| aka. Hell of the Living Dead, aka. Zombie Creeping Flesh, aka. Virus, aka. Zombi 7, aka. Morning of the Dead, aka. Don't Feed the Corpses. |
| Directed by Vincent Dawn (Bruno Mattei). Starring Marg Newton, Frank Garfield, Gaby Renom, and Piero Fumelli. |
| A lot of people have dismissed Mattei as being one of the biggest no-talent hacks of all time. Personally, I consider him to be Italys' answer to Ed Wood. When presented with an inane script by Claudio Fragasso, which blatantly ripped off Dawn of the Dead, he basically decided to go all out, and make a highly entertaining almost deadpan comedy that audiences would |
| either be rolling in the aisles with laughter over ( the Italians are so good at making this kind of film) , or simply wouldn't get, and dismiss it as a terrible movie. I have heard people make this comment about this movie, but I find it hard to believe that Mattei was watching the dailies of this and thought he was viewing Citizen Kane....the entire crews tongues were obviously planted firmly in their cheeks. |
| Night of the Zombies |
| The movie starts out in 'The Hope Centre' , a large pollution spewing chemical plant in New Guinea. We're never sure what this plant is manufacturing ( I thought it might be makeup until I saw the cheap looking zombies). All we know is that they're not too big on occupational health and safety. A couple of guys in bargain basement safety gear are taking readings around some leaky pipes when they fall victim to zombie rats, and green gas (might be a perfume plant). They, and a whole bunch of other workers are infected with the contagion,and the gas escapes all over New Guinea. Meanwhile, in the films most blatant Dawn of the Dead ripoff, Four swat guys, have just killed a bunch of terrorists who demanded the Hope Centre be shut down ( you would'nt want to have shares in this company). They have no casualties, though all four are almost bored to death by an extended monologue by the dying leader. As a reward , they are sent to New Guinea for a little R&R, and to destroy any evidence at the hope centre to prevent messy lawsuits. When we next see them, they're broken down in a native burial ground, and Zantorro ( who I call Ham, due to his ridiculous overacting), one of the swat guys ,who has worse sandbag eyes than Moe of the three stooges, is showing great respect for the dead by pissing on a grave. Anyway, they get going again, and bump into a news reporter called Lia, and her Yanni lookalike cameraman Max. The ragtag crew have numerous extremely gory encounters with zombies who have risen due to the gas outbreak,as they journey through the jungle to complete the mission. |
| This movie is filled with too many hilarious moments to even mention, but let me share a few of my favorites with you. Firstly is the overuse of stock footage of animals. While some of it adds atmosphere , a lot borders on the ridiculous, such as African elephants in New Guinea, and re-dubbed news footage ( like the guy who's probably passionately complaining about the state of New Guineas' health system being re-dubbed to preach about burning the bodies of the unburied dead). I also love the part where Mattei uses a tribal ritual as a half assed excuse to show us Lia's breasts ( not to mention the shoddy cutting of real mudmen in the scene, and actors in poor paper mache masks). But my favorite scene is where Ham ( Piero Fumelli) finally loses his marbles in the landrover .... his finest overacting hour. This is a comedy/horror not to be missed! |
| Entertainment: 4 out of 4 |
| Watchability: 4 out of 4 |
| Overall: 4 out of 4 |
| If you like this, you might like: Zombie 3 |
| Reviewed by Buddha. |
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