Hell of the Living Dead

Hell of the Living Dead (1980)

The movie opens with an accident at a chemical plant that releases a gas that awakens the dead. The plant is quickly overrun with zombies. Then we meet up with a SWAT team in the middle of rescuing an embassy staff from terrorists, the last of who utters a warning about being eaten by their brothers. The SWAT team is then sent on a secret mission to shut down the plant previously seen at the beginning of the movie. Inexplicably they are air dropped in the middle of the jungle, when it is obvious the plant is next to a major city. Though this does give them a chance to run into some journalists, encounter much stock footage, and eat up a good 70 minutes getting to the chemical plant. In the end it is revealed that the zombies were part of a plan to control the overcrowding of the poor nations of the world. Population control by zombie, I like it!

It is kind of hard to make a zombie movie that isn’t inspired in some way by the works of either Romero or Fulci. But in the case of this Bruno Mattei directorial effort it goes way beyond inspiration. Beyond the obvious use of the musical score from Dawn of the Dead there are several plot elements that are lifted right from that movie. The most obvious is that you have the SWAT team (ala Dawn of the Dead) attacking the embassy while the Goblin music from Dawn plays in the background. The best way I can describe the plot of Hell of the Living Dead is a little bit Dawn of the Dead with some Fulci Zombie vibe mixed in, and a whole lot of stock footage. The last bit with the stock footage really gives the movie it’s weird feel. I have the distinct feel that the story meeting went something like this. Look here we have stock footage of animals, write a scene for it. Hey here is another bit of stock footage of bodies in a burial ground, well lets write a scene for it. Look more stock footage of a funeral scene and native ceremony looks like we have another scene to write! Though this last bit was inspired by having the attractive female journalist they picked up on the way make first contact with the tribe wearing only a couple of leaves covering her naughtiest of bits. No one does sleaze quite as well as the Italian directors.

In spite of spending all this time complaining about the lack of a cohesive plot I do really like this movie. Somehow director Bruno Mattei has managed to make a bad movie that is really fun to watch. Sure the plot is lifted from better movies and is a slave to what ever footage they could get their hands on to play off of, but it is entertaining as hell. Plus the characters are so over the top and do inexplicable things that you might be scratching your head, but your smiling while you do it. I’m especially fond of the dance number that one of the SWAT members is inspired to do in the middle of trying to secure the house. When I go to write a review and judge a movie the first and most important question I ask is, “Was it fun.” Hell of the Living Dead should be a god-awful piece of crap, but is a blast to watch. So yeah it was fun.

The special effects in this movie fall into the category of quantity over quality. There are a lot of zombies none of them are memorable. Well except for the one that apparently moved his hat so you can see the where the line of blue makeup ends and his own pasty white skin starts! The rest of the zombies are either of the Dawn inspired blue/grey faced variety, or the oatmeal faced zombie that Fulci used in Zombie. Most of the death scenes are also uninspired and easily forgotten. Hell most of the victims don’t even run away or squirm that much. That might be because the zombies are tearing them apart by pulling pigs guts out of not so cleverly hidden pockets and packages in their clothes. There is one death scene near the end that is really cool, but it is an exception. But I do appreciate the quantity of the effects and they fit nicely with the rest of the cheesy feeling of the movie.

The DVD of Hell of the Living Dead contains a short, but fun interview with director Bruno Mattei as a special feature. The interview was apparently done for both this movie and one of his other “classics” Rats. He discusses making both films and admits that he doesn’t like any of his movies. In fact he seems quite astounded that anyone likes either movies. Mattei, who has since passed away, seemed like a very nice man and I had wished the interview were longer.

I have two lines that jump up from the notes I took while watching this move. The first is, “Good stupid fun is all you need sometimes.” The other is, “Bruno Mattei was a hack…. an awesome hack!” That pretty much sums up this movie for me. There is no reason why this movie should be worth watching, but it is. I really enjoyed it and think that most other fans of the zombie or horror genre will as well. I recommend checking it out. Check out the Blue Underground website at http://www.blue-underground.com/ for more information.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer