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Film: Hell of the Living Dead
Year: 1980
Director: Bruno Mattei
Writer: Claudio Fragasso and José María Cunillés
Starring: Margie Newton, Franco Garofalo and Selan Karay
Review:
This was a film that I originally saw when I was in high school. My father is a sucker for zombie films and this was one that he had seen when he was younger but hadn’t for quite some time. What I remember from back then was that this was a cheesy film. As I’ve gotten older and started to reflect more on these types of films, this one has grown on me. This is my second time watching it with a critical eye for Italian Horror Month and as a Journey through the Aughts.
Synopsis: after an experiment gone wrong, a virus that turns people into zombies spreads throughout New Guinea. A female reporter and her camera operator as well as a team of commandos sent to investigate try to survive the onslaught.
We begin with a chemical plant. What we’ll learn is that this is part of a project that is called Hope. There is an alarm and the team goes about their normal checks. Normally, they don’t find anything, but this time they’re getting high readings. What is found is a rat and they’re not sure how it got in. It comes back to life, getting into his suit and killing him. Like the rat, the man returns to life and attacks his co-worker. This leads to everyone in the chemical research facility being turned into zombies. Prof. Barrett (Joaquín Blanco) was in charge. We watch as he dictates his last thoughts on a tape recorder.
This then shifts to Barcelona, Spain. There is a group of eco-terrorists that have taken the United States embassy hostage. Their goal is shut down the plant we saw earlier as well as the others like it around the world. A group of commandos, led by Lt. Mike London (José Gras), are called in to save the hostages and to take out the terrorist group. With him are Zantoro (Franco Garofalo), Vincent (Selan Karay) and Osborne (Josep Lluís Fonoll). They make quick work of them, but they aren’t done there. They are informed that they’ve lost touch with the plant in New Guinea. They are sent there to find out what happened.
This group comes across Lia Rousseau (Margie Newton), a reporter, along with her camera operator Pierre (Gabriel Renom). They are traveling with a couple and their child, but the child was bit. The child turns and attacks his father. At this time, Lia and Pierre are attacked by zombies while exploring the village. They are saved by Mike and his crew. What is interesting here is that Mike and his team are hiding why they’re here. The reporters are trying to find out what is causing the dead to come back to life, making them suspicious of the commandos. This leads them deep into the jungle, where natives are doing their normal funeral rites.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. I’ll come back to what I said earlier, is that this is a cheesy film that is borrowing from other things. Having learned more about our director, Bruno Mattei, this is what he built his career on. One of my favorite horror films of all time is the original Dawn of the Dead. This film is somewhat of a knockoff of that film. The group of commandos are literally wearing the same outfits as Dawn and they even use the same soundtrack that Goblin did as well. What I didn’t know was that they bought the rights to use their album Roller, which featured these songs. I don’t mind it, because this film is definitely different enough and I love that score as well. I also saw references to the Italian cannibal films, Night of the Living Dead and even real events like the US embassy in Iran being taken hostage. None of this ruins it, just what I noticed.
Now that I’ve set that up, I do think that this is interesting in the deeper meaning that it goes for. We have eco-terrorists who know what is going on in this facility and the governments covering it up. The reason for the research is horrible, but it's under the guise of solving world hunger. Would I put it past people thinking this is a possibility? No, I wouldn’t. The issue would be the truth getting out. If they knew that it wouldn’t, I could definitely see 3rd world countries being decimated, just keeping enough to work the industries that are needed for the industrialized world. I’ll give them credit here.
Sticking with what also works takes me to filmmaking. I love the look of the zombies. The longer they’re in this state, the more they decay. There’s also a good touch with showing us these funeral rituals of the natives and they’re rubbing something that comes off the dead bodies on their legs. When they turn, the flesh looks burned away. That was good. The look of the attacks are also good. This includes gunshots or people being bitten as well as torn apart. I also wanted to credit them for that. It was quite impressive.
Now to shift over to a negative. This lacks logic at times. The commandos know how to kill the zombies, yet they never seem to hit them in the head. I do like that Mike calls them out on this as they are wasting ammo. The problem is that in the next encounter, they’re back to wasting ammo, including Mike. There are also times when the zombies aren’t attacking someone and allowing them to do things. This makes it look corny.
Let’s then discuss the acting performances. I will admit, I thought Newton was solid. She shows strength that when they tell her what they want to do, she gives input and has her say. She isn’t pushed over by the commandos. She is valuable when it comes to going to the native village to learn more about what is happening. Also has a great scream. Plus, it is nice to see her topless as well. The commandos were solid as a group. They all kind of lose their minds at one point or another, but that is understandable. The strongest was probably Gras followed by Karay. My least favorite, but the funniest is Fonoll. Renom was solid as well. The rest of the cast round out the film well. It is funny that clearly, we have people playing multiple roles. I will give credit that for the most part, how the zombies move is great.
I’ll then end out with filmmaking. I’ve said what I needed to for the effects, but I’ll credit the cinematography and framing. That helps hide the seams to preserve realism. I also like making it feel like we’re in this foreign country. This does use stock documentary footage to help pad its running time. My gripe here is that this makes it run 100 minutes. Using this to an extent makes sense, especially to set up where it is taking place. That could be trimmed to help this run tighter though. I also said that I love the score, but I can’t give full credit here since it was borrowed. They did use it well so I’ll credit that. It helps to build the atmosphere when it has a more serious tone.
In conclusion, I know this isn’t great, but it is more of a low budget masterpiece. The story, although it isn’t all that original, fits with things that it uses, even today. Following a commando unit and reporters while they try to figure out what is happening is solid. There are missteps, but the acting was fine, especially from Newton. The effects were great and even though the score isn’t original, it is still one of my favorites. I don’t love the filler footage and the lack of logic does hurt. This is still one of the better rip-off films from Mattei and a solid low budget zombie film.
My Rating: 7 out of 10