Doctor Butcher M.D.
Doctor Butcher M.D.
R | 07 May 1982 (USA)
Doctor Butcher M.D. Trailers

After Malukan immigrants engage in a string of corpse mutilations at various New York City hospitals, a doctor and a morgue assistant travel to the Maluku Islands to investigate.

Reviews
Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away
SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen
Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Winifred The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.
Sam Panico Also known as Zombi Holocaust, the American version of this film features a sequence from an unfinished film called Tales That'll Tear Your Heart Out, a different music score and some edits for pacing. It's also got a much better title: Doctor Butcher, M.D. (Medical Deviate). And let me warn you right here and now. This is a film that takes no prisoners. It's everything horrible about horror films, the kind of Satanic panic nightmare that your clergyman warned you about. It is vile, reprehensible garbage. And it's entertaining as hell.New York City in the late 70's is a bad place to be. Even in the hospitals, a maniac is caught cutting off body parts and escaping with them. All the higher ups want to keep the story out of the paper, but morgue assistant and anthropology exert Lori (Alexandra Delli Colli, New York Ripper - imagine having those two movies on your IMDB history!) grew up in the Moluccan islands, where the cannibal came from. Let's forget what a coincidence this is and just savor the madness that is to follow. As soon as she learns the truth, a journalist named Susan (Sherry Buchanan, Escape from Galaxy 3, Tentacles) breaks into her place. And right after she kicks her out, her ceremonial dagger gets stolen! How could this happen!? And how coincidental - again - that a killer who works in the same hospital as Lori would steal it, get caught and give chase before falling to his death from a rooftop (and magically turn into a mannequin before crashing to the pavement)?Maybe Lori's hospital isn't that unique because this is happening all over town, all with hospital workers baring the same tattoo. Dr. Pete Chandler (Ian McCulloch, Zombi, Contamination), Lori's anthropologist friend, suggest that she join him and his friend Pete on a trip to the islands. And oh yeah - Pete's girlfriend is Susan, in another coincidence. God only plays dice in Italian zombie films.Once they arrive, they meet Dr. Obrero (Donald O'Brien, Ghosthouse, Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals), who warns them that the natives are more like wild animals and will not take kindly to strangers. To prove his point, one of them leaves a maggot-ridden severed head in Lori's room. At this point, any sane person would just go home. But then, we would not have a movie. Obrero sends Moloko, his assistant along with them on their journey. Is it weird that he has the same name as the island?Within minutes of the running time of the film, all of the party's guides and porters are dead, other than Moloko. Soon, George and Susan are raw meat and the rest of the party seem like they are soon to be dinner, too. That's when zombies attack, sending the cannibals off into the jungle. And strangely, Dr. Obrero gets to them faster than they expected with help.Let me spoil this one for you - Dr. Obrero is Dr. Butcher. He got the natives to rediscover their cannibal ways and they provide him with the raw material that he needs to create his zombies. He uses them for experiments, moving science forward as he works on the same set as Fulci's Zombi. He's a decent fellow, though. He lets the natives keep the scalps, after all.After killing a zombie with a boat motor, Chandler breaks into the doctor's office, where he is transplanting Susan's brain, who is bald because, you know, they took her scalp. Also, she's still alive. The doctor takes Chandler captive and Lori is taken by the cannibals, who the natives see as some kind of god. You know, blonde hair and white skin and all that. They paint her with flowers as if she were Goldie Hawn on Laugh-In and she lies in a body shape on the altar that looks like the tattoos we saw earlier. Somehow, again through total coincidence, she fits perfectly into the impression.Lori uses her power over the cannibals to attack the doctor and his zombies, freeing Chandler and allowing them to head back to civilization. Where, you know, they'll both get over this with no issues at all.The ad campaign for this film, such as the stolen image of Salvador Dali and lurid copy on the poster, push this movie into a transgressive art experience. And that's before the Butchermobile hit the road. A rented truck with posters plastered on every side that dripped blood, it cruised the streets of downtown New York City promising that Dr. Butcher, M.D. could deliver an experience that other lesser films could not.You can learn all of this and more with Severin's jam-packed blu ray release. From interviews with Aquarius Releasing's Terry Levene, the men who drove the Butchermobile, Ian McCulloch and Sherry Buchanan to a tour of today's Times Square, you could almost make the case that the extras are worth a release of their own. Throw in two versions of the film - both the American cut and the original Zombie Holocaust Italian version - and you have a release that simply cannot be beat.If you ever watched a movie and wondered, "I wish that people got eaten and torn to bits every twenty seconds while loony synth music played," I have some good news for you. Your horrifying prayers will be answered by this movie.
