Night of the Zombies (1983)

I first watched Hell of the Living Dead on BETA tape in the 1980's and I always thought of it as a kind of snuff movie because of the gritty video and realistic gore effects (i.e. bullet wounds). Plus, experiencing this movie on a poor quality tape only adds to that effect. Watching it on streaming channels in much higher quality doesn't really eliminate the snuff aura, at least when it comes to viewing the gore in higher detail. I am very impressed with it and I'm not even that much of a gore hound. A horror movie has to entertain me on the eerie level before anything and HOTLD delivers there, especially when the focus is on a small jungle village and what is revealed to be hiding inside an abandoned laboratory. Let's just say, a certain professor knows it's lunch time. I also very much liked the scene where a little boy who was bitten by a zombie dies and comes back to life, then is shot down by heroic commandos after taking a bite out of his exhausted papa. Not many horror films are gutsy enough to mix children and violence in this manner. Also interesting is when we meet a Barbara Bush look-alike grandma ghoul and her undead kitty kat, burrowing inside of her tummy until kitty's rest is disturbed by our uniformed heroes. Very original and just plain creepy. Sure, the acting is laughable, but I think it's mostly due to the awful voice-overs. The funniest character has to be the Yanni look-alike cameraman, he alone is worth the price of admission! These characters are a hoot to observe, one must admit. So basically, this is an entertaining Italian "date night" zombie movie for those who appreciate the trashy side of horror. An underrated gross out gem that will curb your appetite for anything red and squishy.

"Virus" ("aka Hell of the living dead" or "Zombie Creeping Flesh") is a fun rip-off of "Dawn of the Dead", with also some typical stuff we can find in Italian cannibals movies, but without the cannibalism (there is a tribe in the jungle composed mostly from stock shots of "The Real Cannibal Holocaust" - aka "Nuova Guinea, l'isola dei cannibali" - and stock shots of animals from documentaries too). The director is Bruno Mattei so it's not really a big surprise, he used a lot stock shots and work done by others in his movies (for example his "Zombi: La creazione" AND "Shocking Dark" are copies of James Cameron's "Aliens"). I kinda like his movies, because most of them are really fun to watch (the "so bad it's good" kind). But for this one, I think it's just an OK movie. Funny in many scenes, but also boring in many others. There is a nice variety of zombies, some looks like the blue ones from "Dawn of the Dead", others have a more "gory" look, as in "Zombi 2" of Lucio Fulci. The characters from the Swat are fun, lot of crazy men in the team with totally irrational reactions! Unfortunately, the movie is too long, should have been cut by at least 20 minutes.

