On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark honors fringe cinema in the streaming age with midnight movies from any moment in film history.
First, the BAIT: a weird genre pick and why we’re exploring its specific niche right now. Then, the BITE: a spoiler-filled answer to the all-important question, “Is this old cult film actually worth recommending now?”
The Bait: We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat(y McBoatface)
In 2016, Britain’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) added an exciting new vessel to its polar fleet. The impressive research ship took four years to construct and cost more than £200 million in labor and materials. Today, she’s a feat of modern engineering on voyages across the Arctic, where her specialized hull cuts into thick walls of sea ice as her passengers’ chart their paths to academic success.
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Yes, that is what happened to Boaty McBoatface.
Nine years ago, when the British public was asked to vote on a name for their coast’s latest floating landmark, the goofy half-joke “Boaty McBoatface” was proposed by BBC presenter James Hand. It won in a landslide, and though council members tried to ignore the results of the popular internet poll at first, word of a possible snub spread and turned into outrage fast.
In the summer of 2025, the massive watercraft from the U.K. is proudly known as the RSS Sir David Attenborough — so named for the beloved English broadcaster and nature historian. Still, the surprisingly vocal Boaty McBoatface electorate secured a seriously symbolic concession in the end.
The Attenborough measures nearly 129 meters from bow to stern, and it’s home to important academic studies and maritime expeditions. So, no, the ship is still not named “Boaty McBoatface.” But the National Oceanography Center does have another watercraft with that name. The second Boaty is an autonomous underwater vehicle that’s smaller, bright yellow, and beloved for her fitting identifier.
The cultural impact of the NERC’s crowdsourcing mess in 2016 means that the Attenborough and Boaty could go on causing confusion forever. A similar situation has been playing out in the scary movie world since the late 1970s, when “Night of the Living Dead” genius George A. Romero made his triumphant return to ghoulish cinema with the masterful “Dawn of the Dead” in 1978.
Enter Lucio Fulci, the director of the gleefully grotesque “Zombi 2” (1979). Known by at least a dozen other titles — including “Zombie,” “Island of the Living Dead,” “Zombie Flesh Eaters,” and more — this poorly dubbed gore-fest rose to midnight infamy on a tidal wave of “video nasties” streaming out of the U.K in the early 1980s. These extreme underground horror efforts varied in quality, but many controversial hits like “Zombi 2” earned their place in art history by circulating on the fringes first.
At 51 years old, Fulci had already made dozens of genre movies. He was well-respected for his suspense and giallo, but he’s remembered by modern horror fans as the Godfather of Gore. “Zombi 2” is a testament to the late filmmaker’s hair-brained commitment to bizarre stunts (read that headline again: a ZOMBIE fights a SHARK!) and rigorous practical effects, designed by the incredible Giannetto De Rossi.
Comfortably seated aboard the niche subgenre of “tropical horror” (which also includes titles from 1985’s shocking “Cannibal Holocaust” to the lovable live-action “Scooby-Doo”), Fulci’s vibrant island haunting blends (regrettably) dated voodoo tropes and graphic encounters with the undead to surprisingly fresh and provocative effect. It’s slow at times but a blast to watch if you can stomach the rotting flesh, writhing bugs, and sneaky director’s decision to slyly screw over the Father of Zombies.
After directing “Night of the Living Dead” in 1968, Romero stepped back from horror for a significant period. Venturing through comedy, romance, science fiction, and other lighter fare, that break was generally considered good for the director. Still, he struggled to make a living, and when Romero finally returned to terror with his second undead triumph a decade later, the director’s satirical “Dawn of the Dead” was acclaimed but became chum for a vicious school of copycats, including Fulci.
Distributed by co-financier Dario Argento, Romero’s best movie arrived in Italian theaters under the title “Zombi.” The following year, Fulci named his film “Zombi 2” to force an association between the projects, which share some sensibilities but no real narrative. The unofficial “Dawn of the Dead” spinoff has flapped in the breeze as a confusing hidden gem ever since. It managed to inspire a brief frenzy among contemporary cinephiles back then and would later spark a franchise of more (mostly) unrelated films.
The sequel you are about to see created a murky history between Fulci and Romero. Dedicated zombie aficionados continue to compare the two filmmakers’ approaches to the undead today — but even lacking a British sense of humor, you’d hope Romero would be the kind of American director to vote for Boaty McBoatface… or, at the very least, not swim in her way
Lucio Fulci’s “Zombie” (1979) is now streaming on Tubi. Check back in a feature-length for part two.
