Nightmare City (1980)

An airplane exposed to radiation lands, and blood drinking zombies emerge armed with knives, guns and teeth! They go on a rampage slicing, dicing, and biting their way across the Italian countryside.

Director:

Umberto Lenzi

Writers:

Antonio Cesare Corti (as Tony Corti), Luis María Delgado (as José Luis Delgado)

Stars:

Hugo Stiglitz, Laura Trotter, Maria Rosaria Omaggio

Cast

Cast overview:
Hugo Stiglitz	...	Dean Miller
Laura Trotter	...	Dr. Anna Miller
Maria Rosaria Omaggio	...	Sheila Holmes
Francisco Rabal	...	Major Warren Holmes
Sonia Viviani	...	Cindy
Eduardo Fajardo	...	Dr. Kramer
Stefania D'Amario	...	Jessica Murchison
Ugo Bologna	...	Mr. Desmond
Sara Franchetti	...	Liz the Maid
Manuel Zarzo	...	Colonel Donahue (as Manolo Zarzo)
Tom Felleghy	...	Lieutenant Reedman (as Tom Felleghi)
Pierangelo Civera	...	Bob
Achille Belletti	...	TV Station Technician
Mel Ferrer	...	General Murchison

Storyline

In a nameless European city, a local reporter and his doctor wife try to escape from hordes of blood thirsty zombies, undead people exposed to nuclear radioactivity, while the military leaders fight a losing war of attrition against the relentless atomic zombies.

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Plot Keywords:

soldier | stabbing | slaughter | doomsday | hell on earth | 

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Taglines:

Don't get caught "alive"... you'd be better off dead!

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

A remake of the movie, directed by Tom Savini, is currently in the making.

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Goofs

The professor is expected, and Dean is to interview him upon his arrival, which indicates that the news media know about it and have information regarding it. Naturally, this would be corroborated by the airport. However, the professor for some reason arrives on an unmarked, unexpected airplane. A possible explanation for this could be simply 'dream logic', but at the same time it is a fairly major flaw.

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Quotes

Dr. Anna Miller: I'm tired. Really tired. And I'm frightened. We'll never get away from these... these monsters. What are we going to do?
Dean Miller: Alright. Nothing is going to happen as long as we stay together I promise you. What we've got to do now is get away from here as fast as we can.
Dr. Anna Miller: Let go of me. Why don't you face it. There's no place for us to go. They're we too will be killed. I don't want us to die I don't want us to but there's nothing we can do. They're everywhere...
Dean Miller: [Dean slaps his wife and then kisses her] ...

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Crazy Credits

The message "THE NIGHTMARE BECOMES REALITY..." just before the end credits

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Alternate Versions

The 1986 UK Stablecane video version was cut by 3 minutes 5 secs by the BBFC to heavily edit shots of exploding heads, neck bitings, a woman's eye and breast being stabbed with a spike, an arm removal, the elevator attack, shots of bloody wounds, and a woman's breast being sliced off with a knife. All the cuts were fully waived for the 2003 Anchor Bay DVD release.

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Connections

Referenced in Demon Queen (1987)

User Reviews

Passable , entertaining but cheap Italian/Spanish Zombie movie co-production filmed in Madrid

TV news reporter named Dean Miller (Hugo Stiglitz) along with his cameraman (Antonio Mayans) waits at the airport for the arrival of a scientific that he is about to interview . Then , a Hercules C 1330 lands, and soon enough quick footed zombie types are piling out of the plane, shooting, biting and knifing absolutely everyone in sight . Miller records and reports on these horrific events . They go on a criminal spree , slicing , dicing , and biting their way across the city and countryside . While the military leaders as General Murchison (Mel Ferrer) of Civil Defense , Officer Holmes (Francisco Rabal) and Donahue (Manuel Zarzo) fight a losing war of attrition against the relentless atomic zombies . Later on , Dean , the brave reporter who witnessed the original attack fights to find his wife Anna (Laura Trotter) at the hospital before the horde completely take over the city .

