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Hell of the Living Dead
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Avid horror fans, especially those that are fascinated with the zombie
genre, are well-versed in the fact that aside from Romero's dead films,
Italy is more or less the country that is thought of when you even
mention the living dead. Movies like Lucio Fulci's Zombie (or
Zombi 2) and City of the Living Dead, Zombie Holocaust
and a lengthy list of other films that focused on the shuffling dead.
With such an impressive list of dead films though, there are those that
get lost, at times due to lack of availability, and then there are those
that are simply just forgettable. The name Bruno Mattei might not be a
name that is recognized so easily with horror, not like the Argento's
and Fulci's of the world, but for better or worse, his film Hell of
the Living Dead certainly will make an impact on nay horror fan.
Originally released in the United States on VHS many years ago under the
title Night of the Zombies, Hell of the Living Dead finds
some very itself in some very familiar undead territory. Somewhere in
New Guinea a chemical leak has recently occurred at an organization
known as Hope and the dead are returning to life. An elite SWAT team is
sent into the jungles to investigate further. There, the primitive
people have also found themselves in the midst of a zombie plague and
the team runs into a female reporter and her cameraman sidekick while
all around them, the undead begin to gather and it seems that there may
be no escape from an unavoidable, cannibalistic fate.
There are good zombie films, and then there are bad zombie films. Now,
take a wild guess at which Hell of the Living Dead is. That's
right. This is a terrible film . . . . and yet, I'm strangely drawn to
it. Mattei's film is like what you might find if you took some of the
better features from other popular zombies movies and mixed them
together. The first and most obvious rip-off that everyone brings up in
none other than George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, and that
becomes very obvious very quickly. It should have been simply by the
mention in the summary of a SWAT team, and it simply reeks of wanting to
be Dawn. Add in some of the actual music from the film, and Goblin did
provide the soundtrack and made some moderate changes to some very
recognizable musical moments from Dawn, and you'd almost swear you were
watching the same film.
Almost.
Dawn of the Dead, and many other zombie movies, may not have the best
scripts that have been written, but in comparison to Hell of the Living
Dead, they are pure gems. HotLD has horrific dialog that can make you
cringe from time to time. Granted, it was the start of the 80's, but
there are still some lines that are simply a travesty and never should
find their way into any film. It does get much worse however. There are
moments when the main characters just stupidly stand around during
zombie attacks, not helping their friends in the least. We could chalk
that up to fear, but this is supposed to be an elite SWAT team, or
commandos as they are referred to as once. We have moments where zombies
are hopping around (seriously) an elderly "grandma" zombie that smiles
while she's crawling across the floor, and my favorite, the teleporting
zombie. There's a scene where a female zombie appears outside of a
kitchen window and then moments later she's managed to find her way
inside the home, and these aren't the speedy zombies that have been
popularized recently in 28 Days Later or the Dawn of the Dead
remake. Also, I'm still trying to figure out exactly how those
protective biological suits featured in the beginning of the film can be
effective if a rat can simply climb inside it.
The film also uses some stock footage that blends in terribly with the
rest of the film. It's grainy and often times are relatively useless.
There are scenes of bats flying across the sky, pelicans in a stream,
and other animal antics. There are sequences that do fit in relatively
well and those are the ones that feature natives dancing and such, but
when compared to the rest of the film, especially when the group makes
it to a tribes village, there are painfully obvious differences.
The film ultimately tries to have a moralistic edge to it. The premise
of the Hope facilities is to create a virus capable of eliminating the
third world countries and saving the world from overpopulation, but it
doesn't quite have the same impact that Romero did, taking the path of
dark humor and poking fun at commercialism. However, Hell of the
Living Dead does have an ending where we realize that mankind is
doomed and zombies will soon be wandering the world, a theme that is
very common in any living dead film. The last 30 minutes or so do
feature some decent gore effects, but they also look very amateurish in
comparison to other films from the horror genre that originate from
Italy.
The extra on the disc feature a brief interview with Mattei discussing
this film as well as a few others that he has done. There is a look at
the trailer for the film, something I actually took the opportunity to
look at first and knew immediately that I wasn't going to be watching a
masterpiece. Lastly, you will find a collection of stills, gallery art
and movie posters from the film under its numerous different titles.
Hell of the Living Dead isn't the pinnacle of zombie films (I
still give that to Day of the Dead) and isn't exactly one of the
best things that has ever come out of Italy, but it also isn't a film I
can say to avoid. Like myself, there are those that simply love zombie
films no matter how bad they are, and you really can't help but love
Hell of the Living Dead regardless of how many other films you see
referenced throughout the run of the film. It's more or less one of
those films that you can easily make up a drinking game for, relax, have
a few good laughs, and cheer on the zombies. Then again, you should
always be cheering for the zombies.
-mike-
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Directed by:
Bruno Mattei (as Vincent Dawn)
Written by:
José María Cunillés, Rossella Drudi, Claudio Fragasso &
Bruno Mattei
Original Italian Title:
Inferno dei morti-viventi
Also Known As:
Virus, Night of the Zombies, Cannibal Virus, Zombi 4,
Zombi 5: The Ultimate Nightmare, Zombie Creeping Flesh, Zombie Inferno,
Zombies of the Savanna
Cast:
Margit Evelyn Newton
Franco Garofalo
Selan Karay
José Gras
Gaby Renom
Josep Lluís Fonoll
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DVD
Features:
Hell Rats of the Living Dead
an all new interview with director Bruno Mattei
Poster and Stills Gallery
Bruno Mattei Biography
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