Hell of the Living Dead (1980)
"Virus" (original title)

A tough female reporter and her cameraman boyfriend team up with a four-man commando unit in the New Guinea jungle whom are fighting flesh-eating zombies.

Director:

Bruno Mattei

Writers:

Claudio Fragasso (story), José María Cunillés (story),

Stars:

Margit Evelyn Newton, Franco Garofalo, Selan Karay

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Margit Evelyn Newton	...	Lia Rousseau
Franco Garofalo	...	Zantoro (as Frank Garfield)
Selan Karay	...	Vincent
José Gras	...	Lt. Mike London (as Robert O'Neil)
Gabriel Renom	...	Pierre (as Gaby Renom)
Josep Lluís Fonoll	...	Osborne (as Luis Fonoll)
Pietro Fumelli	...	Man on TV (as Piero Fumelli)
Bruno Boni	...	Reporter
Patrizia Costa	...	Woman in Bar
Cesare Di Vito	...	TV Speaker
Sergio Pislar	...	Technician Lawson
Bernard Seray	...	Prof. Barrett's Assistant
Víctor Israel	...	Zombie priest
Pep Ballester	...	Josie's Husband (as Pep Ballenster)
Joaquín Blanco	...	Professor Barrett

Storyline

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? Unlike most zombie films, this actually tries to make a serious point - that if we don't feed the Third World, they'll come and feed on us!

---

Plot Keywords:

flesh eating | zombie | chemical | cameraman | papua new guinea | 

---

Taglines:

Pray it will never happen.

---

Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

---

Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Italy Spain

Language:

Italian Spanish

Release Date:

20 January 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

Night of the Zombies

Filming Locations:

Badalona, Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Beatrice Film, Films Dara

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Telecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

---

Goofs

Some of the animals featured in the stock footage aren't indigenous to New Guinea.

---

Quotes

Zantoro: [the swat team is in a native graveyard] Hey, Vincent! What happened to all those cute little wild naked native girls you promised us?
Vincent: There's one right in front of ya, look!
[gestures at corpse]
Vincent: She may not look like much to you, but in bed, she's out of this world!
Zantoro: No thanks. I kinda prefer my girls more meaty. You take her.

---

Connections

Referenced in Ban the Sadist Videos! Part 2 (2006)

---

Soundtracks

Most of the soundtrack music by Goblin was borrowed from
the films "Dawn of the Dead" and "Alien Contamination".

User Reviews

Not Bad

I've seen quite a few zombie movies over the years and I have to say that the european ones are the best. The gore effects in these movies are very realistic and provide quite a few scares and Night of the Zombies is no exception.The gore effects and storyline are good and is what I expected from this type of movie, but what I didn't expect was the overlong use of stock footage from a National Geographic special which was not only unnecessary but very annoying and the dubbing could also have been handled better, but overall not a bad movie storywise. Just remember to keep the VCR remote close so you can fast forward the stock footage.

MY RATTING 7/10