Woodyanders An expedition led by intrepid anthropologist Dr. Peter Chandler (an extremely sour portrayal by Ian McCulloch) to the remote tropical island of Moluccas not only runs afoul of a savage tribe of primitive cannibals, but also encounter lethal zombies created by nefarious mad scientist Dr. Obrero (nicely played with lip-smacking wicked relish by Donald O'Brien).Both Marino Girolami's crass direction and Romano Scandariato's mindless script shamelessly pander to the lowest common denominator in the most enjoyably exploitative manner imaginable (I especially loved the cowardly comic relief porters who are destined to meet nasty untimely ends at the hands of the cannibals). While slinky blonde distaff lead Alexandra Delli Colli's hopelessly acting leaves plenty to be desired, she nonetheless compensates for her woeful thespic abilities by showing off her fine sender figure with pleasing regularity. Fetching brunette Sherry Buchanan brings a winningly perky charm to her role as pesky reporter Susan Kelly. The cruddy dubbing, plodding pace, priceless tin-eared dialogue ("I could easily kill you now, but I'm determined to have your brain!"), and meandering nonsensical narrative all give this fabulously fetid flick a certain endearingly ramshackle charm. The make-up f/x are rather crude, but still deliver the gory goods by the tasty truckload (said gore includes throat slashings, dismemberment, graphic gut munching, and grisly brain transplant surgery). Nico Fidenco's funky-throbbing score hits the right-on groovy pulsating spot. A gloriously scuzzy grindhouse hoot and a half.
beyondthegore It's supposed to be a zombie film, it's got a zombie on the box art and on the back cover. However 'Zombie Holocaust' has more cannibals and tits than zombies....and there's not much of that either! I love my cheesy 80's films mainly the reason that drew me to this title even after its poor scores around the net, it definitely has the 80's feel about it, the synthesizer is in full flow the attire is definitely 80's and it does have that classic feel. Shame it's a poor effort at a zombie movie.Its only saviour that doesn't make this worthy of a zero are the few gore scenes it has. They are pretty savage and the effects have the 80's feel which is nice. One scene that stands out is where our team is ambushed by the cannibals and one of the unlucky ones is stabbed and has his eyes gouged out for a little cannibal snack! Nice! However these scenes soon die off and the dribble plot kicks in to full swing!Read the full review at: beyondthegore
Tromafreak One thing I always point out about these Cannibal flicks is that, besides the disturbing subject matter and ferocious gore, these films are also usually have really interesting, dare I say fascinating stories. That's right. Quality B-movies do exist, after all. However, Zombi Holocaust is not one of them. It looks like your stuck with just the gore. I think it'll be fine. I mean, just because this one doesn't hold up against the almighty Cannibal Ferox and Cannibal Holocaust, doesn't necessarily mean it's not worth your time. And really. Who wouldn't want a film called Zombi Holocaust in their Horror collection? Not I.Besides what I've already told you, the one thing you might want to consider, going in to this film, is that it's a Zombie movie. I suppose you already had that figured out. But still, Zombi Holocaust does include cannibals, as well as a jungle. Best of both worlds? More like a touch of both worlds. Nothing groundbreaking from either side of the fence. And on top of all that, Zombi Holocaust is also a mad scientist flick. We start out at a hospital, where corpses are being mutilated. Eventually, a cannibal is caught in the act. I guess it was shame that drove the poor guy to unconvincingly jumping out the window. Obviously, tomfoolery like this is not something you'd want going on at your local hospital. Curiosity gets the best of Ian McCullough and some hot chick. For some reason, this hospital mystery lies somewhere in the Carribbean. A mad doctor is slowly turning a tribe of cannibals into zombies. Zombies who don't really do much of anything, as the cannibals are the only ones willing to start trouble. Whatever. It's a movie. So, this guy must be stopped, right? And in case you're wondering, all that doesn't turn out nearly as entertaining as it sounds. Ultimately, if you're a fan of such classics as Burial Ground and Jungle Holocaust, I see no reason why you shouldn't get a kick out of Zombi Holocaust, at least out of sheer principle. Well, unless you're not too big on stupid movies with ridiculous dialogue, and awful acting. In that case, you may want to stay clear of this one. 7/10