticing. Pacing is ruined even further by the fact that when a spell is cast, the zombies are all frozen in place. Sadly, this leads to shots of zombies just standing completely still. The final showdown is long in coming and even longer in execution.

The zombies are a strange lot in this one. They seem to be drooling green slime most of the time and are more reminiscient of the creatures in Lamberto Bava’s Demons than the standard zombie. They move quickly often pulling off some high jumps and their black garb brings ninjas to mind quite often.

Zombie 4: After Death is hurt by its slow pace and uneven gore effects. The best gore sequences are at the beginning and the end of the film. If there had been more over-the-top splatter moments spread out through the film, the entertainment value of this would have soared. There is a nice air of Italian cheese throughout and its cheapness nice might come off as charming for some viewers. This is a hard film to sit through but it should be on the list for zombie film completists (with professional editing equipment).