Hell of the Living Dead (film review)

Hell of the Living Dead might just be single handed the biggest camp classic in Zombie cinema history!

Based on the phenomenal success of Lucio Fulci’s Blockbuster and one only classic Zombi 2, Italian producers where Rushing the Markets and trying to compete with its successes by capsizing on a Rip-Off of Dawn of the Dead (E.G. zombi 2). None did well but one became well known Bruno Mattei’s Hell of the Living Dead AKA Night of the Zombies or its Native Italy’s Virus - l'inferno dei morti viventi.

After a chemical leak at the Hope Centre in Papua New Guinea (an organization devoted to feeding underdeveloped countries) turns its staff into flesh-eating zombies, a four-man commando squad led by Mike London are sent to investigate. They run into a TV news crew led by celebrity reporter Lia, who are after the same story, but when they discover that the entire country has been overrun by zombies, what are the chances of them getting the message across? Can they still get to their Destination?

Take Dawn of the Dead but no mall and set it in a Jungle filmed in Spain and you have this Ultra Classic…

I won’t Lie the story is way underdone and it’s rather simple… Zombies, Zombies, Shooting, Natives, More Zombies, And of Course a Twist Ending that’s has more creativity and imagination than today’s M. Night Shyamalan pictures…

Still it offers as neve being boring and of course everything that should be in a film like this, but lacks in Direction No Doubt. It kind of feels like a familiar story but overall it’s worthy. The acting isn’t half bad… Margit Evelyn Newton who plays Lia has added me on Facebook not once but twice (lol that desperate?). From the limited Experience and Direction from the entire cast Minus Franco Garofalo, They do a decent Job but Horrible Dubbing.

They filmed the entire picture in Spain but overall a big thumbs up for making it look like New Guinea’s Jungle. But the Clear use of Stoke Footage of Animals jumping around makes it easy to spot with the change in picture quality, But laughable. The Special Effects are simply but good, But they can also be spotted as being extremely fake most scenes (Black Backgrounds, The Mansion Raid They cut the guys throat but he turns around too soon showing dry blood Pre-Applied).

Though it’s Bruno mattei he enjoys rushing is films…

The Soundtrack is spectacular and performed by The Goblin, Excellent of all accounts… Big negative is the thing was stolen and used without permission (Again Mattei). Decent enough Editing but overuse of Stoke Footage that doesn’t match.

Here are some facts I found

Stock footage from the film La vallée was used for the native scenes.

Claudio Fragasso, the writer of the screenplay, also directed one half of the movie, he said in an interview.

In the first draft, Claudio Fragasso had followed the idea of an entire Third World made up of an army of zombies against whom the armed forces of the industrialized nations would have had to fight. However, the script had to be altered considerably due to budget limitations.

The documentary footage of the New Guinea tribe is real footage filmed of a burial service. The rest of the footage can be seen on the documentary OF THE DEAD (DES MORTS)

Vestron Home Video's release, around 1985, of the picture, under the title Night of the Zombies, was the same print used by Creature Features for home video tape in 1996. Creature Features added a brief card to the tail end of the closing credits for its copyright. This exact same print, even including the Creature Features copyright card, was used by Cydonia Pictures for its Night of the Zombies DVD release in 2002. The same year, Anchor Bay Entertainment, released a cleaned up DVD under the title Hell of the Living Dead. All of these Night of the Zombies versions are identical, save for the inserted Creature Features copyright card. The film print is the infamous one known for being too dark, due to numerous copies being made, and, thus nearly impossible to tell a lot of what is going on in the film.

Overall if you’re a fan of Zombie Films or Just crap in general you might get a kick out of it, I liked it and deserve a Place in my top 10 Zombie pictures for the value of being fucking insane :P

It’s Ridicules but Fun and never leaves a Bore. Lol I can't wait to see his Rat's - Night of Terror out of everything

Jesse’s Hell of the Living Dead score 75-100%

If your in a Rush and don't have time... Watch the trailer it ruins the entire film but showcasing most of the gore and the ending...