Gory , gruesome , pretty repellent , and ghastly cannibal feast in which the nimble flesh-eating atomic zombies carry out a real slaughter and can be only destroyed by fire in the head . Unrelenting shock-feast plenty of disturbing as well as frightening images laced with brief touches of black humor , including lots of blood drinking zombies who have been exposed to radiation emerge armed with knives , weapons and raging teeth . Taking in elements of classic horror gore and crafting a flawed yet exhilarating slice of horror trash , Nightmare City is a bonkers fusion of non-stop jumps and fast-moving zombies . Army of Zombies appearance roaming the city , countryside , and some people besieged inside a mansion , hospital , factory , church and attraction park deliver the goods , enough to be interesting . It is a batshit crazy zombie movie which may be the first instance of running zombies, all the way back in 1980 . Umberto Lenzi's main great success is middlingly directed with startling visual content and acceptable production by Luis Mendez . Furthermore , special mention to filthy make-up by expert Giuseppe Ferranti . The script had to be altered considerably due to budget limitations dealing mainly how a group of military and civil people fights against the relentless atomic zombies . Umberto Lenzi's utterly insane radiation-sickness opus Nightmare City is plenty of thrills , chills , high body-count executed by the eerie Zombies and photographed in pallid color with lurid images and acceptable results . Mediocre acting by Hugo Stiglitz, though both Franco Nero and Fabio Testi were considered for the lead in the film, but the producer insisted on a Mexican leading man to appeal to Mexican audiences ,hence, the role went to Hugo Stiglitz . He gives an average performance as the reporter who attempts to encounter his spouse , Laura Trotter , and both of whom getaway from the blood-thirsty zombies that are all over the city . Being a Spain/Italy co-production here appears several Spanish actors as Francisco Rabal , Manuel Zarzo , Eduardo Fajardo and uncredited Antonio Mayans , Jesus Franco usual , as a cameraman . This is an ordinary excruciatingly Zombie film where the intrigue , tension , suspense appears threatening and lurking in both , city and countryside . At the time considered the plus ultra of thoroughly disturbing movie is less stomach-churning by nowadays's standards, yet its fundamental power to thrill remains undiminished . This genuinely embarrassing story with correct utilization of images-shock is professionally photographed by Hans Burmann in Eastmancolor . Anti-climatic and inappropriate musical score Stelvio Cipriani .

The picture was regularly directed by the prolific filmmaker Umberto Lenzi . Talented and versatile writer/director Umbert Lenzi has made a vast array of often solid and entertaining films in all kind of genres as horror, comedy, Western, and science fiction in a career that spans over 40 years .Umbert Lenzi used the pseudonym Hank Milestone and Humphrey Logan . Umberto made his directorial debut with ¨Queen of the Seas¨ (1961) . Other pirate/sword flicks followed, starting with ¨Pirates of Malaysia¨ (1964) starred by Steeve Reeves, which was part of the height of the career of fictitious tales of historic legendary characters including Robin Hood , Catherine the Great, Zorro , Sandokan and Maciste . He subsequently directed a ¨Fumetti¨ titled The mask of Kriminal (1966) . After directing a war film and two "spaghetti westerns," Lenzi turned to the Giallo genre with ¨Orgasmo¨ (1969). During the 1970s, Lenz filmed a number of Giallo and thrillers , among them : ¨So Sweet, So Perverse¨, ¨Seven Blood-Stained Orchids¨ and ¨Eyeball¨ . Lenzi turned to the police thrillers called ¨Polizieschi¨, which rejuvenated his confidence and his popularity . Titles like ¨Almost Human¨ , ¨Free Hand For a Tough Cop¨ and ¨Brothers Till We Die¨ were the most popular and brutal of the thrillers . Lenzi is an expert on wartime genre such as he proved in ¨Desert commandos¨ , ¨Battle of commandos¨ , ¨From hell to victory¨ , ¨Young Lions¨ and ¨Bridge to hell¨. Prior to the Polizieschi, Lenzi directed ¨Man from Deep River¨ , which was the start of the Italian cannibal sub-genre . Later on , he directed two very gory jungle cannibal features , ¨Eaten Alive¨ and ¨Make Them Die Slowly ¨which was banned in 31 countries, made Lenzi distance himself from the cannibal genre . Then Lenzi directed this zombie flick ¨Nightmare City¨ (1980) , and ¨Iron Master¨(1983) . In the 90s his films were extremely low-budgeted and failed at box-office

Details

Country:

Italy Spain Mexico

Language:

Spanish Italian

Release Date:

18 November 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

City of the Walking Dead

Filming Locations:

Barrio de Chamartín, Madrid, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dialchi Film, Lotus Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1