Hell of the Living Dead

Hell of the Living Dead

Credits
Title:	Hell of the Living Dead
Director:	Vincent Dawn
Writers:	Claudio Fragasso; J.M. Cunilles
Producers:	Sergio Cortona
Composer:	Luis Bacalov; Gianni Dell'Orso; Goblin
Cinematography:	John Cabrera
Editors:	Claudio Borroni
Production
Production company:	Films Dara Beatrice Film
Released:	November 10th, 1980
Rating:	Unrated
Running time:	99 min.
Country:	Italy
Language:	Italian
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Hell of the Living Dead is an Italian low-budget feature film of the horror genre with an emphasis on apocalyptic zombie fiction. It was directed by Bruno Mattei under the pseudonym Vincent Dawn with a screenplay written by Claudio Fragasso and J.M. Cunilles. It was produced by Beatrice Film and Films Dara and premiered in Spain on November 10th, 1980. It was released in Italy as Virus on August 21st, 1981. The film had its U.S. premiere in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on September 16th, 1983. It opened to limited engagement on October 14th, 1983.

Plot[]

A chemical research center located in Papua, New Guinea called Hope Center #1 conducts a secret testing program Operation Sweet Death. This is designed as a population control measure, but the facility is compromised when a rat is exposed to a chemical compound. The rat attacks a man, which turns him into a zombie. In short order, the zombie infection spreads, consuming the entire building.

Meanwhile, terrorists have taken over a U.S. embassy in Barcelona and have taken hostages. They demand that the United Nations shuts down all Hope Center facilities globally. A military team breaks into the embassy and kills the terrorists, saving the hostages.

The military group's next mission lands them in the middle of the jungle. Lieutenant London and his team, Vincent, Zantoro, and Osborne come upon two reporters named Lia Rousseau and Max. Despite inherent tensions between them, they take a jeep and a land-rover deep into the heart of the local tribe communities, which have been affected by the vapor set forth by Operation Sweet Death. They encounter hordes of slow-moving shambling zombies, but despite their superior firepower, they quickly become overwhelmed.

Cast[]

Actor	Role
Margit Evelyn Newton	Lia Rousseau
Frank Garfield	Zantoro
Selan Karay	Vincent
Robert O'Neil	Lieutenant Mike London
Gaby Renom	Pierre
Luis Fonoll	Osborne
Piero Fumelli	Man on TV
Bruno Boni	Reporter
Patrizia Costa	Woman in bar
Cesare Di Vito	TV speaker
Sergio Pislar	Technician Lawson
Bernard Seray	Falo, Barrett's assistant
Victor Israel	Zombie priest
Pep Ballenster	Josie's husband
Joaquín Blanco	Professor Barrett
Esther Mesina	Josie

Notes & Trivia[]

The tagline for this film is "When the Creeping Dead Devour the Living Flesh!"
This movie was shot in Barcelona, Spain with studio shots being filmed in Rome, Italy.
There are sixteen credited cast members in this film.
This film was originally released as Virus. "Virus (1980)" redirects to this page. In Italy, the film was released as Virus – L'inferno dei morti viventi.
When Vestron Home Video released the film in 1985, the packaging renamed it as Night of the Zombies, which also redirects to this page. Another alternate title was Zombie Creeping Flesh. This version of the film removed over fourteen minutes of footage, including some of the more graphic zombie bite scenes as well as the final eye-popping scene of a main character.
Hell of the Living Dead was released on DVD in 2002 by Cydonia Pictures under the Night of the Zombies title.
Goblin was approached to score the film, but their asking price was too high, so the studio circumvented this issue by replaying audio samples from other films that Goblin had worked on.
Director Bruno Mattei is credited as Vincent Dawn in this film.
Screenplay writer José María Cunillés is credited as J.M. Cunilles in this film.
Actress Margie Newton, who plays reporter Lia Rousseau, is credited as Margit Evelyn Newton in this film. It is her first starring role.
Actor Franco Garofalo, who plays soldier Zantoro, is credited as Frank Garfield in this film.
Actor José Gras, who plays Lieutenant Mike London, is credited as Robert O'Neil in this film.
Actor Gabriel Renom, who plays Pierre, is credited as Gaby Renom in this film.
Actor Josep Lluís Fonoll, who plays soldier Osborne, is credited as Luis Fonoll in this film.
Actor Pep Ballester, who plays Josie's over-acting husband, is credited as Pep Ballenster in this film.
A lot of the scenes involving native tribes was actually stock footage taken from the 1974 documentary Nuova Guinea, l'isola dei cannibali, or New Guinea, Island of Cannibals by director Akira Ide.
This movie does not have a Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It has four posted reviews, all of which give the film a negative score. The movie has an audience score, or Popcornmeter rating of 39% based on more than 2,500 user ratings.
On Letterboxd, the film has a weighted average score of 2.7 out of 5 based on 5,255 user ratings.
On TMDB, this film has a user score of 53%.
Original footage from this movie was incorporated into the 2020 exploitation film Corona Zombies by Full Moon Entertainment. Most of this footage includes scenes of Margie Newton and the soldiers, but with re-dubbed dialogue and was used to pad the movie's runtime so that Full Moon could rush it into production as the first film that centers around the COVID-19 virus. This movie has only been made available on the Full Moon streaming service.
Director Bruno Mattei makes an uncredited cameo appearance as an officer at the U.S. embassy hostage scene.
Screenwriter Claudio Fragasso makes an uncredited cameo appearance as an officer at the U.S. embassy hostage scene.

Hell of the Living Dead

Contents

Plot[]

Cast[]

Notes & Trivia[]

Recommendations[]

See also[]

External Links[]

Gallery[]