Why the long face, something eating you? Yes, this movie is eating my time. Still, it was 'so bad, it's good' type of a film, so I can't hate it, too much. It was somewhat entertaining. Directed by Vincent Dawn AKA Bruno Mattei, the film tells the story of a four-man team of commandos lead by Lt. Mike London (Jose Gras). Their mission is find out, the true reason why the Hope Center Research Laboratory in Papua New Guinea, lost communication with the rest of the world. Presuming it was cause by a terrorist action, journalist Lia Rousseau (Margit Evelyn Newton) and her camera crew, joins them, as they investigating a series of mysterious, violent attacks on the locals, that can only lead them to a top secret government secret that must be destroy or reveal. Can the men make it to the Research Center or will the horde of the living dead be too much for them? Watch the movie to find out! Without spoiling the movie too much, I have to say, this movie is really trying too hard to rip-off, Director Lucio Fulci 1979's zombie horror film, Zombi 2 with its tropical settling. Not only that; the movie also try to rip-off the popular parts of 1978's Dawn of the Dead, way too much. Some good examples are how journalist Lia Rousseau looks very alike, the female heroine from that George Romero's film and how the whole look of the commandos, look way too similar to the outfit of the Philadelphia S.W.A.T. team. I think the movie goes way too far, when it doesn't hide the fact, that they were stealing the music from Dawn of the Dead. This almost caused a legal wrangle for the production of this low-budget horror film, due to the fact that the band, Goblin did not authorized their music to be used here. Then there is the inappropriate use of stock footage from the 1972 film, 'The Valley' & the 1974's cannibal documentary film, 'The Real Cannibal Holocaust' and last, 1979's "Des Morts'; a documentary about death. The movie was trying to incorporate the footage with the rest of the film, but they didn't do so well. It was so mismatched or seem out of place. It didn't match up with the ugly day for night colors, they were filming the film, with. Honestly, I don't know why they built sets, just to mirror the documentaries. They could have save more money, just filming, new footage. It seem like a waste of money. The movie has a lot of continuity errors because of how badly it was film. While, Mattei was busying himself with the studio filming, assistant director, Claudio Fragasso was given free rein to shoot some new special effects shots to gore up the film. Most of the special effects are somewhat dated. It's hilarious to watch. Some good examples are the cat inexplicably ripping out of a zombie's dead body, or a killer rat biting a scientist's face. There are 2 classic vomiting scenes which I laughed so hard at. The movie really tries to be gross with its gore. Gratuitous nudity is also involved when the female lead get naked so that she can fit in the natives tribe. It wasn't really needed. The actress really got exploited. It really feels, out of place like the English dubbing. The dubbing in this film is so bad, as the words don't match, the lips. Then there is moronic unreal dialogue, in which the actors had to speak. The funniest had to be, the couple that thought the zombies were drunks. The slow zombie concept hasn't aged well. They are just downright too sluggish to be taken as a serious threat and the make-up work is questionable, at times. Throughout the film, the zombies are handled almost effortlessly; the only danger to humans come when the living acts stupid or careless. There is barely any tense moments. The movie doesn't feel like a straight up horror film. It acts more like a silly satire action comedy. The soldiers are some of the stupidest, ever put on film. One of the commandos stupidly sets his rifles down, dons a tutu and a top hat and cane, and starts dancing! He summarily gets chomped on by the zombies by the next scene. WTF! My favorite character in the film has to be Zantoro (Franco Garofalo). He was just way over the top and crazy! It's hard to tell, whom brain-death here, the characters or the living dead. I also think the creators for this film, lack brain power, as well. One thing that I hate about this film is the dozen of alternate titles that it has. Not only is it known as Hell of the Living Dead, it's known as; Virus, Cannibal Virus, Night of the Zombies, Apocalypse Cannibal, Zombie Creeping Flesh, Zombi 4, Zombie Ultimate Nightmare, Zombie Inferno, Zombie of the Savanna and others. Way too much titles to name here. I do have to give them, some credit. This Rated R exploitation movie tries to tell something smart, with controversy conspiracy theories about the First World create diseases to control the Third World's population, but it never truly get explore, much, beyond, a few exposition sentences. Overall: It's a bad film, but the campy entertainment value makes us, forget how badly deliver the story was. The unintentional humor, over-the-top gore sequences, director's cameos, and the fact that there actually are zombies in this movie, make it, somewhat watchable.

Having watched this again recently after not seeing it since I was a kid, it really didn't live up to my memories. The acting is pretty erratic (and sometimes downright comical).The effects are a total mixed bag. Some are great, some are ripped from what looks like nature documentaries, and others are terrible (running out of time in makeup? let's paint these guys blue and put them in the background)It follows regular tropes that show these guys to be "badass soldiers" but they seem to forget their training and skills at all the opportune moments (you know, convenient zombie movie shtick).SPOILER: Having watched this again last night with the girlfriend, there was a part that literally made her say "Oh really?" and bust out laughing. As the group of survivors are leaving the infested house, there is a zombie that just straight up opens the moving car's door and starts to sit in like he's one of the living. I found this extremely comical as well.I can't hate on this film though, as I did have fond memories the first few times I saw it as a kid. It just didn't age very well. Still worth a viewing, and deserves a place in any serious zombie collector's movie collection.